***Update (29 Dec 2009): MindValley Clears Up Clickbank Affiliates Cookies Issue. This was a misunderstanding and it has already been resolved.

This is a warning to all clickbank affiliates that are currently promoting the re-launch of “The Science Of Getting Rich” program – STOP!

You’re getting cheated of your commissions by MindValley LC – the company behind this and many other huge personal development products/launches.

Wow, this is some serious allegations huh? You’re surely gonna need some proof right?

Well, ok… since you asked for it…

Here is a screenshot of an email (25 Dec 2009, 1.54pm Singapore time) from Brian Wong, the affiliate manager for The SGR Program…

If you’re a clickbank affiliate for this program, like me, you would most likely have gotten pretty excited and started sending traffic (via your affiliate link) to the offer, right?

Now, we know that most of the time, prospects do not buy the first time round… but that’s ok. A good portion of them will opt-in to the merchant’s list and since your clickbank cookies last for 60 days, when the merchant (in this case, MindValley) follows up with your leads and they buy, you get paid.

Well, that’s how it works in theory at least.

But we all know things are much more complicated in real life.

That’s why it’s always a good idea, as an affiliate marketer, to opt-in to the merchant’s list (on top of the list they use to communicate with affiliates like you and me) to see how the merchant is following up with your leads.

I’m glad I did that… because otherwise I would not have discovered and believe that a big company like MindValley would cheat its affiliates of their well-deserved commissions.

The following is a screenshot of an email (26 Dec 2009, 11.41am Singapore time) I received from Hanna Jameson, the “Customer Delight Manager” for The SGR Program…

The emails come from the same domain and are mailed by the same company (Just that Brian Wong is the one communicating with the affiliates and Hanna Jameson is the one communicating with the leads/customers).

Pay special attention to the fact that if you’ve sent leads to The SGR Program, your clickbank affiliate id would have been overwritten with the clickbank affiliate id “mindvalley” in their follow-up messages.

Also take into consideration the fact that for the re-launch, they encourage you to mail out emails sending your traffic to their opt-in pages instead of their sales page (you’re thinking they will help you follow up to close the sale – You’re partially right… just that when the sales are closed, you won’t get any commissions because they’ve overwritten your affiliate id with theirs)

Personally, I’ve sent out emails to 4,582 subscribers via AWeber for this promotion but I’m not getting a dime of commission because MindValley is cheating their affiliates.

Well, at least I caught them red-handed, right?

I’m truly disgusted that a huge company like MindValley, known for massive personal development launches, is cheating on its clickbank affiliates like that. Makes you wonder what smaller clickbank merchants are doing, huh?

Let’s help spread the word so other affiliate marketers would not waste money and time promoting products from clickbank merchants with no integrity.

Welcome to the dark side of internet marketing… where the “Science of getting rich” is to cheat on your own affiliates.