On Every Sale You Make
Might Not Be Such A Bad Idea
A few years ago, I developed an app that allowed video makers to add captions to their videos
My idea was to promote it on a well known Internet Marketing site. Commission would be charged at 5% per sale
Say it quickly enough, and 5% sounds like a small amount to pay. But ...
With an app costing $50, that's $2.50 I would be losing on every item I sold, (and that's without the 2.9% paid to the payment processing company!)
- If I sold 100 items, I'd be paying the company $250 to list my item
- Sell 250 items, or higher priced item, and commission gets even worse ** True, you do gain access to their small army of affiliates
That's for one product.
If you have multiple products to promote (Well, you do the maths !)
At the time, that seemed to be a bit of a rough deal. So I've spent the next (ho-hum!) THIRTY MONTHS, (8hrs a day, 7 days a week!) developing my own version.
The aim was to create a 0% commission platform, but alas, that has not been possible. Our payment processors charge 5% per sale. We also set things up to pay affiliates via wire transfers / Mass Pay files, and avoid using the more expensive "PayPal Payouts"
About 10 months ago - when I was ready to launch - I happened to visit another site that threw the proverbial "spanner in the works"!
It stated that the vendor was responsible for reporting to the IRS how much they'd actually paid each of their US affiliates! "No problem", I thought. "All I've got to do is send the vendor a file that totals how much was paid to each affiliate"
WRONG! Or at least, only partially correct
The vendor has to enter those details onto a 1099-NEC form if they're a US affiliate, or onto a form 1042-S if the affiliate is Overseas. And before they can pay any money to any affiliate, they have to get them to complete a W9 tax form (or W8-BEN tax form if a "foreign alien") ... which they keep on file for THREE YEARS. These forms are also used by the vendor to copy the affiliate's name and address to each form they submit to the IRS
Then I discovered that if a vendor sells over $600 of items in a State ... they become liable for Sales Tax and have to register with each individual State where they have an "economic nexus"
I won't go into all the details here, suffice to say I then had to spend another TWELVE WEEKS just researching the highly complex US tax requirements.
**I have written a 52 page guide on the subject if you're interested
https://www.atomz.pro/taxGuide/
OK, so tax dilemma sorted, I then hit another brick wall.
Lots of "digital product delivery" providers online use PayPal Mass Pay feature to distribute funds ... but that has now been "deprecated" (or discontinued!), and is longer available to new vendors! Some sites switched to "Adaptive Payments", where monies are split between several people. That's fine until a customer wants a refund. Let's just say it can become "challenging" trying to claw back funds from various bank accounts!! (I also think the "writing is on the wall" for that system too, and PayPal are now pushing "PayOuts" ... which is still expensive to use!)
So then I began to wonder if other companies such as Stripe might offer a solution. Perhaps use Wordpress plugins that are supposed to track affiliate sales? What about Payoneer or a host of other solutions? Believe me, there are drawbacks with all these systems making them impractical.
(as I explain in my guide)
As you might imagine, after all these setbacks, I was ready to admit defeat, and forget the whole business venture
But I don't give in that easily ... especially as up to that point, I'd spent SIXTEEN MONTHS developing all the apps. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" So I modified my apps to work WITH the "Big Three" affiliate marketing platforms, ClickBank, JVZoo and WarrriorPlus** Please see the note3 at the bottom of the page
After all this research, the conclusion was that you SHOULD pay a higher commission, and let other companies handle the various tax issues, and distribution of funds to affiliates. Should there be any legal complications, (for example. IRS can fine you $250 for each incorrect 1099-NEC / 1042-S form submitted) the onus lies with them, NOT your business
But as already stated, not all companies help with reporting your taxes !!
I suppose I didn't really need to mention about all the tax issues. I could have simple started this page with "Here is my fantastic software, it does XYZ" ... and allow you to sort out your own tax issues at a later date.
But that's not the way I operate I like to provide people with as much information as possible so they do not have to go through the "trauma" of having to research a subject by themselves
Which is why ATOMZ has it's own membership site with articles and message boards. (More on this later)
Plus, having been online for over the 20 years, I've created dozens of individual apps aimed at Internet Marketing, so decided to bundle a few of them together on one website.
ATOMZ had been createdCurrently, the site has several utilities (most of which are exclusive to us, and cannot be found on any other website. Click a pink headline for details)
Product Directory
Affiliate Sales/ Tracking
! IMPORTANT ! Single Sales and Subscriptions
PDF Brander
Affiliate PDF Brander
Intelli-TAF
Lock Page
Video Brander (Buttons)
Video Brander (Captions)
URL Redirect
FunnelPlanner
WP Thumbnail Checker
Form Creator
Banner Exchange
New: "Join the party!" (Advanced)
Unique Webinar App (Coming Soon)
Online instruction guide and member's site
New: Tax form integration
Let's be honest, marketing online involves a never ending "Learning Curve". There always seems to be a new methodology devised every month
Then again, for "Noobs" there is lots of things they have got to learn about, usually by getting a snippet of information here and there. (That's what I had to do when researching the 52 page guide to US taxes!)
