I suppose it is bad of me, but I have gotten lazy about checking my YouTube InBox (kind of: out of sight, out of mind).  But this morning, I spent a good hour or so looking over the questions people have sent and one stood out…

It was from someone who was upset that affiliates could buy Clickbank products with their own affiliate link.

Is this fair to the advertiser?

Technically, no one referred or marketed this link to them.  Why should I (the advertiser) have to provide them a full commission at my expense?

This is kind of like the “refund” debate (how do you prevent people from buying your product with the intention on refunding it?).  That is a post all in itself, but the two are very similar.

In both cases, the advertiser is losing profit with intention from the buyer.

I think affiliates being able to buy Clickbank products with there own link is GOOD!

Let me give you my arguments…

1) Test Before Promoting

As an affiliate marketer myself, I want to be able to go through both the buying and affiliate process myself.  If I am going to promote a product, I may not necessarily want to use it, but I am still willing to pay the advertiser SOME money for the opportunity to accurately review it.

Also, you want to make sure that your affiliate cookie or link is actually going to give you credit.  I hate to admit this, but there are some rather deceitful marketers out there.

(I know, that is tough to believe)

They may try to funnel the customer onto a mailing list and market them elsewhere.  Or they may stuff their own cookie.  Or they don’t provide you commissions on an important upsell.  There are a lot of bad things that can happen, and I want to test the Clickbank system and the advertiser to make sure it is working ok.

2) Who Even Knows This?

If you are an affiliate marketer or have spent time in the home business space, you are aware of Clickbank, how it works and how buying with your affiliate link can save you money.

But I will promise that MOST people don’t have a clue about this.  If you sell Home Biz products, you will be affected a lot more and you will get people who are “buying for themselves” with no intention to promote it.  (I do it all of the time…I even refund products that I think stink, too!)

But for the general masses and MOST e-products, you will find that the general consumer does not know about this.  (And in this case, the buyers who DO know about it are more than likely buying for the reasons stated in #1).

3)  This Increases Gravity!

So are there any benefits for those of us who ARE in the home biz niche (or other niches that consumers are abusing the affiliate link?).

YES, and it is a good one, too.  Remember that Clickbank Gravity is a function of unique affiliates that have sold a product (to learn more about this, see my post Understanding Clickbank Gravity).  How much is an EXTRA GRAVITY POINT worth to you?  In this case, you still get a percentage of the sale and an increase in gravity.  (And gravity is a viral thing!).

4) A Sale is a Sale

And still, even though are you missing out on profit, in many cases, these people would have never bought from you in the first place without the discount.  You still get the lead, you still make the money, and for most of us selling on Clickbank, our overhead costs are very small (which makes this discounted sale still profitable!).

I would be rather upset if Clickbank started a non-affiliate buying rule.  I don’t think it helps anyone.

But tell me what you think?  Should affiliates be able to buy products for themselves on Clickbank?

cheers…matt