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Clickbank Affiliates Could Be Losing Millions in CommissionsUnknowingly Clickbank affiliates who earn commissions for selling products, may bebilked out of commissions in what could be the perfect crime. This crime would gocompletely undetected.
Melbourne, Fl March 16, 2006
Note that in no way am I ever accusing or insinuating Clickbank of stealingcommissions or doing anything remotely illegal or dishonest. They have a greatcustomer service department who strives to provide decent, honest service in anenvironment that is rife with dishonesty. Yet they too may be victims
ClickBank is a legitimate company that offers a great service to entrepreneurs, homebusinesses, and buyers alike. Product developers register their product withClickbank and offer affiliates a percentage of the sales commissions through the useof a "hop" link. The affiliate promotes the product, a buyer clicks the link, paysfor the product, the sales commission is split between the owner and the affiliateautomatically. Clickbank also does a great job of protecting the consumer if thereare any complaints or the product is not delivered. When it all works, it is a greatsystem.
But it does have a flaw. And it could be a big one which could easily be exploitedby internet thieves. Because, if the "hop" link is not correct, the unsuspectingaffiliate does not receive any commission at all. But the affiliate would never knowit, and who would complain. The developers, get paid. The buyer receives theirproduct. And the affiliate never knows if anyone used their link and if their linkhad been hi-jacked.
I became aware of this situation when I recently purchased a product using myclickbank link and noticed that I did not receive a commission for this sale. Iqueried clickbank about this, was told that structure of the clickbank hop link hadbeen changed.
This is the response I received from ClickBank support.
The affiliate hoplink must be set up in the following format to trackcommissions properly:
http://AFFILIATE.VE NDOR.hop.clickbank.net
"Affi liate" 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 becomesuspicious. So I emailed Clickbank back and here is the response.
Our hoplink tracking system relies on cookies. Please verify that you have cookiesenabled in your browser, and that there aren't any third-partyad-blocker/anti-sp yware 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 andwho 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 utilizesnumerous services to promote several ebusinesses. Often times he shares his hardlearned lessons.
For More Information Contact:
Rex Maddenrex@mrmtravel.comhttp: //www.mrmtravelbiz.com
