ClickBank Refunds - Hope for the Better but Prepare for the Wo

When we launch a new product, we all hope it's going to be a runaway bestseller. Much than that, most of us aim to produce a product so remarkable that it generates rave reviews and achieves cult popularity. You may really well attain all of these objectives with your product launches.

But, look out of a characteristic of the ClickBank system that may throw these aspirations into danger - the 90-day refund rule.

Most merchants agree that ClickBank's rock-solid refund policy adds a great deal of believability to their sales pitches, sanctionative them to do sales to even as the most wary of online shoppers. The hassle-free refund procedure is as well the key factor behind ClickBank's exceptionally low chargeback rate. ClickBank customers have no need to ask their banks for chargebacks, so ClickBank keeps its bourgeois account in nice standing and we merchants all save money on chargeback penalties.

But, despite its attractions, the ClickBank refund rule is as well a source of blatant abuse by a minority of dishonest buyers.

However nice a product may be; however more your genuine buyers love it, there wish always be a small percentage who ask for refunds. Don't be disheartened. In most cases, this is not a reflection on your product or your ability as a merchant. It is just an exploitation of the ClickBank refund system to get thing for nothing.

Around 5% of my ClickBank sales result in refunds and, deciding by my discussions with different merchants, this numbers appears to be just about average. I have many glowing testimonials from satisfied customers, but there is still the occasional client who is, seemingly, impossible to please. Ironically, I have ne'er yet issued a refund to a client who has offered a reason for being dissatisfied. Is this normal? It suggests to me that the problem lies not with the product, but with the morals of the buyer.

With the purchase of a digital product you can, if you choose, support the product and get your money back. Online felony just doesn't get any easier than this.

ClickBank's bourgeois community has advisable various route to tackle this problem. The most popular idea seems to be that ClickBank should introduce a rapscallion consumer list, characteristic serial refunders by their prior purchase activity. Of course, the list would-be be confidential - merchants would-be just need the option to specify whether they accept purchases by buyers in this category. This resolution is not without its own problems, especially the challenge of accurately characteristic buyers from one purchase to the next. With multiple credit cards and multiple email addresses, it is comparatively easy to bypass the illegal list, just by creating a new online persona. But, at least this initiative offers hope of a resolution to the problem.

So far, ClickBank has not declared on any plans to update its refund policy or introduce controls to protect its merchants from this type of fraud. Until thing changes, merchants need to adopt a pragmatic attitude to the perplexity of sham refunds. As frustrating as it may be to see our profits volitionally two-handed over to fraudsters, we should remember that the support offered by the refund system probably pays us dividends many a times greater, in the form of accumulated sales.

Copyright © Tim Coulter. All rights reserved.

Tim Wedge is a advisor and code developer who helps netpreneurs to harness marketing technologies.

He is as well the author of "ClickBank - The Definitive Guide" The Ultimate ClickBank Tutorial & Reference Manual.

http://www.clickbankrevealed.com/