Clickbank Confusion! $100 limit imposed only to NEW vendors!

[michellerana]

Hello,

Everything was going well. My Trading product was ready and I applied to Clickbank to have it approved and to go live. I also asked for an increase in the price level since in the videos, I talk about the "normal price" being $147 but you can have it for just $97 etc. Indeed, I would like to sell it at that higher level for those who do not take up the one-time offer.

However, while my product was approved, I was told that the maximum price level for a Trading product is now $100.

This makes a nice mess of everything.

I had also wanted to offer an upsell to a second product of mine, soon to be released, that would be priced in the several hundreds of dollars range. Well, now I can't even offer the first product at above $100. Hence, I DEFINITELY cannot offer the second product on Clickbank AT ALL if I wish to stick to the price I wanted!

I asked why and was told that "due to severe customer service problems, along with high refund/chargeback rates, we no longer allow vendors offering Forex products price limits higher than $100.00"

Oh really? If we look at all the greedy self-serving garbage on offer in that niche - Forex Trading Robots and the like - it is hardly surprising. Yet, my product is precisely the opposite - a series of training videos on HOW to actually trade markets; not a bunch of "surefire" systems or "press this button and make money" junk that fills this niche market. I have been in Investment Banking for 11 years with major name investment firms: I am not about to sell a "trading robot" or any other high refund garbage to anyone.

Hence, it looks like legitimate merchants in Trading are all being tarred by the same dirty brush. And that is apart from the fact that the most famous Forex Trading Robot on Clickbank still sells for around $147 at this very moment. So that price was not revoked: it is only for new vendors that they impose this $100 limit.

My real issue though is that this really makes a mess of my strategy. I cannot release a video that says that the "normal price" for the product is $147 or whatever, when I cannot ever sell it at such a price through Clickbank. It would not be the truth. And it would be absurd to sell ONE product, i.e.the entry-level product, through Clickbank and then sell my second much more expensive product through a completely different payment system!

The obvious answer is, don't use Clickbank for any of it. But then you are losing access to all the thousands of potential affiliates who could promote the entry-level product, build your customer list for free, etc.

I have to say that I find this confusing and annoying and I will inquire further of them about this previously unknown policy. However, if anyone has any suggestions as to how to proceed from the marketing point of view, I would be glad to hear them.

Seems to me that the only real solution is to use a different payment processor for both products. You lose the affiliates, but that is the price one now has to pay on Trading products. The other possibility is to use Clickbank for the first product only, and don't do the immediate one-time offer for the higher product, which would require them to pay via a totally different processor. Offer it later so that they don't get presented by two completely different sales processes one after the other. I guess the third option is that you COULD do precisely that, and leave the customer to figure out why you used Clickbank for the first purchase and 2Checkout.Com for the second!

Any thoughts, insights, or suggestions would be more than welcome!

Asoka

[jmpruitt]

hmmm. Not involved in that niche, however, what is more important, the massive affiiliates or your integrity? I would go with a different affiliate network witht that problem. Also, many clickbank affiiliates also use other networks, so you will not lose as many as you think. It all comes down to how well you market your product to potential affiliates.

disclaimer:
this is only an opinion. I have no experience in that niche, or with running an affiltiate program. i only own a few of my own products, and I have not set them up for affiliate promotion yet.

[wollowra]

Hi Asoka,
Hmmm, it seems you have a problem.

1. I would ask clickbank why other trading products are allowed to stay at $147.
This is duly unfair and does not set a level playing field for all merchants.

2. You could offer the product for $99.
But does clickbank allow an upsell outside of this $99?
(I know that you said that going from $99 to a much higher priced upsell product is too much of a jump in price, but is this an option that they will allow or does the upsell have to be within the $99?)

3. Remember you get the email and contact info of all buyers.
You can then upsell them later on. If your product is good then I do not see a problem.
If you need to use a different payment processor I don't see a problem with that.
All you need to tell people is that because clickbank will not allow you to offer a trading program over $100 that you have to use another trusted processor.

4. You may need to redo the video for the $99 price.. yep it sux I know.

5. Ask Clickbank if they can make an exception in this case as you have mae the product and they do not have that policy in place anywhere on thier site about the $99 maximum.

6. If the above options are no good for you then you have no choice but to use another payment system etc..

Good luck.. I know you are frustrated about this and yes it really sux.
I hope you get it sorted.

Regards
Troy