Direct affiliate vs Clickbank

I have noticed that many merchants selling digital products also have an affiliate program
What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a direct affiliate?
Are you less likely to get credit for referrals for a direct affiliate program than Clickbank since the payment is made through Clickbank?
Some dishonest merchants may refuse to pay for sales.
thanks

 

It is foolish for a merchant to be dishonest because word will spread quickly and their affiliate program will not last long. It is to the merchants benefit to run an honest program to increase their overall sales and image.

 

There are thousands of merchants, who keeps track of honest and dishonest merchants?

 

Both have their benefits and disadvantages. The advantage of being a direct merchant are a higher yield per sale as opposed to using clickbank or shareit for that matter. But the advantage is the trust. Yes it is true that a merchants reputation will be ruined if cheats but then there are those who do. I am a part of Commision Junction and they send emails at times of merchants who have been droped.

So yes if you use Click bank you can be assured of a commision but one which be less then dealy with a direct merchant. But dealing with a direct merchant is better if you have good business skills and would like to negotiate deals. So all in all I would say that if you can find a reputable merchant then go for direct sales. If you want many merchants with little effort then go for Click bank.

 

Thanks for your replies. Is there any way I can find if a merchant is reliable , other than trial and error? Also if a sale is made through Clickbank, can the seller dispute the sale?

 

Hi:

As affiliate manager for a “direct” affiliate program, I can tell you that we handle things on a much more personal level than a CJ or Clickbank. That’s not to say that they don’t do a good job, it’s just a different level of communication that is open to you.
As mentioned here, dealing directly with the “indy” affiliate program allows you to form VIP volume-sales partnerships that might not be available through Clickbank. Having been around since 1996, I also agree with sport302, that if we weren’t reliable and didn’t pay our affiliates on-time for every sale earned, we wouldn’t last long. News travels fast.

Speaking for my program, we have do upfront processing fees. We maintain our own merchant account and fraud protection, our own customer support department to keep refunds down, ACH and wire transfer available – and special arrangements can be made for mid-month payments. If you want to create your own sales page, we’ll help with creating a matching order page (to test for you – if you like) and we’ll also put together customized banners for your site.

I guess I’d just say that “flexibility” is the key here.

 

Interesting,

Having run my own affiliates, as well as using others, ClickBank, CJ, etc., the basic difference is you earn more profit with your own, but it is also more work, as in sending out checks and handling customer service, so I like the extra profits, but not always the extra work and responsibility. As to charge backs, they can hit you on both, so not much difference there. As to venders not paying, as others have said, they wouldn't be around long if they don't pay, word would spread like wildfire as negative news always does.

Good luck to all, Mike

 

Based on my experience I have found that older and well established websites do pay their affiliates on time and are easier to convert. But for newer merchants, how does one find out whether they intend to pay out?

 

I would guess the main advantages of using a direct affiliate is that you are likely to get higher commissions and have less competition. The advantages of using a network is that you have many affiliates to choose from and less risk of not getting paid (although you should do research first before joining any network or affiliate program), all the links from all the networks are in the same format which is good if you use datafeeds from a network, the earnings from different merchants are consolidated into one large payment so it's much easier to try different merchants and not worry so much about reaching the min payout for each merchant, etc.