Oh, there are plenty of digital products and courses you can buy for $97 ~ $997 or more (nothing wrong with that; it's something we advocate). But wouldn't it be nice if - once in a while - some of those 'skill sets' mentioned in the training were available online, in one resource...
That's where the "Tec-Tocc" site may help
It actually stands for "The Entreprenuer's Club - The Online Course Creator"
The idea is simple. It's where people interested in making money online hang out. There will be articles related to online selling, as well as forums where you can ask your peers anything you might be stuck on, or need advice about.
There is a free section that anyone can access,
but the best content is kept behind closed doors for members only !!
The "Online Course Creator" follows a similar vein, but is aimed at people who want to develop online courses to sell on "Udemy" and other similar websites. (Looking even further into the future, we propose to introduce our own "library" where vendors can sell their courses)
At this point, I must stress that this is what "Tec-Tocc" SETS OUT to achieve! For that to happen, we need people who know more than others to write articles / create videos etc. To get a question answered in the forum, there must be members willing to impart their knowledge
We have now also incorporated areas in the forums for "ClickBank", "JVZoo" and "WarriorPlus" websites. Whilst we cannot assist with sales purchase enquiries, you may be confused about a particular aspect of the site, and cannot seem to find an answer in their knowledge base. So maybe another ATOMZ member can assist you (We promise, we will not be like StackOverflow, who seem to close your account if they do not like the color of the socks you're wearing today!)
As "ATOMZ" and "TEC-TOCC" are both new sites, it may take a while for this to develop. That said, we think membership will expand rapidly once people start to discover what we offer
At this point, most marketers would repeat what's on offer, and quote some ridiculous fee to justify their end price. You know the type of thing: "This has a $997 per month value, but it's yours for just $50" Do we honestly believe those "value" prices ??
Or they "hit" you with the 'scarcity' tactic: "We are only selling 250 copies of this software, and will be taken off the market in 48hrs time. So buy now whilst you have the chance" (For any Noobs out there, this is designed to get you to purchase right away as - if you have the chance to leave the site - you may forget to return to the site tomorrow to purchase ... or you may forget about it entirely! The vendor is trying to get your money NOW before you have time to think logically about things!)
That said, we ARE currently limiting membership to 250 users. At least until we can be sure this new website is working correctly, and there are no "bugs" waiting to trip us up. (If you find a "bug", please report it. Or mention it on the forums. But bear in mind this enterprise is not some large company with a team of IT experts; it is just "littl' ol' me" doing all the programming
So I'll simply repeat what's on offer, and let you can create your own 'value' for how much such a feature might be worth to you. Just bear in mind that other vendor's would charge $47 ~ $97 a month for each app. Remember too that some features are exclusive to ATOMZ
- Product Directory (4 variants)
- Affiliate Sales / Tracking
- PDF / Zip Brander
- Aff PDF Brander
- Intell-TAF
- Lock Page
- Video Brander (Buttons)
- Video Brander (Captions)
- URL Redirect
- Funnel Planner
- Form Creator
- WP Thumbnail Checker
- Banner Exchange
- Join The Party!
- Help with W9 / W8-BEN tax forms
- Access to "Tecc-Tocc" website
- Instruction with step-by-step guides
- Training videos (coming soon)
- Unique Webinar app (coming soon)
- ATOMZ host your sales page / Thank You page (coming soon)
The product list quoted above is the "state of play" at this current moment in time. There may be ideas to be developed further down the line. Usually, they will be included with your membership, although some, (such as the Webinar app), may also be marketed as "stand alone" apps ... so you'll save even more!
If you publish a product with one of the "Big Three", you can list in our Product Directory FREE OF CHARGE. All we ask is that you allow ATOMZ to act as an affiliate for your product
So how much would you be willing to pay for all these apps? And access to the articles and forums? $197 a month? ... $97 a month ... $47 a month ???
Note: From month four onwards, it will revert to the regular monthly price
How complex re these apps? Having now spent a total of 30 MONTHS in development, I would claim they were "quite simple" (!) But judge for yourself. Click the "INSTRUCTION GUIDE" button at top of this page, and have a read. (How many vendors let you see how things work up front?)
** Despite extensive trials of all possible permutations, there may still be a few "gremlins" that arise in the first few months after we "go live", so please report them to us. (There is an email link in the instructions) Or perhaps post something on the member forum at https:/www.atomz.pro/tecc-toc
- Not suitable for mobile phone use
- You require web hosting to serve your sales pages / Thank You pages
- If using ClickBank, JVZoo or WarriorPlus, we require their INS/IPN to contact our server. If the link is already sending data to another app, we can provide a script that allows the IPN data to be send to two locations. However, you will need access to a CGI-BIN / PHP on your server for this to work)
- If you DO NOT have a webserver to host your webpages, and DO NOT have access to CGI-BIN / PHP, you will not be able to use our Product Directory or track sales / commission / taxes.
The other apps remain unaffected