It’s funny how things in business happen and how you can’t rely on almost anything to work seamlessly anymore. The term passive income isn’t exactly passive, well not for me in this instance anyway!
Please read this post to the end to grab your FREE download of my Bloggers Roadmap eBook, and also find out why I’m giving it away..
As I sit here in my rented holiday villa for a few summer weeks in Spain, I have come to realize relying on anything in your business which is controlled by someone else must still be monitored. Here are a few examples:
1. Hosting (Blue Host failed not so long ago)
2. Auto responder services (Get Response Failed not so long ago)
3. Payment processors (Clickbank failed me last month)
Please realize these are examples, Get Response and Blue Host were repaired, but not without severe detrimental effects on peoples online businesses. Also remember I’m merely trying to paint a mental picture of how your online business can crash without return leaving a 5 figure income stream dead in the water! Yes I’m a little pissed at Clickbank!
Shut Down Without Warning
I’m going to cut a long series of emails short and pull out the bones for you on this one as I was exchanging emails for a few days trying to find a resolution to why Clickbank (CB) shut my Bloggers Roadmap account down without warning.
I will say this is partly my fault! I know I’m not perfect when it comes to online business, but a little support or notification would have helped from CB rather than a “This product is no longer for sale notification” and a “sorry there is nothing we can do” response from support.
At the present time and without going onto my account (because I can’t) I had passed a high 5 figure sum through my Bloggers Roadmap account, but still CB would not help me out or replace my account. It’s a case of once it has been removed you have to reapply for a new account and this would have consisted of:
- New application
- New flow approval
- New site approval
- Adjustment of API keys etc for my members area for automated upgrades and access
- And some other stuff..
The point is, once I setup the account initially I don’t want to be doing it again, just because CB can’t support me. Plus there is the rigmarole of getting approval which if you have a product on CB you know it can be a big pain in the ass!
My Fault or Not?
You can make your own mind up on this one, but I guess I can take a some blame. if you have a similar setup, change it now!
Some time ago, CB created something called ‘JV Contracts’. JV contracts are a great way to share payments across vendors e.g. I can give a percentage of my earnings to you for every sale. It works well, I have numerous accounts setup for JV contracts which work seamlessly as long as there is enough in the main account to support refunds.
So What Happened?
CB created JV Contracts before they created their master account. so to make things easier (I know I’m not the only one here) I setup JV contracts to myself giving 99% affiliate revenue from my Bloggers Roadmap account to my 1st CB affiliate account. This way I could see a total daily revenue for every account in one place using my iPhone ‘CB App’. Sounds good, sounds simple and easy! It was for 2 years….Until..
Refunds!
Since my account has always been quite healthy over the last two years, sales always outweighed the refunds but recently like they do when a product gets older sales had dropped off, due to lack of affiliate support, ads and self promo (my fault), and since 99% of all revenue was going to my main CB account, a spurt of refunds placed me in negative equity! This lead to my account being closed due to it being in negative equity for a set period.
“A simply mistake you have to agree, but not punishable by shutdown!”
No matter how I tried I could not get my account back. So, whats the plan I hear you saying? Well for now, I have decided to give it away for FREE from this link:
http://www.bloggersroadmap.com
This is the eBook, not the video series or any of the members area tools or Facebook group. This wouldn’t be fair. However the eBook is a great resource and one I would definitely recommend reading if you would like to get into blogging or make your own better.
The Future of Bloggers Roadmap
At present I’m still a little pissed at CB so they won’t be getting any future business for Bloggers Roadmap. JVZoo.com will be the future payment platform of choice when I update to 2.0 and re-launch it. But for now I’m letting it go for free:
http://www.bloggersroadmap.com
Lesson Learned
Many online businesses are effected by change and if you don’t control the 3rd party, it’s always worth staying ahead of the game. Create a contingency plan to allow for changes in hosting, auto responders, payment processors even the laws behind online selling.
I hope this article helped.
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to post below 🙂
Interesting article
I guess this is the problem the old saying of eggs and a basket comes to mind. I have a friend who builds a lot of apps and publishes them on google play, same thing happened to him and overnight his income went down (luckily he has a few accounts)
but we always have to be careful I think jvzoo is the way to go
Maybe not all eggs in one basket Rich, but I would say CB should have a better customer relationship for problems such as this. Lesson learned I guess buddy.
It is scary to think that if this can happen to you how badly might I screw things up! Thanks for sharing.
Don’t worry Jeff, this shouldn’t happen anymore. Not with the use of the CB master account. You can view all accounts online with ease now.
https://accounts.clickbank.com/master/login.html
Wow man that sucks, I definitely didn’t see this one coming!
Pretty sure JVZoo will do wonders for you though, can’t wait for version 2.0
And well, I guess you’re back to holidays now! LOL
Sergio
PS. I’m going for a few holidays as well tomorrow but at some condos in a Mexican beach so it should be very good for a little “step away from IM”.
It’s great to step away Sergio. I’m only posting this and a few mailings. I’m logging in once every 3 days to check stuff as I have the Product Launch Control (launch :)) when I get back, so need t stay in touch with JT.
Enjoy your hols man
Hi Dan,
Bit of a pisser mate. Hope you get it sorted. Tell where to go…
Donald
I will Donald no danger of that!
