Gravity rates have fallen through the floor (down over 90% in the past month), so I take it that most people have either moved on or just stopped altogether. It sounds like pretty soon there won't be much choice.
The fact that they are naming chargeback rates as the problem does pose an interesting dilemma. If this is a problem for Clickbank, there is a risk that it will be a problem elsewhere, not immediately but perhaps at some point down the road. Then again, maybe not, if they are able to better manage the process to avoid them. Not knowing that side of the business, I wonder whether assessing some of these fees to the affiliates is a viable option or if cutting ties with the few to save the many is the only solution.
The thing that gets me is not what was done but how it was done. It seems like all of a sudden one day all the Visa subscriptions were cancelled without notice either to the affiliates (they are capable of doing a mass e-mail by vendor) or to the customers giving them an option saying we can no longer honor your payment method so switch it or be cancelled at the end of the month. I only noticed because 40% of my subscribers disappeared overnight. Then the mass refunds started with again no notice.
Of course, the unfortunate fact is that none of this was likely a big surprise to anyone who has been in the niche for long. About 3 years ago, the largest vendor in the segment went out of business. They had I believe a 5 year subscription rather than monthly. One day their links all of a sudden stopped working, and there were affiliates who kept promoting them because they did not know. A few weeks later, the mass refunds started. I think mine were around 90% of what I had sold in the last 2 months leading up to it. I ended up negative for a few weeks after that, and the punishment was that my allowance was permanently tripled (Clickbank reinstated the original rate months later after I asked them to reconsider).
Definitely money to be made, but it's not the easiest segment to be in. As for Clickbank, I'm still promoting them for several products in spite of it all, albeit significantly less. I have no reason to believe there is not value in doing so, even if they seem to have given up on one category.
The fact that they are naming chargeback rates as the problem does pose an interesting dilemma. If this is a problem for Clickbank, there is a risk that it will be a problem elsewhere, not immediately but perhaps at some point down the road. Then again, maybe not, if they are able to better manage the process to avoid them. Not knowing that side of the business, I wonder whether assessing some of these fees to the affiliates is a viable option or if cutting ties with the few to save the many is the only solution.
The thing that gets me is not what was done but how it was done. It seems like all of a sudden one day all the Visa subscriptions were cancelled without notice either to the affiliates (they are capable of doing a mass e-mail by vendor) or to the customers giving them an option saying we can no longer honor your payment method so switch it or be cancelled at the end of the month. I only noticed because 40% of my subscribers disappeared overnight. Then the mass refunds started with again no notice.
Of course, the unfortunate fact is that none of this was likely a big surprise to anyone who has been in the niche for long. About 3 years ago, the largest vendor in the segment went out of business. They had I believe a 5 year subscription rather than monthly. One day their links all of a sudden stopped working, and there were affiliates who kept promoting them because they did not know. A few weeks later, the mass refunds started. I think mine were around 90% of what I had sold in the last 2 months leading up to it. I ended up negative for a few weeks after that, and the punishment was that my allowance was permanently tripled (Clickbank reinstated the original rate months later after I asked them to reconsider).
Definitely money to be made, but it's not the easiest segment to be in. As for Clickbank, I'm still promoting them for several products in spite of it all, albeit significantly less. I have no reason to believe there is not value in doing so, even if they seem to have given up on one category.