Clickbank: Filled with scams and illegal offers?

[Gerto]

I was taking a look around clickbank to see if I could find something I wanted to promote. Now, what surprises me is that , after doing some research to find a REAL review on some of the offers on clickbank, a lot of them are just illegal.

For example, sites like the movie downloads and psp blender give links to P2P networks, which are illegal to use.

Then there are many more offers which may not be illegal, but which just do not deliver what they promise, and don't even come close.

Those are often the products with the highest gravity and that are promoted heavily through adwords,...

Now I have 2 remarks with this:
-Ethics: I personally just don't feel good selling people somethinig which I know that just does not do what it promises. Now, obviously, exaggerating is part of selling and there's nothing wrong with that. But many of those products are just scams.
-Adwords Ban: I wonder, if you're promoting a product about downloading illegal files through P2P networks, won't google ban your account when they find out? This is clearly against their TOS

Anyone who can help me understand this?

[JulieO]

I never considered that some of these might be illegal or not deliver. I assumed that Clickbank took the responsibility of making sure what they offer is legit. I just started promoting through Clickbank about a week ago and considered promoting PSP Blender.


I will wait to see what responses you get here.

[Shirishb]

Hi Gheto, your views are great, however What We Can Do to Make a Difference is important.

The Click Bank promoting so many products, which when join the bank are may be fully compliant to rules of world regulations and regulatory authorities.

Along the way they improve in both ways

Delivering to users what they want?

Adding new items to keep themselves profitable.

Also they improve to improve Click Bank Affiliates profitability.

Now where it takes ugly turn and becomes "ill minded intentions" is probably difficult to define.

My take on this is I am promoting merchant in full faith to receive my commission, I am not part of the final agreement between the merchant and purchaser.

[Linda Buquet]

I never go to CB so can't really comment on whether they have lots of shady offers. I can tell you that lots of the CPA networks have sneaky unethical offers too. The affiliate networks typically don't have that much problem because they are selling retail products mainly or do real lead gen, not offers.

Affiliates need to decide if they are comfortable selling something borderline or totally shady. Many CPA offers and some info products have gotchas.

I believe what goes around comes around, so what I would ask myself if I were an affiliate evaluating offers is - is this something I'd be comfortable recommending to a friend or family. Or better yet how would I feel if a friend sold this to ME?

If you know the 'free trial' really isn't, it's a sneaky autoship and they will keep getting billed for what they thought was a freebie unless they jump through hoops, is that something you'd feel good about doing to a friend?

That's the way I'd evaluate things anyway.

[fitnfree]

I am "so" with Linda on this - basically it boils down to a matter of your moral/ethical creed, if you will.

One of the affiliate networks I use has scads and scads of offers where you supposedly get something free - for participation. That "participation" can get quite costly. When those were first gaining ground I once ran one in a newsletter. I was in a hurry and didn't check the offer out, just took it at face value. My own father was a victim. He e-mailed me and said how he had tried this offer but they kept asking questions and wanting him to sign up for this, that and the other thing and being from the generation where honesty and trust were more the norm he was totally perplexed and didn't understand why the offer was so misleading. I went and checked it out and it was insane what was all expected of a person to get their so-called "freebie". So from that point on I make sure to take the time to check these offers out and refuse to run those that are misleading or let's just say it, crooked.

I guess my point is, treat people the way you would like to be treated. My hope would be in most cases this would be as honest as you can be and offer products and such that you know will really deliver.

[jbirdmanjr]

Does Click Bank not check out the offers? Or better yet , do they get to review the products before they are posted. And did you say that the shady products had HIGH gravity?

[Anomaly]

Originally Posted by jbirdmanjr

Does Click Bank not check out the offers? Or better yet , do they get to review the products before they are posted. And did you say that the shady products had HIGH gravity?

clickbank do review products before they get sold, but whether they review it with an eye on the ethical / legal side of things well, who knows ... i think the movie download ones get around it the same way filesharing networks get around it, by putting the whole "don't download anything illegal" notice on the software, then it's the customers fault when the RIAA come knocking ...

personally, i agree, i'm not totally happy with some of the products on clickbank ... so what do i do, i don't sell them ...

and i sell products from publishers i can have some sort of trust for ... as well as being sure to sell the product properly, and bearing in mind the 60 day refund ...

[Oregon Coast Guy]

I steer clear of unethical stuff there. I only promote the good stuff that I've used myself or that get favorable reviews.

I go by the 100/30 rule of finding Clinkbank products. I will only make a go of it if it's gravity is over 100 and it's commission is $30 and over. Otherwise, I pass on it.

If you keep a good eye out, you can find some really good stuff. I'm just really selective.

Regards,

Tony Thomas

[mark8]

Hi
thank you for saying it so well, would you treat a friend like this....unlikely..as a newbie to clickbank promotions I will choose carefully, thanks for the gravity comment.
Hazel

[Anomaly]

of course, once you become experienced don't be afraid to go for lower gravity products ... they can be good earners too, and generally less competitive, but it does take some skill to be able to identify the good ones