Easy Money
Ahh. /sniffle
It was a very lucrative niche within Internet marketing… selling cheesy “get rich quick” ebooks or software (step one, download… step two, install… step three, RICHES!) using scumbag marketing tricks such as false scarcity (only 300 ever!), fake screenshots ($4,312 per day!), fake testimonials (“it was super easy to make money” Joe, Dallas) and pretty much spewing a stream of lies to make sales.
Sadly, because human nature is what it is, pushing all the emotional buttons worked, and the junk products sold like hot cakes to desperate and lazy people. Many cheesy “marketers” made small fortunes and then, naturally enough, sold their “expertise” in the form of “coaching programs” where they explained how the scam worked, giving rise to yet more junk products and deceptive sales letters.
Clickbank
Of course, the marketers needed a way to take payment, and they primarily used Clickbank, who not only processed the credit card orders, but also provided a pool of potential affiliates to help promote the junk products and then cuts the checks to pay everyone. For some reason Clickbank approved the “pitch pages” where all the unethical and deceptive marketing tricks were being used. Perhaps the fact that they creamed off money from each sale prevented them from wondering why the products with “only 300 copies available” actually sold tens of thousands of copies… or why the refund rates were so high. Perhaps they just didn’t care.
So, if the marketers, affiliates and Clickbank made money, and the customers could get refunded easily if they so wished, where was the problem? Quite simply, the whole of the digital marketplace suffered from the unethical marketing tactics being used to sell the junk products. Once a customer had bought one of the junk products, I’d guess they’d be very unlikely to ever purchase anything from Clickbank again. When that situation is repeated over many, many merchants and customers, you can see why the whole Internet marketing niche started to suffer. As it became harder to make sales, marketers with questionable ethics start employing the same deceptive tactics and pretty soon the IM niche was drowning in a sea of deceptive marketing! Almost a year ago I wrote about the problems this lack of trust was causing, so did many other marketers such as Gauher.
FTC
Well, finally, the marketers have been disowned by Clickbank… because “certain regulatory agencies and credit card processors have been taking a very close look at sales and promotional messaging in the e-commerce space” [email sent to Clickbank vendors]. To my mind that sounds like Clickbank have only acted under pressure from “regulatory agencies”, presumably the FTC and others.
So, what have Clickbank decided to do?
Here are some of the additions Clickbank have added to their terms and conditions for vendors to abide by. They are effective, for all products, from today, September 1st 2011…
No False Scarcity
Yay! No more, “only 300 copies available”, unless it’s actually true! Clickbank will ask on the product submission form if quantities are to be limited and will stop sales when that number is reached. They say that the offer can be “reopened” after 7 days. Why that is acceptable I don’t know. Surely if it’s only 300 copies, then selling more after 7 days is still unacceptable? This “scarcity” rule also applies to the length of time a product is available… so no more, “ends in 24 hours” unless it actually will end in 24 hours!
Clearly Display The Price
The product price must be displayed in size 12 font, which is probably pretty close to the normal font size on this blog post. It’s not clear if Clickbank mean 12-pixel or 12-points, either way they’re fairly similar, and roughly equivalent to a “normal” font size for body copy online. For a visual guide, see this page.
No False Discounts
A product can’t be sold as “$37, was $97″, unless is was previously sold at $97.
No “Required” Upsells/Downsells
Upsells, Downsells and One-Time-Offers must be “enhancements” to the initial product and must not be required. The “no thanks” links must be clearly displayed in at least 12 font.
Limits to Upsells
No more than 3 upsells (one time offers) and two exit offers for each sales flow. Does that mean there won’t be umpteen popups screaming, “wait, don’t go, here’s the same thing for $10 less, for the next three people only!!”?
No Cheesy Marketing Phrases
… such as “one push button to make money” or “three simple words will provide you income”.
No Fake Testimonials
Everything said about a product in a testimonial (video or written) must be “capable of substantiation” which means you must be able to prove it. You must be able to provide the testimonial from the person giving it as a signed document if requested. The FTC also requires you to be able to give contact details for each person giving a testimonial if requested.
