Hey I've been wondering lately, with clickbank, anyone can purchase a product through their own hoplink and get the affiliate commission back for themselves.

Doesn't that mean if we're promoting a clickbank product, and the people who find our affiliate link happen to be know about internet marketing, will always know that they can easily purchase the product through their own affiliate link instead and get the commission for themselves?

Cause if this is the case, it means you can hardly ever promote a clickbank product related to internet marketing because the people you are targeting will most likely have their own clickbank account, and only the considerate people will make sure the person promoting the product gets paid, and not take the commission for themselves.

Or does clickbank have some way around this?

That I suppose is one of the risks. To be honest I'll buy through my own link - but only if I really think the product will help me and if I intend to promote it.

Another way of looking at it is like this. Clickbank will only pay you after you've earned a minimum amount of commission $50 I think it is. So let's be honest if any 'Smartass' robs you of your commission he'll probably not gain from it - and serves him right

As people engaged in marketing products we know about these things and it is really hard to sell to each other but the majority of Clickbank customers, I would guess, know little about the workings of Clickbank and therein lies the protection

Kevin

That can be a risk. Although there is no real way to stop it, there are some things you can do. Whenever I promote a clickbank product, I always cloak my link. There are a couple different ways to do this...I use a simple bit of HTML code, and there are some fairly secure software solutions. If I recall correctly, Holly offers a solution, but I'm not sure if it's software you get or a service she provides.

This normally won't work on a well known product. If other marketers know it's on CB they can just look it up themselves. In this case, you can offer a bonus or a rebate if they purchase through you. This is done quite a bit, but be sure to read CB's TOS. If you go the rebate route, make sure the buyer sends you the receipt AFTER the refund period ends. If you give the rebate and they refund, you're out the cash.

Hope this helps,
Kevin

The way it works with Clickbank is you won't get your first check until you have sales made with 5 or more different credit card numbers, including at least one Visa card, and one MasterCard. PayPal purchases do not count toward the minimum. So if someone plans to sign up just so they can purchase something, they won't get a check anyway.

But, like Kevin said, cloaking your hoplinks will help but you're not going to be able to everyone from stealing commissions.

Kathy