I'm just about to put my first product on Clickbank and I've been told that a good way to push it out to affiliates is to sell a few copies for almost nothing and get good gravity so that it rises to the top of the lists. That's OK but when I set the thing up with Clickbank I need to tell them a price. Do I tell them, say, $7 and then increase it to $47? Or do I tell them $47 and quickly knock it down to $7 for a while?

I know they don't seem to have a problem with commission rates changing but do they police price changes?

I think you can price it anywhere upto $50 without issues and change it as you please. Above that, you probably need to get it reviewed.

That seems sensible - but why do they ask you for a price when you set it up and ask for approval? I've presumed they are approving the price as part of that approval.

The answer is in the Publisher FAQ - https://www*clickbank*com/publisher_faq*html

5. What is ClickBank's maximum retail price limit?
The typical retail cap for standard products is $50. In some circumstances, we can approve a retail cap as high as $200 for standard products, and even higher with a prior sales history with ClickBank with low refund and chargeback rates.

For recurring billing products, the typical retail cap for the initial payment is also $50. However, the standard retail cap for the rebill amounts is $30. In some circumstances, we can approve a retail cap as high as $100 for the initial payment, and as high as $50 for rebill amounts, and even higher with a prior sales history with ClickBank with low refund and chargeback rates.

But that only deals with a price cap when the product is approved. Not with changing a price. If I can change a price after approval then it seems pointless to cap it in the first place.

Mate, you've got the publisher side of things a bit wrong.

1. Depends on what your product is. If it is aimed at CB'ers or IM markets, you'll find that grav will go up easily (if it's a good product/great branding/conversions...) as CB'ers will buy it with their own link. Every time someone buys your shit with their link your grav. goes up a point.

2 Don't 'sell' your affiliates anything, NEVER change the price and commission on them, and unless your agenda is to rip them off and scoop what you can, treat them like the gold they are. Give all your affiliates and top level JV's free product, get 20+ reviews/testimonials, get buzz out there for it.

3. Don't bother with $7. The majic formula for super aff's or even mediocre ones does NOT get judged by gravity mate. That's not logical for these guys. They like money, and while you may think that seeing a gravity of 120 is going to be attractive, seeing a $7 price point and like $3 commission is only ever going to get you n0000bs. The only way you're going to get good affiliates re pricing is if you charge more, and give more than others. I'd say $45 minimum and 75% commission, or $55 + a $37 backend upsell and 75% commission. Leverage your offer and be proud of it for aff's.

4. When you submit for approval, make sure it's priced right. If you only get approved for $50, then want to charge more, you'll have to resubmit/ask for a price increase, and might get rejected. For approval purposes set the price to $97 for now so that your account is approved for $100. Then set the real price to whatever it's going to be.

5. Do a proper launch, announce a launch date, build up a jv list, get some buzz going, 'it's coming'... don't just throw it in the marketplace you'll get minimal results. Post in directories, forums, and on launch day hopefully you'll have 20+ people by your side blitzing with you.

I'm doing a launch on Tuesday and have been building it up for over 2 months. After launching xx products now, I've learned that your launch day and how well prepared you've made your program overall is what makes or breaks you. There is no playing 'catch up' once you launch so come correct is my humble advice.

Best of luck with your launch, and don't forget to build up a nice resource area for affs.
NC.

EDIT: I just re-read this:
For recurring billing products, the typical retail cap for the initial payment is also $50. However, the standard retail cap for the rebill amounts is $30. In some circumstances, we can approve a retail cap as high as $100 for the initial payment, and as high as $50 for rebill amounts, and even higher with a prior sales history with ClickBank with low refund and chargeback rates."

That's nutz, I must have a good history - my new lauch is $250 upfront with $149/month recurr.

My Cb account has a 1200$ cap... Fuck clickbank and their 10% fees though. I would shoot for 150$ or so just to give you some room to work with.. After you have the high approval you can set any price between 10$ - your cap.

Thanks for your input, which is much appreciated. However, the paragraph above raises the point I was somewhat uselessly trying to get across. I want to get the product out there, in advance, to potential affiliates. The question is - how? I know there are JV forums but they seem to want to take a considerable amount out of the profit for making introductions. If I'm giving away 75% to an affiliate plus whatever to clickbank by the time I've paid them I'd have about 5% left for me!

Is there any recommended way of getting in touch with potential affiliates before launch that doesn't involve that kind of expensive arrangement?

If you make a product $50 and offer 75% you still take home around $12/sale. If you can attract a quality base of aff's, it's quite easy to get them making 20-30 sales a day if you and they commit to each other well.

Regarding recruitment, you're doing it right now Tell people about it. Make threads announcing your program at forums. Visit directory sites (google affiliate directory submission), make a 'give-away' thread and offer xx out for free/exchange for reviews, that usually wins people over to promote it if it is indeed a good product. Do manual recruitment, get spy tools to mine competitors aff pages and contact them manually one by one with proper JV invites, there are a few jv forums and sites that can help as well.

There is no perfect formula, and recruitment/recruiters are an essential part of any program. If you stay loyal to CB, and end up making a line-up of products not just a one hit wonder, you'll also find that utilizing overlap from previous programs will help, that first program though can be a bitch - so go full out, get the product out there for reviews and start listing it everywhere possible.

Cheers,
N.