ClickBank citing U.S. Law for not paying commissions?

[Seabass]

What law says payments to affiliates/publishers can't be paid out until the criteria shown below has been met? It sounds ridiculous.

Customer Distribution Requirement

ClickBank accounts cannot be used for the sole purpose of collecting rebates or otherwise extending credit to yourself or others. In compliance with US law, ClickBank will withhold payment of any account balance until the following criteria is met:

* Sales made with 5 or more different credit card numbers and
* Sales made with two different payment methods (either Visa, MasterCard, or PayPal). Note: PayPal purchases do not count toward the minimum 5 different credit card numbers.

 

[-REECE-]

That's just weird...

Sounds like a clever way to earn interest on the earnings of their members.

What law says payments to affiliates/publishers can't be paid out until the criteria shown below has been met? It sounds ridiculous.

Customer Distribution Requirement

ClickBank accounts cannot be used for the sole purpose of collecting rebates or otherwise extending credit to yourself or others. In compliance with US law, ClickBank will withhold payment of any account balance until the following criteria is met:

* Sales made with 5 or more different credit card numbers and
* Sales made with two different payment methods (either Visa, MasterCard, or PayPal). Note: PayPal purchases do not count toward the minimum 5 different credit card numbers.

 

[ripley]

Hard to say. Sometimes it's all in the interpretation; ClickBank's lawyers may be interpreting something in a strange way.

Ask them to provide you the spot in the U.S. Code where this statute is located and I can help pull it up. It should be something like: ## USC ####

ripley.

 

[Seabass]

I just sent them an email.....we'll see what they say.

I agree Reece....my first thought was it is being done for the interest that could be earned.

Can you imagine how many folks also never make the five card limit AND the two different charge card requirements? Then they can keep the money from the abandoned account.

 

[ripley]

Keep me posted! I'm really curious about this one. I suspect it has something to do with electronic transfers and fraud prevention, but who knows.

ripley.

 

[Seabass]

Keep me posted! I'm really curious about this one. I suspect it has something to do with electronic transfers and fraud prevention, but who knows.

ripley.

Will do. They only pay by check, however.

 

[mis_chiff]

I just sent them an email.....we'll see what they say.

I hope you get a favorable response
I've had one of the accounts for awhile, and
all payments were made through paypal....
I passed my minimum threshhold over 2 months ago,
when I didn't get my payment I went looking for the
reason and saw the requirements about c/c's and stuff

What if I don't get c/c payments - does that mean I'll never
get the money owed?

 

[Seabass]

Check this out, I just did some more reading.....if you stop sending traffic OR don't have a sale for 90 days they consider your account "dormant". After a 90 day period they start taking your money back. 90 days seems awful soon to take back money. It should be a year or two - IMO.

Dormant Accounts

Accounts with a positive balance but no earnings for an extended period of time are considered dormant. Dormant accounts are subject to a charge of $1 per pay period after 90 days of inactivity, $5 per pay period after 180 days of inactivity, and $15 per pay period after 365 days of inactivity.

 

[-REECE-]

$15 inactivity fine per pay period is highway robbery :td:

Check this out, I just did some more reading.....if you stop sending traffic OR don't have a sale for 90 days they consider your account "dormant". After a 90 day period they start taking your money back. 90 days seems awful soon to take back money. It should be a year or two - IMO.

Dormant Accounts

Accounts with a positive balance but no earnings for an extended period of time are considered dormant. Dormant accounts are subject to a charge of $1 per pay period after 90 days of inactivity, $5 per pay period after 180 days of inactivity, and $15 per pay period after 365 days of inactivity.

 

[Seabass]

I hope you get a favorable response
I've had one of the accounts for awhile, and
all payments were made through paypal....
I passed my minimum threshhold over 2 months ago,
when I didn't get my payment I went looking for the
reason and saw the requirements about c/c's and stuff

What if I don't get c/c payments - does that mean I'll never
get the money owed?

I see that now......they allow payments by direct deposit after three paper checks.

I don't see the PayPal option, though.

 

[-REECE-]

What a load of...

It's sickening to see these companies do whatever they can to stop people from getting the money they legitimately earned -- as if having a minimum payout wasn't enough?

I hope you get a favorable response
I've had one of the accounts for awhile, and
all payments were made through paypal....
I passed my minimum threshhold over 2 months ago,
when I didn't get my payment I went looking for the
reason and saw the requirements about c/c's and stuff

What if I don't get c/c payments - does that mean I'll never
get the money owed?[/QUOTE
I see that now......they allow payments by direct deposit after three paper checks.

I don't see the PayPal option, though.

 

[Seabass]

I've seen terms before at other companies where rev earned is removed after a period of time.....but usually it is much more rational. You usually have to walk away from it for a couple of years before it kicks in.

