MindValley Caught Red-Handed Cheating on Clickbank Affiliates – Matter Resolved

Saturday 26 December 2009 @ 7:38 pm by Yee Shun Jian

***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…

Brian Wong Email to The SGR Program Affiliates

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…

Hanna Jameson Email to The SGR Program Leads

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.

If you like this article, buy me a fruit juice!








10 Responses to 'MindValley Caught Red-Handed Cheating on Clickbank Affiliates – Matter Resolved'

  1. Vishen - December 28th, 2009 at 6:52 am

    Shun Jian, this is Vishen, founder of MindValley. No, we would never cheat affiliates out of this. In fact moving to ClickBank was so that affiliates can earn their commissions faster and safer…Clickbank, being a professional service makes it far easier for affiliates to get paid quick and check their stats. I’m not sure about what you discovered. Maybe it was a mistake on my site managers part. In any case, we use multiple tracking systems and if this was a mistake, it gets corrected fast manually. We’ve been running SGR since 2007 and affiliates are the lifeblood of this program. Pls contact me on my personal email if you have questions. We’ll be getting back to you shortly.

  2. Mark Foo | 77 Success Traits - December 28th, 2009 at 7:11 am

    Hi Shun Jian,

    Did you confront MindValley on this issue?

    Cheers~

    Mark

  3. Yee Shun Jian - December 28th, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    Mark, I’ve emailed both Brian Wong and Hanna Jameson but did not receive any responses.

    In any case, Vishen has replied here and I just sent him an email. Hope we can get to the bottom of this.

  4. Yee Shun Jian - December 28th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    For those following this discussion, I’ve emailed Vishen from MindValley and pointed out the exact emails and links involved, with regards to the overwriting of clickbank affiliate id’s to “mindvalley”, for The SGR Program.

    Currently waiting for a response – It might take some time for them to figure out what exactly happened and who’s responsible.

    Will update when I hear from Vishen again.

  5. Yee Shun Jian - December 28th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    A quick update…

    Vishen, founder of MindValley, emailed back confirming that a mistake was made… He added that it was a technical mistake and not a deliberate one.

    His team is looking into it and we will have a better idea of the situation soon.

  6. Mark Foo | 77 Success Traits - December 28th, 2009 at 7:52 pm

    It’s great to know that they responded quickly and hopefully they can sort things out just as quickly.

    Cheers~

    Mark

  7. MindValley Overwriting Clickbank Affiliates Cookies Update | Personal Development for the Book Smart - December 28th, 2009 at 10:30 pm

    [...] This is an update to MindValley Caught Red-Handed Cheating on Clickbank Affiliates. [...]

  8. Yee Shun Jian - January 31st, 2010 at 5:40 pm

    This was a misunderstanding and it has already been resolved.

  9. forget it - March 13th, 2010 at 4:59 am

    I’m very uncomfortable with MindValley.
    Your way of selling is sleazy, pedantic and insulting.
    You’ve taken some of the best products out there like Silva Method, and applied your soulless, condescending sales techniques to it all.
    Everywhere I find your products, there is a shitload of verbiage to get through before anyone can find how to order.
    Whoops, I better pay attention because there are hidden options throughout the long-winded, pointless sales talk on your websites.
    Then, you never ever ever stop emailing with insulting email subjects, like “Do you have what it takes?”.
    I hate your attitude of QUICK GIVE US YOUR MONEY QUICKLY, because this once-in-a-lifetime offer will never come again!!! (except in the endless emails you send to offer the same things). Pressure people much?

    If anyone reading this hasn’t ordered anything from MindValley, let me tell you that once you’ve made your payment, and before they even give you the download link, they will hit you with another 4 or 5 pages of advertisements to buy more products.
    They can’t let you just download what you already bought. Oh, no. They want more from you, more of your money, more of your time, more of your attention and energy.
    Your emails try so hard to sound as if you are personally talking to me, the individual.
    But they always come off as fake. It’s obvious that these emails are designed for mass mailing, yet these stupid little comments in them like “I almost forgot to tell you”, or “you filled my inbox again” make them laughable.
    I’ve put up with this for months on end now, and I’ve had enough.
    Your tactics are disgusting, and it is obvious you do not have an ounce of the down-to-earth, practical respect that Jose Silva had for others.
    You disgust me, Lakhiani.
    You’ve done nothing but gather once-respectable products and put your own smug spin on them to make yourself rich.
    Every page with your products has the same long-winded layout, and you talk to people like they are simple-minded. Enough.

  10. Yee Shun Jian - May 4th, 2010 at 6:36 pm

    hi “forget it”,

    This issue has already been resolved with Mindvalley. It was a misunderstanding. If you have anything against them, I suggest you take it up directly with them.

    Thanks…


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