Dan, so sorry that this happened to you. Oh, what would we do without the ups and downs of doing business online. You’ve had your fare share of downs. Knowing you, the final outcome of this will probably prove it to become a blessing in disguise.
I love your Bloggers Roadmap eBook. It is great value for anyone who wants to improve their blog. I will let my friends and contacts know that, for now, they can get it free from your site.
~Jude
Thanks for sharing Jude. I have had a few downs lately, but I guess that’s business! This is probably the kick in the ass I need to release 2.0. Thanks Jude.
As a newbie on line IM I’ve yet to sell anything on CB or JVZoo, and I’m still learning. So thanks for sharing this information.
I agree with you, surely it is better that Click Bank supports customers when mistakes like this happen, shutting an account down with no warning is not an acceptable solution.
Good luck with bloggers road map 2.0 – I’ve read the 1st addition and it has some great advice and tips.
Don’t worry too much Loraine, with the release of the master account and the ability to hook up all your account to one smartphone app. This shouldn’t happen again. Although I’m still shocked at customer support. It’s their loss, I will be moving to JVZ after this.
I could understand your feeling Dan, I once lost my adsense account back in 2010 for invalid activity, which wasn’t a valid reason in truth.
Small fish Gregory, that’s all we are 🙂
Thanks for sharing that with us Dan. As you point out, passive income does not really exist, the IM marketing business, like any \\\’conventional\\\’ offline business requires constant attention and monitoring to survive. I\\\’ve heard many negative comments about CB and to be fair, because of this and perhaps more significantly, because of the success of JVZoo, they are starting to get there act together.
I’m not completely removing them from my business just yet, as I still have a lot of interests in them. But a valuable lesson has been learned regarding customer support.
Well hello Dan sorry to hear about you having first hand experience of Clickbanks mightier than thou attitude.
As a baby affiliate I always try to avoid having anything to do with Clickbank as they refuse to allow any payments due to their onerous CDR rules whilst stealing any affiliate payments I have generated, so far down about $75, not a lot but then its not a great incentive to promote products where I am unlikely to see any reward.
JVZoo is definitely the place for online marketers to promote and allow others to promote their products.
igor
I agree Igor, JVZoo is far easier to promote and see returns from, but I guess they all have their flaws. I’m always cautious about Paypal and refunds to. That’s one account I don’t want to lose.
Bastards Dan! Ive heard some real horror stories about clickbank over time!
I never got around to buying bloggers roadmap but i did buy PDC and it was quality so Ive just grabbed it now 🙂 thanks for the download Dan look forward to 2.0!
Ste Murphy
The main thing is Ste, I have put a lot of cash through CB approximately 30k per year as an affiliate and however much for Bloggers Roadmap and they still wouldn’t support me. I’m assuming that once they delete an account, they can’t get it back. I have completed customer un-satisfaction reports so that may help them recognize the problems for others in the future.
Hey Dan,
How annoying! It’s a good job that there’s a much more level playing field these days. When I first started looking into Internet marketing Clickbank was pretty much the only offering, or at least the main touted solution. Nowadays I think it’s much easier for people to get started selling their digital products online and with much better support and customer care than what Clickbank seem to have been offering of late.
If a seller is already using them extensively then they might still have a place, but I think that for people just starting out they should be avoided. Even for affiliates they don’t make things easy, but with the issues you’ve mentioned here, Dan, it highlights alarm bells across the board.
Thanks for being so transparent about your experience. Even though you recognise the areas in which you could have done better, anyone who’s followed you for a while knows that you’re a straight-up guy and don’t deserve this kind of hassle. But I know you’ll carry on, learn from it, get even better and continue to pass on the value to your readers, subscribers and customers.
I hope you have a great weekend, buddy. 🙂
»Glenn«
Clickbank was the number one Glen, but then the scammers screwed it good and propper with stupid sales pages of Russian spy created secret Google software. Then they clamped down big time! Personally I still like them for the simplicity of affiliate payments and use ethical marketing, but customer support shocked me last week.
I don’t mind being transparent at all. People need to see and hear the other side of marketing and not just the glory and profits. It’s not always rosy lol.
I did click on link for bloggersroadmap but there was no signup box
Try refreshing the page and scrolling to the bottom
Sorry about your demise but thank you for your generosity.
Hi Dan,
I am surprised clickbank wouldn’t work with you more to get your account back. You would think that with the competition they’re getting from other sites like jvzoo, they’d try a little harder.
Like you said, it makes sense to have some backup plans, especially if your main source of income is from on-line sales.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
-Karl
Thanks Karl, I am surprised to? It’s bad business IMO
Hey Daniel…
I personally WILL NOT use Clickbank…they are just far too *headmaster* when it comes to your career and business being built on their platform…while I’m still building the foundations on my business. I too have taken the route of using JVZoo for my business…it’s clean NO FUSS…NO underlying stupid *squeeze you dry* fees!
As a matter of fact…the fee process including handling refunds is incredibly easy AND very *cost effective* on your karma….8-D
Take care dude you have just taken a turn for THE BETTER…John.
Thanks John I know exactly what you mean. JVZoo is the future for me now..