10 Reasons Why I Do Not Use Clickbank To Sell EBooks
I’m going to start this post by saying something absolutely anathema to EBook marketers and publishers.
Clickbank sucks as an EBook payment and delivery service.
There, I said it. Flame away. It sucks for the seller, it sucks for the buyer, and I imagine it sucks for the affiliates (although I wouldn’t know.)
Every book and advice article I’ve read says “Use Clickbank and Paypal to sell EBooks”. I insist this is bad advice and will briefly describe why this is so below.
I used Clickbank when I first started, just like I was told to do, but quickly learned they were not a ‘partner’ for my business. So my list below has been well earned through actual experience.
10 Reasons Why Clickbank Is Not My EBook Delivery Service
* Blue Quotes are taken directly from www.clickbank.com
1. Clickbank takes $1 plus 7.5% of each product you sell.
For comparison, Google Merchants takes $0.20 and 2.0%.
* Update March 2009 – In May 2009, Google will change their fees to a tiered structure. The most expensive tier will still be a lot cheaper at $0.30 per transaction and 2.9%. *
* http://checkout.google.com/seller/fees.html *
2. They mail you your earnings by check.
Wait, did I just read that right? Yes you did. It’s 2009, and the ‘preferred internet marketing vender’ is mailing checks 90 days+ after a sale. I laugh.
I laugh again and spill my beer. Damn You Clickbank!!!
By the way, if the USPS loses your check? Clickbank will charge you $10 to get a new check.
Clilckbank does offer direct deposit now (it started in 2008), however you can’t use it until they mail you at least three checks after at least 90 days or more…Why? Who cares…it’s just a terrible way to get paid.
3. They hold your money for weeks to make sure they are covered if someone returns your product. On top of that, typically they will hold 10% of your money indefinitely for any future returns . Thanks guys, I guess Clickbank really is a ‘bank…’
4. If you have less than $100 in your account, they hold the money until you make enough for them to go to the trouble of sending you your money.(Oh, and “A $2.50 pay period processing charge is deducted from each payment we issue.”)
This isn’t conducive to new EBook venders or trying new products that may or may not work out. If your account goes dormant while you are learning the ins-and-outs of the business, they start to change you $1-$3 per-day until your account is $0.
5. Customer Service is not responsive or interested in your efforts to understand Clickbank’s archaic system. Enough said. Go ahead, try it out for kicks.
6. Returns can cost 3x the value of the product you sold – “In these instances we charge the publisher $18 per credit card chargeback. We will charge an additional $35 penalty per credit card chargeback if the publisher’s products generate in excess of 1% chargebacks in any 90-day period”
7. “A one-time $49.95 activation charge that must be paid upon approval of your first product.”
Google? $0. Paypal? $0.
Do I really need to pay you to be a user of your service?
8. The website is difficult to use and there are no instructions or help that is of use to new clients. The blogisphere is full of posts about “How to get Clickbank to Work”. That’s a bad sign, if you ask me.
9. By the way, Clickbank does NOT hold your content or deliver any value to your customer!
So even after they charge you all the above charges, you are still responsible for providing the product to the buyer. All they do is process the credit card.
10. The tracking and history services are archaic, cumbersome, and worthless over time.
You may agree with some of my reasons here, or you may not. It really doesn’t matter. What I found was Clickbank is expensive, lacks features, surprisingly difficult to work with, and absolutely loved by the VEM’s. Personally, I recommend you stay far away from the site.
So what do I recommend instead? A combination of Google Merchants and E-Junkie. Much cheaper, easier, and much much much more modern for my EBook marketing needs.
Clickbank - whether people can admit it or not – is insufficient for our digital marketing needs. Cleaner, cheaper, and better services exist. I wanted to write this post to warn EBook sellers that there are other options to Clickbank that are better. Don’t give up because you can’t find a way to sell your products because you can’t undersatnd Clickbank or warm up to its high fees for no service…
Man, I need two beers after revisiting my Clickbank frustration memories. Off I go!…
1 Comment