And for affiliates…
No Fake Review Sites
Clickbank say, “affiliates cannot pose as neutral third parties evaluating two products so they make a commission on selling one of them.”
Conclusions
While it’s good that Clickbank have finally decided to stop merchants using unethical and deceptive marketing tactics, it’s a real shame that they took so long and appear to have only instigated these changes in response to pressure from “regulatory agencies”.
Hopefully, they vigorously enforce the new Terms and Conditions and try to claw back some credibility for their slogan, “The Web’s Most Trusted Digital Marketplace”.
What do you think about Clickbank, the ethics of sales-letters and the state of the Internet marketing niche? Leave a comment below…
About time! We’ve all had enough of these scammy marketers and it’s about time clickbank tool action. Whethwr or not ir is too late to rescue their reputation we’ll have to wait and see.
It is well over-due.
I can’t say I have ever made any money through Clickbank, nor from any
of the products I have bought through Clickbank.
The 60 Days No Questions Asked Refund Policy is good for me as someone who buys
the products to look through and then claim the money back once it’s confirmed as
junk. I have only 2 clickbank products which I’ve bought and didn’t claim refunds for,
and that’s over 2+ years. These 2 products were actually good though.
With this in mind I have never really understood why people would bother selling
Clickbank stuff as an affiliate because I believe the refund rates must be astronomical.
Especially in the IM niche.
Anyway, great blog Neil.
When I heard recently that clickbank was being called Crookbank I could only shrug and say, “Yup”!
I’ve wondered for a long time why clickbank puts up with all the slime and the simple reason, I guess, is that the slime makes them a LOT of money.
So eventually the credit card companies and the FTC exert some pressure and clickbank has to clean up its act…good thing but what took them so long?
It became so difficult to find good products in Clickbank that would convert, amongst all the push-button garbage, I gave up selling info products and went “physical”. Smaller commissions but a much better environment.
I also sell physical products as an affiliate outside the IM niche and I agree, it’s a much nicer environment.
Neil.
While this is certainly a good thing, I am not sure that your claim the such marketers “primarily used Clickbank” is correct. Most of the biggest scams I can think of in recent times have not used Clickbank, because they no longer use the $69 price point. The thousand dollar scams use different payment processors.
To be fair to Clickbank, the great thing has always been the ease with which you can get back your money when you are not satisfied. This cannot be said for the other payment processors.
All in all, I think this article falls well short of your usual high standards.
>All in all, I think this article falls well short of your usual high standards.<
Not sure what I did to deserve that, but I'm sorry you feel that way.
I don't know of any $1,000 scams… I've almost always dug around and found out any info I've needed for free, sometimes by reverse engineering what others do. I've never paid $1,000 for a product. Although, I have received some for free to review.
Neil.
The so called marketers have really done damage to the industry but just wait because as we all know what you put on the web stays on the web. They are sitting ducks for regulatory authorities to ask them to prove what they have stated. There is a good chance that one morning they may wake up to find a Sheriff at the door and tow truck hooking up to there BMW. Several direct marketers have gone to jail in the past for violations.
It is about time… One vendor was offering a blog builder for over 40 pounds a month recurring as part of a programme, a 17 dollar one payment product in the marketplace is available and far better! Ripping off the broke…. would be a better slogan! But I never read anything about quality control in their new rules?
Hi Sean,
Perhaps “product quality” is hard to discern? It’s a bit in the eye of the beholder…
Neil.
Thanks Neil. I hope this means an end to waiting more than a week for help when you request it. Then being told that your answer is there if you read the instructions. What sort of idiots do they take us for? Of course we have looked at the maegre FAQ’s or we wouldn’t be asking for help. This has happened to me twice with Clickbank products. Both marketers I had trusted until then. Must go now and join the refund queue again.
