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Payment Link FAQ

Below is a list of our most frequently asked questions. If you do not find the information you need, please contact Customer Service and we will get back to you shortly.

  1. What is a ClickBank "payment link"?
  2. How do I make a payment link?
  3. Do you have any payment button images I can use?
  4. I have old payment links in a different format. Will they still work?
  5. How can I test my payment links once I set them up?
  6. When I use a payment link to send a customer to the order form, what can I do to make sure the appropriate affiliate gets credit for the sale?
  7. I don't want the customers I refer to see the payment link URL. What is the easiest way to "cloak" my payment links?
  8. The payment links only let me specify one item at a time. What if I want ClickBank to sell more than one at a time?
  9. Can I modify the order form, make my own order form, or somehow put my own brand name, colors, or images on the order form?
  10. I already collect some information from the customer before the order. Can I use this to pre-populate any of the fields in the order form?
  11. I have other QUERY_STRING parameters I'd like ClickBank to pass back to my site after the customer completes payment. Can I do that?
  12. How do I get the name and e-mail address of the customer passed to me after the purchase?
  13. How do I inactivate a product?

1. What is a ClickBank "payment link"?

For ClickBank to sell your product you must direct the customer to follow a payment link. This link automatically takes the customer to the ClickBank product order form.

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2. How do I make a payment link?

Your payment link should be targeted to a new window, and should be in the following format:

http://ITEM.PUBLISHER.pay.clickbank.net

Here it is in html:

<a href="http://ITEM.PUBLISHER.pay.clickbank.net"
     target=cb>CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE</a>

Here's how to make it work...

  • Replace ITEM with the item number of the link (product) for sale. As you set up products to sell in your ClickBank account, you will need to assign each of your links an item number: 1,2,3, etc. If you are setting up your first product, the item number is 1.
  • Replace PUBLISHER with your ClickBank account nickname.
  • Replace CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE with any promotional text or payment button image you prefer.

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3. Do you have any payment button images I can use?

Yes. If you want to use our images please right-click on them and save them to your own server first.

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4. I have old payment links in a different format. Will they still work?

Yes. Any old payment links ("sell.cgi") you have will continue to work, however, the new format is likely to improve your conversion rates. This is because your personalized payment link domain name is not known to spyware and other hostile programs that hijack links and divert advertisements.

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5. How can I test my payment links once I set them up?

Before products can be sold, you must test your links to make sure they are setup properly. This helps prevent customers from ending up at the wrong page and seeing a "FILE NOT FOUND" message.

The best way to test a link is to see a purchase from the customer's point of view. You can always do that by purchasing your own product. However, you can also test it for free by setting the product up in "Test Mode":

  1. Log in to your ClickBank account.
  2. Click the "Accounts Settings" tab.
  3. Click on "My Products".
  4. Select "edit" under the "Action" column for the product that you would like to test, which will open the "Edit Product" window.
  5. Check the "Test Mode" box.
  6. Click "Save Changes".
  7. Click through your payment link, which will take you to a test version of the ClickBank order form. Complete the information, and click to submit the order, which will lead you through the same process that the customers will go through when your product has been approved and it is out of test mode, however nothing will be charged to your card if you use a valid account number while in test mode.

IMPORTANT: Once your account has been activated, and your product has been approved, be sure to disable the "Test Mode" functionality for that product, as follows:

  1. Log in to your ClickBank account.
  2. Click the "Accounts Settings" tab.
  3. Click on "My Products".
  4. Select "edit" under the "Action" column for the product that you would like to test, which will open the "Edit Product" window.
  5. Uncheck the "Test Mode" box.
  6. Click "Save Changes".

Troubleshooting:

If you receive errors during the test purchase here are some things to review for remedy:

  1. Is your payment link setup correctly?
  2. Is your nickname spelled correctly?
  3. Do you have the correct item number listed in the payment link?
  4. Have you saved your Thank You Page URL in your account?
  5. For additional information, please see our Payment Link FAQ

We do not display test orders in your stats, send a customer receipt, or send the usual publisher invoice email upon completion of the test order.

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6. When I use a payment link to send a customer to the order form, what can I do to make sure the appropriate affiliate gets credit for the sale?

We do this for you automatically. Just make sure your affiliates are using properly formatted ClickBank hoplinks when they send traffic to your site.

For more information on how to set up affiliate hoplinks properly, please refer to our Hoplink FAQ

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7. I don't want the customers I refer to see the payment link URL. What is the easiest way to "cloak" my payment links?

Please see Publisher Tool #10 for information on how to "cloak" your payment links.

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8. The payment links only let me specify one item at a time. What if I want ClickBank to sell more than one at a time?

Think of the item numbers as "price points", then create item numbers that correspond to the bundles of products you would like ClickBank to sell. For example, if your ebooks retail at $20 per copy, ClickBank could sell several at a time by having links priced at $40, $60, $80, and $100.

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9. Can I modify the order form, make my own order form, or somehow put my own brand name, colors, or images on the order form?

No. ClickBank is the retailer in the transaction. To ensure proper customer service, fraud control, and compliance with credit card regulations, only our branding information can appear on the order form.

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10. I already collect some information from the customer before the order. Can I use this to pre-populate any of the fields in the order form?

Yes. You can pass the following QUERY_STRING parameters to the payment link and they will be written into the order form

name = customer name
email = customer email address
country = customer ISO-3166 country code
zipcode = customer postal code
detail = product title

Keep in mind that for recurring billing products, you will not have to pass a Product Title through your payment link since we require a Product Title and a Product Description to be saved within your account for all recurring billing products. The Product Title and Product Description for recurring billing products will appear on the ClickBank order form.

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11. I have other QUERY_STRING parameters I'd like ClickBank to pass back to my site after the customer completes payment. Can I do that?

Yes. You can pass up to 128 bytes of additional parameters.

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13. How do I inactivate a product?

Inactivate your product by checking "Inactive" on the product edit screen. As a result, the product is no longer available for sale. This feature allows publishers to control product accessibility without having to delete the item.

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