Unknowingly clickbank affiliates who earn commissions on selling other developer's products, may be bilked out of their fair commissions in what could be the perfect crime.
March 16, 2006 (Press Release) --
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
03/16/2006
Clickbank Affiliates Could Be Losing Millions in Commissions
Unknowingly Clickbank affiliates who earn commissions for selling products, may be bilked out of commissions in what could be the perfect crime. This crime would go completely undetected.
Melbourne, Fl March 16, 2006
Note that in no way am I ever accusing or insinuating Clickbank of stealing commissions or doing anything remotely illegal or dishonest. They have a great customer service department who strives to provide decent, honest service in an environment that is rife with dishonesty. Yet they too may be victims
ClickBank is a legitimate company that offers a great service to entrepreneurs, home businesses, and buyers alike. Product developers register their product with Clickbank and offer affiliates a percentage of the sales commissions through the use of a "hop" link. The affiliate promotes the product, a buyer clicks the link, pays for the product, the sales commission is split between the owner and the affiliate automatically. Clickbank also does a great job of protecting the consumer if there are any complaints or the product is not delivered. When it all works, it is a great system.
But it does have a flaw. And it could be a big one which could easily be exploited by internet thieves. Because, if the "hop" link is not correct, the unsuspecting affiliate does not receive any commission at all. But the affiliate would never know it, and who would complain. The developers, get paid. The buyer receives their product. And the affiliate never knows if anyone used their link and if their link had been hi-jacked.
I became aware of this situation when I recently purchased a product using my clickbank link and noticed that I did not receive a commission for this sale. I queried clickbank about this, was told that structure of the clickbank hop link had been changed.
This is the response I received from ClickBank support.
The affiliate hoplink must be set up in the following format to track
commissions properly:
http://AFFILIATE.VENDOR.hop.clickbank.net
"Affiliate" must be replaced with the affiliate's ClickBank nickname and
"vendor" with the publisher's ClickBank nickname.
After doing this, I noticed my affiliate still didn't show up. I started to become suspicious. So I emailed Clickbank back and here is the response.
Our hoplink tracking system relies on cookies. Please verify that you have cookies enabled in your browser, and that there aren't any third-party ad-blocker/anti-spyware software that could be blocking cookies.
Again the suspicion is that the affiliate did something wrong. This makes no sense. Who anti-spyware? Why should that matter? How does the affiliate know who does and who doesn't? If they rely on cookies, they shouldn't allow the sale at all.
Rex Madden is both an online and off-line successful entrepreneur who utilizes numerous services to promote several ebusinesses. Often times he shares his hard learned lessons.
For More Information Contact:
Rex Madden
rex@mrmtravel.com
http://www.mrmtravelbiz.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
03/16/2006
Clickbank Affiliates Could Be Losing Millions in Commissions
Unknowingly Clickbank affiliates who earn commissions for selling products, may be bilked out of commissions in what could be the perfect crime. This crime would go completely undetected.
Melbourne, Fl March 16, 2006
Note that in no way am I ever accusing or insinuating Clickbank of stealing commissions or doing anything remotely illegal or dishonest. They have a great customer service department who strives to provide decent, honest service in an environment that is rife with dishonesty. Yet they too may be victims
ClickBank is a legitimate company that offers a great service to entrepreneurs, home businesses, and buyers alike. Product developers register their product with Clickbank and offer affiliates a percentage of the sales commissions through the use of a "hop" link. The affiliate promotes the product, a buyer clicks the link, pays for the product, the sales commission is split between the owner and the affiliate automatically. Clickbank also does a great job of protecting the consumer if there are any complaints or the product is not delivered. When it all works, it is a great system.
But it does have a flaw. And it could be a big one which could easily be exploited by internet thieves. Because, if the "hop" link is not correct, the unsuspecting affiliate does not receive any commission at all. But the affiliate would never know it, and who would complain. The developers, get paid. The buyer receives their product. And the affiliate never knows if anyone used their link and if their link had been hi-jacked.
I became aware of this situation when I recently purchased a product using my clickbank link and noticed that I did not receive a commission for this sale. I queried clickbank about this, was told that structure of the clickbank hop link had been changed.
This is the response I received from ClickBank support.
The affiliate hoplink must be set up in the following format to track
commissions properly:
http://AFFILIATE.VENDOR.hop.clickbank.net
"Affiliate" must be replaced with the affiliate's ClickBank nickname and
"vendor" with the publisher's ClickBank nickname.
After doing this, I noticed my affiliate still didn't show up. I started to become suspicious. So I emailed Clickbank back and here is the response.
Our hoplink tracking system relies on cookies. Please verify that you have cookies enabled in your browser, and that there aren't any third-party ad-blocker/anti-spyware software that could be blocking cookies.
Again the suspicion is that the affiliate did something wrong. This makes no sense. Who anti-spyware? Why should that matter? How does the affiliate know who does and who doesn't? If they rely on cookies, they shouldn't allow the sale at all.
Rex Madden is both an online and off-line successful entrepreneur who utilizes numerous services to promote several ebusinesses. Often times he shares his hard learned lessons.
For More Information Contact:
Rex Madden
rex@mrmtravel.com
http://www.mrmtravelbiz.com
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