It’s about [edit] time, and finally they HAVE to show a price on the sales page. That is BS having to click thru the buy now buttons just to find out the price of some products.
Thanks Neil… I enjoyed the read yet again! Adding to this… “No “Required” Upsells/Downsells –…The “no thanks” links must be clearly displayed in at least 12 font.” I enjoyed Clickbank stating that the visitor should not scroll down to view the ‘no thanks’ link… ha ha ha.
It goes to show… The product you are offering should always be of good value and compelling enough for the viewer to ‘want’ to buy.
The one thing I did not find (and rather disappointing) was that the vendor can still try and sell the product without giving the prospect a clue of what it actually is. That to me is a no no! I stay away from CB products as much as I possibly can! Cheers for that…
I agree, Isabel… there should be disclosure of what the product is.
Neil.
The very reason I have never promoted a product listed on Clickbank. There may be some reasonable merchants, but in several years, I have seen NO sales pages that didn’t present claims or make assertions which were either unreasonable, unethical or unbelievable or all of the above.
I’ve looked, too. Hoping that someday I’d find a product that I wouldn’t object to having my name associated with. Hasn’t happened yet.
Oh well.
I think It’s evolution. Adhere to the rising standard or vanish into the mud.
It’s a good thing. Bummer it took a while to get started, though.
Thank’s for your thoughtfulish and insighteous shearing, Sir!
Agneta
Hi Neil,
On the face of it, it seems that these “regulatory agencies” are doing a good job. BUT, I’ve seen this kind of thing many times before and it never turns out to be good for anybody.
Two things typically happen: firstly, the people at the agency in question will demand more people and more money to expand their “empire” so that they can “counter the rise in fraud and unethical behavior”. This is NEVER good for taxpayers, because one way or another, they’ll end up paying for it.
Secondly, the unethical marketers will simply find OTHER ways to be……….unethical. An agency (government or otherwise) is NOT going to change the ethics of anybody, and it won’t put them out of business either.
This horrible mix of government intrusion into the business world, along with scumbag people who just want to rip people off makes things worse for everybody. I would like both parties in question to just GO AWAY and leave honest people to help other honest people. Of course I know this will never happen.
I hate to be so negative about it, but it’s what has been demonstrated time and again.
I agree, Luke… to an extent. I think there will always be unethical scammers. However, making it harder for them to operate has to be a good thing.
Neil.
I totally agree. I gave up on Clickbank several years ago. I haven’t promoted or even visited Clickbank since 2009.
Good Article Neil, I know I am sick and tried of all the cheap one click programs going around. I do not even think about clicking on their links anymore from these marketers. I do stay on there mailing list, so I can see what the latest ‘get quick rich scheme’ is running around the net. From time to time I do check out the product to see who the latest actor they are using. Sometimes pretty good for a laugh… Thanks for the info!
The horse has bolted so it is time to lock the stable doors. This is typical “too little – too late” activity by a company that sees that the good times have rolled away. As more and more sensible people have been trying to warn others about the glut of re-cycled rubbish out there, ClickBank and PayPal have been trying to retrench and retake the high moral ground. PayPal, being a fully regulated bank in Europe has been leading the way for some years and has been refusing facilities to scams, pyramids, ponzis and other monthly payment schemes. They have also been withdrawing services from the get-rich-quick merchants. Clickbank had no option but to take action, no matter how belated. It would have been better if ClickBank had put their clients before their bottom lines but late is better than never. Unfortunately we all know that scumbag cash handlers/credit card processors will ooze out of the woodwork to take advantage and allow the rip-offs to continue.
One thing I wish CB would do is verify some of the income claims when a vendor is showing his or her own CB income proof. According to the new rules outlined above, they “somewhat” fix the problem by having each vendor validate their income proof should they be called upon, but I think CB can take it a step further. Whenever you see an income proof shot of a vendor’s CB account, CB should be able to verify whether it is true or not and if sales from that account were gained from either affiliate sales, vendor sales or both. Now that doesn’t completely solve the problem either, but CB should make it mandatory that each income shot should accompany an account number so that a customer can easily verify those income claims with CB.