The requirements for different C.C numbers and different C.C. companies is totally ridiculous.

 

[mis_chiff]

I see that now......they allow payments by direct deposit after three paper checks.

I don't see the PayPal option, though.

How/why can they accept Paypal for Recurring Payments
from our customers but can't pay their own affiliates that way?
(Unless it's been recently changed.)

I was under the impression this was common place for
affiliate accounts. I haven't seen to many threads about
it so I never asked myself. Guess I should have

 

[Seabass]

They responded quickly with a vague answer having to do with rebates, which I don't participate in. I only sell product.

It's just a rehash of what is written on the page.....they told me nothing.

Hello,

Thank you for your inquiry. You have not been issued a check because your account has not yet met our "Customer Distribution Requirement", which states that ClickBank accounts cannot be used for the sole purpose of collecting rebates or otherwise extending credit to yourself or others. In compliance with US law, ClickBank will withhold payment of any account balance until the following criteria is met:
* Sales made with 5 or more different credit card numbers and
* Sales made with two different payment methods (either Visa, MasterCard, or PayPal). Note: PayPal purchases do not count toward the minimum 5 different credit card numbers.

This requirement is in place to help prevent affiliates from abusing the ClickBank Affiliate Program by using their accounts for the sole purpose of collecting rebates and/or discounts on their own ClickBank purchases.

Please note that once you have met the Customer Distribution Requirement, the full balance from your account will be paid on the next check issuing date. Also, please keep in mind that you only need to meet the Customer Distribution Requirement one time per account (not per check).

You may review our accounting policies by following the link below:

http://www.clickbank.com/accounting.html

 

[ripley]

That is an absolute load of BS. I'd write them again and demand a non-form answer to your specific question. If that doesn't work call them. This is starting to make me mad and I'm not even affiliated with Clickbank in any way, LOL!

ripley.

 

[whitebark]

I stopped using them last year after making two large referral sales and when I didn't see the money and was feed their BS I told them to suck an egg. But in the end that egg sucking is a few hundred of my dollars!

Clickbank is a poor-man's CJ or google affiliate network anyways imo. Avoid them and go with companies with solid track records.

Oh and forgot to add for the search engines:
click bank scam
clickbank scam
clickbank scammers
clickbank ripoff
clickbank not paying commissions
clickbank sucks
:wave:

 

[Seabass]

I stopped using them last year after making two large referral sales and when I didn't see the money and was feed their BS I told them to suck an egg. But in the end that egg sucking is a few hundred of my dollars!

Clickbank is a poor-man's CJ or google affiliate network anyways imo. Avoid them and go with companies with solid track records.

Oh and forgot to add for the search engines:
click bank scam
clickbank scam
clickbank scammers
clickbank ripoff
clickbank not paying commissions
clickbank sucks
:wave:

Wow......I actually have had more luck on ClickBank than at CJ.....using some of the same domains.

I can't seem to wring hardly any money out of CJ.....even using primo generics. I do know some folks make big bucks at CJ.....but I have never pulled any significant numbers like them. I don't know why. Maybe I need to stop doing redirects for everything and create some sites.

That sucks to hear that about ClickBank.

 

[Dave_Z]

My maybe wrong guess is they're citing US contract law. But it's very flexible
that it allows various parties to practically do almost anything, as long as it's
legally enforceable.

I'd also guess they don't want to cite that law because it could be wrong and
later held against them if sued. Well, who'd want to do that?

It so happens Clickbank's contract puts them in a potentially stronger position
unless, say, voided in a court of competent jurisdiction. Anyone up to it?

 

[weblord]

1 year is a long time, im both merchant and affiliate member with clickbank.com i must admit i sticked with them since there are no paypal before and they have the highest commissions that they get from customers.

i still have unpaid commissions from them due to the fact of what's stated on the first post of op but we don't have much choices here when you're in our country.

maybe it's because of the number of fraud but they don't need to "kill" the members just for this.

Check this out, I just did some more reading.....if you stop sending traffic OR don't have a sale for 90 days they consider your account "dormant". After a 90 day period they start taking your money back. 90 days seems awful soon to take back money. It should be a year or two - IMO.

Dormant Accounts

Accounts with a positive balance but no earnings for an extended period of time are considered dormant. Dormant accounts are subject to a charge of $1 per pay period after 90 days of inactivity, $5 per pay period after 180 days of inactivity, and $15 per pay period after 365 days of inactivity.

 

[gear]

I see that now......they allow payments by direct deposit after three paper checks.

I don't see the PayPal option, though.

yes
But i only recevie check on time!! :gl: :gl:
CB is great affilite system