ClickBank Recommends Best Practices for Continuity Program Merchants
January 27th, 2010
Jan. 27, 2010 - In the wake of several merchant account closures due to what major credit card companies consider ambiguous continuity program terms, ClickBank, a global online retailer, is offering several guidelines regarding best business practices for continuity program merchants.
Dush Ramachandran, ClickBank vice president of sales and business development, says clarity is key.
“If you are engaged in a practice in which goods or services are provided automatically, and the customer must either pay for the service or specifically decline it in advance of billing, you must be very clear and upfront about it,” he said. “This type of practice is not unethical unless buyers do not fully understand the terms or sellers do not accept the consumer’s decision to discontinue the service or return the product.”
Ramachandran said the need for transparency and a willingness to accept cancellations also hold true for offers with confusing terms or delayed charges. “Credit card companies are no longer going to support merchants engaging in ‘free’ offers that are not actually free.”
Finally, he said, customers must receive goods or services in exchange for a credit card payment and, for any offer, must provide an affirmative consent such as a mandatory “I agree” statement checkbox where the customer acknowledges the terms and conditions of the offer and consents to be entered into a continuity program.
“At ClickBank, we’ve found that the best way to avoid compliance issues and keep our client’s continuity programs up and running without interruption is to be completely transparent with consumers regarding the terms of continuity programs.”
About Beau BlackwellBeau is the Client Knowledge Guru for ClickBank and covers the latest trends, tips and techniques for building profitable Internet marketing businesses.
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Posted in News | 
Tags: best practices, billing, continuity programs, guidelines, merchant accounts, recurring billing, transparency
Thanks Dush.
I’m considering starting a membership program that would dove-tail with my 16 love/sex/romance ebooks on ClickBank and this clear guidance from ClickBank is definitely needed, especially with all the scams out there (and the shutting down of such websites).
ClickBank has always been a step ahead of the pack in term of ethics and simply doing what is right. It is no surprise that everyone sees it as the leader in its field.
Michael Webb
TheRomantic.com
Dush mentions… “customers must provide an affirmative consent such as a mandatory ‘I agree’ statement checkbox where the customer acknowledges the terms and conditions of the offer and consents to be entered into a continuity program.”
ClickBank’s order form already has a check box on all continuity offers that says “I agree to the payment terms as stated above” —
What else (if anything) do vendors need to be aware of? The information provided on the ClickBank order page is extremely clear, concise, and presented in a suitably large font.
Hello.. i’m newbie in this post. I try to learn how to get some special here to increase my job. This information really give me something new about clickbank. I try harder to get some benefit to both me and you. I hope i will get some advise for this. Thank you very much
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Thanks for the info. I’m planning on possibly making a continuity program and this shines some light on possible issue.