Hi Neal,
I absolutely agree. As I read through my emails each day, I discard 65%(est.) based on those tactics. At times, the subject line is enough to send it howling to the trash. The marketplace is saturated with it. Apparently, those marketers whom continue to utilize this brand of snake oil don’t realize, understand or give a [edit] they lose business because of these unethical, deceptive practices rather than profit. To all of the entrepreneurs falling victim to this, or simply feel vulnerable to these tactics, ALWAYS remember this die-hard fail-safe, ” If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.
I could not agree more Neil and thank you for the article. I do however no for a fact that
Clickbank has not begun to take serious action as of Sept. 1 since several products in the IM niche were rolled out that still use the same deceptive practices. Two of the vendors/affiliate managers are of course multi-million dollar types so I’m certain Clickbank and their cozy vendors can easily off-set any potential FTC fines and still profit handsomely. I do appreciate all you have offered and hope to one day have some actual success online.
Cheers
What you’ve posted is extremely important. Two weeks ago I posted a very lengthy comment on a famous Internet marketer’s site explaining to him my opinions why he got banished from YouTube.
I said one of the major reasons he got exiled was probably because of the FTC cracking down on false claims and other dubious Internet marketing practices. Then I cited a laundry list of “offenses” that unethical Internet marketers do to make sales while at the same time they lose their credibility.
To be fair, I’m not going to mention the marketer’s name, not because he is guilty of sleazy practices, but rather because I have no reason to believe him to be anything but an up front & fairly honest marketer who doesn’t engage in sleazy behavior. And I don’t want his reputation to be unfairly stained by the broad brush of dishonesty that the unethical marketers could paint him with.
To repeat, I think he got banned from YouTube, not because of anything he did, but rather because of what the sleazy marketers were doing wrong; and then the government, in a very wide sweep, happened to put him under the same rock the FTC is looking under to find the real dirtbag crooks.
That being said, you’re also right, Neil in your position that Clickbank has to accept responsibility for allowing these sleazy practices to proliferate for so long. After being in business for as long as they have, they had to know what was going on.
They even have a policy of banning customers from buying any more products from Clickbank if these customers make “too many” refunds within a certain time frame.
So, as far as I’m concerned, Clickbank is as duplicitous and complicit in sleazy IM practices as the marketers themselves are.
That’s interesting… guilt by association. It happened to me, and inspired the launch of ScamFreeZone.com way back in 1997. Before I took the domain name, I was selling a guide to making money online and the Australian government sent me an email saying they were monitoring my website as a potential scam. It wasn’t, of course. In response, to help people offering and searching for genuine business opportunities online, I started the ScamFreeZone.
Neil.
I’m really looking forward to seeing them cleaned up. There are lots of ways to offer great information at a good price without all the wild claims and so forth. This is long overdue.
I think its about time….there are many people making money with dishonest tactics…now maybe the honest marketers will be able to make money….
Lots of lip service given to honesty and integrity on the Internet. Follow the dollar in almost any given situation and there will be someone attempting to bilk someone else for some easy money. Even the FTC can’t put an end to the chicanery, but it’s refreshing to know they’re on the job. Caveat Emptor!
All the best,
Jon
I agree, it’s about time they got rid of these scammers, I haven’t fallen to them as i’ve been lucky enough to be part of a forum that keeps up to date with what’s another quick buck for the crooks and what actually works and what is decent. I know a lot of people do bash CB but there are also some really good products on there and especially some of the software when it comes to I.M. i have bought some invaluable tools which have come through CB.
Dave
Great post Neil!
I for one am happy CB has finally done this, I warned their management team 9 months ago the FTC would probably be very interested to see what’s going on. Course no one did anything until the FTC did come around.
Yes it has hurt sales from reputable marketers but if we stick to our guns, in the end customers/people will be able to see clearly who they can trust and who they cannot.
