ClickBank Refund Policy

The following excerpt from the ClickBank Accounting Policy, published on their website, set forth their policy regarding refunds and chargebacks. The section below is copied directly from the Clickbank website at: http://www.clickbank.com/accounting.html :

ClickBank Accounting Policy:

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Returned Sales

As part of our commitment to quality customer service, ClickBank may approve a return in response to a customer dispute. When a sale is returned the customer receives a 100% refund and payouts from that sale are debited back out of the corresponding publisher and affiliate accounts. From the publisher's account we also charge $1 per returned online check sale. (There is no similar charge for credit card returns.)

Revoked Sales

A purchase is revoked if the customer's bank later claims the purchase was unfunded or fraudulent. Revoked sales cost us money and harm our reputation as a reliable product retailer. In these instances we charge $1 per revoked online check, $5 per American Express or Discover chargeback, and $15 per all other credit card chargebacks from the publisher's account. We will charge an additional $35 penalty per credit card chargeback if the publisher's products generate in excess of 1% chargebacks in any 90-day period. ClickBank reserves the right to delist any product or group of products at any time.

These practices can help prevent revoked sales:

1. Remind the customer that your product brand name will not appear on their credit card statement. Instead they will see the name of product retailer "CLKBANK*COM".
2. Make it very easy for the customer to contact you for technical support. Visibly display your email address on the page so that they can write it down. If you have a business phone number, provide them with that too.
3. Let the customer know that product is backed by ClickBank's guarantee of quality customer service and that ClickBank will be happy to help them if there is any problem with their purchase.

     [Highlighting emphasis added above by Survey Sentinel]

Debit Backdating

Returns and revokes are backdated 8 days for accounting purposes. For example, if a return is processed on the 7th of the current month, the debit is applied to the previous pay period.

Return Allowance

We withhold a fraction from each payment that is credited back to your account after six pay periods (about 90 days). These funds are used to manage quality issues that may arise with products you publish or promote. The standard return allowance is 10%. ClickBank may adjust your return allowance at any time.

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Further, in ClickBank's Client Contract with Vendors it states:

ClickBank Client Contract

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6. If you promote products listed by ClickBank, then:

*You agree to make no such promotions that suggest or imply any warranty or other policy that might conflict with ClickBank's eight week return policy.

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Survey Sentinal Notes:

From the above statement of policy, it is clear that Vendors definitely do not want to have sales revoked(!) because of the penalties and charges involved.  If a customer requests a refund, it is generally given without dispute, to avoid having the customer revoke the charge against his credit card at his bank.

For your security, when you sign up for any paid survey service, make a copy of the website at the time. Microsoft Word 2003 can be used to do an excellent job of this.  In case of future disputes, this copy will let you demonstrate what was promised and compare it with what you received.  This could be especially important to show your bank, to demonstrate that you did not receive what was promised, the vendor made material misrepresentations, or whatever.  Make a copy and keep it for yourself.  Most probably you will never need it.  But it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it!