Shopping Carts: The (Not So) Fine Print

Funny thing about fine print. Sometimes it’s plenty big, but it hides in plain sight because we don’t take the time to read it.

Like, how many often do you read the Terms of Service before signing up for an online service? How often do you pause during a software installation to read the lengthy EULA? Do you ever read those from top-to-bottom?

I don’t always, but I should. We all should. Because when we click “Agree”, we’re saying that we’ve read it all. Or at least, that whatever they wrote is okay with us.

And what about those handy-dandy “Read Me” or “The Basics” or “Get Started Here” thingies? They come in many flavors—

• The poster-sized illustrations that come with new computers and TVs
• The teeny booklet that comes with teeny gadgets
• The Thanks for Signing Up email delivered by online services

Do you read those top-to-bottom? Or cover-to-cover? Or end-to-end?

I almost always do. Experience proved that doing it over after doing it wrong is more irritating (and takes longer) than reading the instructions and doing it their way the first time.

Sidenote: On the rare occasion we buy something new, my husband tosses me the instructions and then dives right in, working it out as he goes along. In the end, he knows the ins and outs of how it’s assembled (and how to fix it if it breaks), while I know the ins and outs of how it works (and how not to break it).

Reading the print–both fine and otherwise–is always educational, often important, and sometimes critical…as you’ll see.

A Fine Example of Fine Print

Did you know that with ClickBank—

• Selling your product requires their approval? So does the image you upload for their shopping cart page.
  Turnaround time on product approval is 3 to 5 days. It’s up to 2 business days for the order form image.
• ClickBank considers you, as the product creator, a wholesale vendor?
  They essentially buy your digital product from you, and then resell it to the person who clicked the Buy button on your site. Therefore…
• The shopping cart page cannot be customized.
  It has their logo, their colors, and their message. You can’t add your logo, change the colors, or anything.
• Fees per transaction are 7.5% + $1?
  Consider that PayPal charges  2.9% + 30¢ (or less) for payment processing
• Your first earnings “paycheck” will be sent only after the sales minimum is reached and if at least 5 unique credit card numbers were used for the purchases and if a prescribed assortment of payment methods were used.
• Your first two payments must be sent to you as a paper check?
• You’ll be charged $2.50 (each!) for being issued those checks?
  And for every other payment, whether it’s check, wire transfer, or direct deposit.
• They hold 10% of each “paycheck” for 12 weeks?
  To fund belated refunds and rejected charges.

But also…

ClickBank manages your, actually their, affiliates, entirely. ClickBank—

• Has a Marketplace where affiliates can find and evaluate your product
• Pays the affiliates
• Provides support to the affiliates
• Processes and mails all the end of year tax paperwork to affiliates
• Will take extra effort to pay an affiliate, even if they moved or their account is all but abandoned (ask me how I know)

And also—

• ClickBank collects and files paperwork for the VAT and the new-ish US interstate sales taxes
• Online sales in general, and information products and memberships in particular, are flagged high-risk by credit card/merchant account companies. Some of ClickBank’s fees and policies reflect the costs inherent to processing these kinds of sales.
• Clickbank’s review process ensures fraudulent products don’t hit their virtual shelves. Bad products attract attention from the FTC, legal action, and worse merchant account rates.
• ClickBank provides sales support because the shoppers are their customers. You provide technical and product support, though.

And then—

ClickBank has a reputation in some circles for only selling cheesy internet marketing stuff—the kind with big red headlines and 79-word subtitles. You know the cookie-cutter kind I’m talking about. Ugh.

Yet I’ve bought really good specialty cookbooks from ClickBank, red headlines and all. And yes, even some really good internet marketing stuff. Heck, I ghostwrote the second edition of a ClickBank book.

So.

Like any other shopping cart, like most things in life, there’s good stuff and not-so-good stuff and great stuff and stuff that majorly sucks.

ClickBank has a lot of fees, but they also do a lot of work. They have a raggedy reputation among some circles, but other circles rave about them (in a good way), some stuff sold through them is kinda crappy and some of it is really good. And they have a lot of active affiliates. A lot.

Which is all to say…

We need to always always always read the fine print.

And we also need to read the stuff that’s in plain sight before we sign that dotted line, click that Agree button, or make that first payment. Even a quick readthrough can raise flags or soothe worries.

And we need to read, and maybe even ask, why a policy is in place. It may be there to squeeze another dollar out of us, but it may also be there to protect us from evils and consequences we hadn’t imagined.

So yes, read the fine print. Or just dive in and tinker and see how it comes out rather than plod through all the details. There are benefits either way.

As you’d guess, I choose to plod through, like I did at ClickBank’s site. Here’s where I found what I found…all via the Vendor Help area, all in plain sight.

• Get started as a vendor
• Top 5 beginner vendor questions
• ClickBank vendor charges
• Creating a payment link
• Product images and titles
• Returns and chargebacks
• ClickBank accounting policy

p.s. Comparing ClickBank to other shopping carts paints an interesting picture about what we’re getting. And what we’re missing. Which is in the Shopping Cart Guide. Just saying…