Scammers are short term thinkers and usually go out of business quickly once their reputations are shot. (It’s not just $37 products on CB that are scammers by the way also)
This is why it’s even more important nowadays to do complete back ground checks when thinking of promoting someone’s products or working with someone in business online or offline.
I’ve written off about 50-100 scammer vendors myself to never ever do business with them again.
I’ve even heard from a few of those guys they ‘regret’ doing what they did now, too bad – they made their choice now they have to live with it.
Hi Jeremy,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Neil
Right on. This is good for customers but it is also good for CB. I think that this is the way for better sales on quantity and for quality also.
Next – Let’s hope they stop the scummy practice of stealing your affiliate earnings if you don’t reach the threshold. Clickbank are certainly guilty of sleazy tactics themselves.
I don’t agree with that, Andy… you can get paid from having just $10 in earnings…
–
The “Payment Threshold” is a predetermined minimum amount of money you must have in your account before we cut you a check. You may select an amount from $10 to $1,000,000 as your Payment Threshold amount. The default setting is $100. We hold your payment until your payable balance reaches this amount. A $2.50 pay period processing charge is deducted from each payment we issue.
—
source
Neil.
Neil
I think these new rules are more than expected. Much time since I bought my last CB product. Why? Because of many of those “weird” things the new rules say about. I am glad for all of this.
>>Also, affiliates cannot pose as neutral third parties evaluating two products so they make a commission on selling one of them.
So, it looks like as long as you make it clear your reviews may result in you getting a commission you can still create review sites. It’s withholding that info that is probably gonna get people in trouble(?).
Aside from launching products of my own over the years, I’ve made more affiliate money through Clickbank by writing reviews than any other method. I’d hate to see reviews get banned altogether. Just the scammy ones claiming to be neutral or independent and altruistic–when they are not need to go.
Andre
I think its time to stop all this B.S products that worked at 1 time but not currently. These marketers should be exposed. Thanks ClickBank for stepping up finally.
Good article…it’s been a while since I promoted a Clickbank product. I got tired of the crap and BS so I turned to promoting physical products and creating my own information products. Where there is a credit and an internet connection there is a market.
Hi,
I agree – its about time the lying was stopped, particularly the false scarcity.
I still feel safe buying through Clickbank though as you are guaranteed to have the refund honoured if the product is trash.
Dale.
Hi Neil,
Thank you for sharing your very well written article. When I was a new to the whole interntet marketing thing, I bought heaps of Clickbank products that all failed to deliver. I think I must have accrued thousands of “frequent flyer” points with Cickbank as I always asked for a refund – something that I think many vendors on Clickbank bank on the buyers not doing!
The fake scarcity information that you provided is a worry. I agree with you that if there really are say 300 copies available, then how can a vendor re-open the offer and sell more than 300 after 7 days.
Thanks again for the useful and relevant information.
Kindest,
Libby Kalis
Finally the market is maturing, and we see this kind of changes in many areas: seo (slaps), pandas:), more social responsability.
This was long awaited, but in a field like the “Internet”, with things moving at such a rapid pace, many “jungles” were born with no rules and no ethics, except the “dog eat dog”.
Finally some maturity is enforced into these, for as Neil says: “human nature is what it is”.
I’m glad they have decided to this. Honestly, they probably enjoyed the money they made from these products – I know I’ve paid my share towards them in the beginning – but there is a point where ethics has to take over. You can’t call yourself trusted and then sell useless [stuff], even if you do give out a refund, because another sale is not in your future.
Thank you for putting into words the troubled thoughts I get everytime I see a new Clickbank product that promises instant, almost overnight riches just by instaling, configuring software that “taps into the underground black river traffic source” that will produce “ka-chings!” almost every half minute! I was wondering why Clickbank would lend its name to these sleazy products. I’m just surprised that there had to be pressure from the FTC for them to act on this.
Meanwhile, I still get CB products that still violate the terms mentioned above! *sigh*