There have been a lot of rumors flying around regarding Clickbank’s new Terms Of Service. Since most of us aren’t lawyers, I thought it best to contact Clickbank directly, and ask for clarification.

I’ll tackle the two major concerns:

:: We can’t offer bonuses for people buying through our affiliate links anymore.

This isn’t true. We can still offer bonuses, as long as it’s not cash or voucher incentives, and as long as we follow the guidelines:

Clickbank state:

Clickbank’s policy on affiliate’s giving bonuses has not changed with the new client contract. The wording has changed a bit but it is the same. The key to understanding the affiliate bonus is that it cannot be an offer of cash or cash equivalent to the customer. For example, an affiliate would not be able to state “Buy now and you will receive a $15.00 cash rebate sent to your PayPal account”. However, “Buy now and receive this ebook as a bonus” would be acceptable.

Our general policy surrounding this is issue is stated below.

Affiliates may offer bonuses that are not cash or cash equivalents if they adhere to the following:

1) Affiliate must state clearly and prominently that the bonus offer is not the responsibility of ClickBank or of the seller of the primary product.

2) Affiliate must state clearly and prominently that ClickBank will not honor any refund requests that are based on non- delivery, quality, or functionality of the bonus materials.

3) Affiliate must provide their own direct contact information (email address,
etc.) and state clearly that any issues regarding bonus delivery, bonus functionality, or bonus quality must be addressed with the affiliate, not with ClickBank or the seller.

So nothing has changed on this account - it’s still the same!

The second biggest issue was regarding the transfer of Clickbank accounts to a new owner.

:: We can’t transfer Clickbank accounts to new owners anymore

This also isn’t true. It’s common for people to build internet businesses with the intent of selling them off in the future. The reason for this is the relative ease of transferring the Clickbank account to the new owner. This way no payment information needs to be changed, everything is just transferred to the new owner. This is also quite common for “website flippers” — people who buy a website, make some improvements, and sell it off again.

Clickbank state:

With regards to the second issue of account transfers; as has been the case in the past, ClickBank does not prohibit the sale or transfer of your ClickBank account. Under the new Client Contract, there is no longer a $50 fee to transfer an account. To transfer an account, simply change the payee name listed in the ClickBank account (and confirm the change through the e-mail sent). During the payee name change process, a checkbox to re-agree the account to our Terms and Conditions, including the Client Contract, will present itself. This will cover the transferability clause that is currently indicated in our new Client Contract.

Please note that the checkbox is not yet there for this but will be added during the next release which is scheduled to occur on March 30th.

So Clickbank account transfers are not only acceptable, they’ve been made more attractive because there is no longer a $50 transfer fee.

I hope this helps to straighten out a few misunderstandings with the new Clickbank TOS.

And thanks goes to Jennifer and Sheri from Clickbank for the polite and fast handling of my questions!

Whilst there are a number of ebooks floating around on flipping websites, the release of “Buying and Selling Internet Businesses”, by Sam Stephens, has seen the unveiling of the real business tactics and aspect of trading websites and internet businesses.

This ebook deals strongly with the real business behind the marketing fluff.

Sam Stephens has successfully sold websites well into the five figure sums, and he now reveals the knowledge he has massed over many years in this highly competetive market in his debut ebook, “Buying and Selling Internet Businesses”.

Find out more here: Read more
 

Today a new service has been launched: Work for hire.

This service is completely free, and is designed to help people who need work done get in contact with people can do it for them. This is a unique opportunity for people to hire contractors who have had experience in DLGuard and other GuardHQ products.

A new area has been created in the forum under the title “Mercenaries”, and allows people looking to hire to post their job offers, and for contractors to advertise their skills.

The forum is free to register, and you can post your job or your skills here now:

http://www.guardhq.com/forum/index.php

 

The GuardHQ website has undergone a much needed make-over.

Based on a Wordpress blog for easy updating, GuardHQ utilises WP2News, a script by Sam Stephens (which will soon be released publicly), to list news items in summary format in GuardHQ’s site template.

Designed for ease of use as well as future expansion, the new GuardHQ site is designed specifically to be a central hub for Sam Stephens’ internet software business.

A new article has been added to GuardHQ: PDF Ebook wrappers and protection

I’m often asked about protection of ebooks after they’ve been downloaded. This article may help shed some light on an often debated topic of PDF wrapping and ebook compiling.