Guest Post by Gabrielle Greene
I’ve been an affiliate marketer for going on ten years now. I enjoy the diversity and working with several different niches. But, this is the first year that I have been visiting the idea of selling my own products again. The idea is exciting but also a bit overwhelming between finding the right vendors/wholesale prices to researching merchant processing options and more.
PayPal is one of, if not the most popular payment processor for accepting payments because it’s easy to use. But over the years I’ve had a few encounters with my money being held up and issues over refunds. For that reason I started researching merchant providers aside from PayPal. Below are tips to help you assess which merchant provider will meet your needs.
Processing Needs:
- Is there an application fee?
- Is there a contract requirement?
- Are the fees reasonable and comparable to other merchants?
- Is the system user friendly and easy to integrate?
- Does the company offer a mobile reader which can be used with your mobile device? Is it free?
More on Fees...
Aside from an application fee, are there any other fees involved in the initial set up?
Are there monthly minimums that must be met?
Make sure you ask about “per transaction fees” in addition to monthly fees and minimums.
Can payments be deposited directly to your bank account? How frequently?
As an aside, the credit card industry is rife with shady practices, take your time and due diligence in researching terms and conditions. Also read reviews by other business owners that will help you to make an informed decision.
Army of Affiliates?
Although I am used to being the affiliate, with this website there will be other things to do so in order to make money, having other affiliates sending traffic to the site is my main focus. It has taken me quite a few years to learn that I can’t do everything and that there are some tasks I just don’t need to do.
Setting up an Affiliate Program
There are several widely used affiliate management programs on the market to choose from, it’s just a matter of picking one that will work well for you and fit your needs.
Two of the popular ones I have found are:
Ejunkie – Affordable with packages as low as $5/month. It has all the necessary features to start selling your products online and to help affiliates promote it.
Clickbank - $50 one-time fee, 7.5% transaction fee, but Clickbank has been around a long time and is one of the largest digital marketplaces. Compare to other programs though as the transaction fees can be steep.
The goal is to make the affiliate area as easy as possible for affiliates to promote your product. Having experience as the affiliate can prove beneficial in this area. Some things to consider are:
Provide an affiliate link to be used when promoting your products.
Have an information product page to introduce potential affiliates to your product. The page should be concise and clearly describe what the product is and why people need it.
Promotion banners are important! Offer different styles, sizes and colors that will be compatible with general themes and styles.
Email copies that affiliates can you use to send to their mailing list is a benefit to you and the affiliate as the easier it is to promote your product, the more likely they are to do it.
As the affiliate program manager, your two main functions to a successful program are being available to your affiliates to answer questions and provide help as needed. And to track and monitor conversions so that you know what is and is not working.
-- My name is Gabrielle Greene, I blog at TipsOnHowToSaveMoney. My friends often refer to me as “Gaby Gabs A lot,” especially if it has anything to do with freebies and saving money! As the mom of two teenage girls, being frugal is an absolute must. It tends to drive my husband crazy, but oddly he doesn’t complain when the coupons are for golfing.
About Lynn Terry
I have heard that people can have problems with Paypal, but I haven't encountered any yet. I think if you setup a full verified business account with them they are easier to work with.
I have also tried e-junkie and Clickbank and found that e-junkie was good for selling my own low priced products for a smaller fee and Clickbank was good for selling higher priced products using affiliates. If you have a good converting salespage, people find your product on the Clickbank marketplace and sell it for you whereas e-junkie isn't as popular yet.
Good tips Lynn. I've used Ejunkie before ( the $5 plan ) to deliver digital products and it has always worked great and it integrates well with PayPal. In 10 years I've only had 1 issue with a Paypal sell. So I feel confident when using both of those. I've only used ClickBank as an affiliate but have consider trying to sell a product on there.
Great tips! I've tried Durango as a merchant processor for an eCommerce site and have been pleased with them. This year I'm hoping to create my own product and learn how to get affiliates banded together to promote it.
Gabrielle
ClickBank just recently (about three weeks ago) introduced a new platform with new pricing points... it's very complex, and the $49 fee is waived...
@Mark
yes, PayPal is known to freeze accounts (for up to 6 months) of those individuals or businesses doing large jumps in sales from month to month - e.g. going from $2k a month to $20k a month might become suspicious to PP...
@Christina
Personally, I use/d CB, and now looking for a more basic solution... there are some great alternatives to e-Junkie, one of them is DigiResults, works fine with PayPal.
Excellent topic Lynn,
I'm getting more cold on Clickbank these days.
They take waaaaay too long to pay and if you don't do everything right you won't get paid they hold your money based on some complex reasoning.
I like the newer affiliate merchants that pay instantly AND don't have a monthly service fee.
Have you ever tried digiresults.com?
Hey Lynn another great post on your blog. Gabrielle has written a nice post here on affiliate marketing, i have tried Clickbank but never tried EJunikie. I will give this a try for sure.
Thanks for all these tips. I've been using Durango for years already and I am fully satisfied with it.
Great tips Gabrielle, I'm also into affilite business from last 4 5 years, it and work best for me, however if i compare ejunkie with clickbank, than i prefer clickbank for liability and brand recognizable.
Perfect timing, Lynn! I'm just starting to research merchant services for a new product I'm working on. I'll let you know which service I choose.
Like many people, I've found that Clickbank just doesn't perform like it used to. I am huge fan of E-Junkie, though. Cheap, simple and secure. I'm surprised no one has mentioned 2Checkout, though. I used them for a number of years with no problems whatsoever. The only thing I didn't like about them was that they would always keep a 'reserve' of money back.