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GumRoad account suspended for no reason

RealDreams

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I released an e-book (priced 19.49$) on Gumroad a few months ago. Mind you, I only made 2 sales so far.

Tonight, someone bought the product and guess what, chargeback after 20 minutes.

And not only that, apparently my account was suspended, too. Without any explanation.

I used GumRoad as a distribution channel for my e-book that I link on my blog. I guess that's what the command of "Control" from CENTS means. Learnt the lesson.

Gotta find a new way to distribute my e-book. Any suggestions?

I thought about direct selling but I'm not aware of the legal aspects (VAT taxes etc.) and I have no idea if it's worth it for a guy who gets 50-70 visits a day on his blog.
 
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csalvato

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I released an e-book (priced 19.49$) on Gumroad a few months ago. Mind you, I only made 2 sales so far.

Tonight, someone bought the product and guess what, chargeback after 20 minutes.

And not only that, apparently my account was suspended, too. Without any explanation.

I used GumRoad as a distribution channel for my e-book that I link on my blog. I guess that's what the command of "Control" from CENTS means. Learnt the lesson.

Gotta find a new way to distribute my e-book. Any suggestions?

I thought about direct selling but I'm not aware of the legal aspects (VAT taxes etc.) and I have no idea if it's worth it for a guy who gets 50-70 visits a day on his blog.

Your real problem is why you've only gotten two sales in several months, and why 50% of your orders resulted in a chargeback.

It sounds like you have a product problem - not a distribution problem.
 

RealDreams

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Your real problem is why you've only gotten two sales in several months, and why 50% of your orders resulted in a chargeback.

It sounds like you have a product problem - not a distribution problem.
That might be.
The reasons for the lack of sales might be several.

Weak copy, weak marketing on my blog and things that have nothing to do with the product itself, but with its presentation.

Or maybe the e-book is priced too high? Honestly, I can't tell. I believe the e-book has value in it and would definitely help the target it's for.

Why did the user chargeback? Again, I don't know. I will have to make a whole analysis of the possible causes.
 

csalvato

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That might be.
The reasons for the lack of sales might be several.

Weak copy, weak marketing on my blog and things that have nothing to do with the product itself, but with its presentation.

Or maybe the e-book is priced too high? Honestly, I can't tell. I believe the e-book has value in it and would definitely help the target it's for.

Why did the user chargeback? Again, I don't know. I will have to make a whole analysis of the possible causes.

You're creating busy work for yourself.

For this strategy, you only have a few simple steps:
1. Create content people love
2. Package a more in-depth version in an ebook
3. Sell the eBook version while people are reading the free content they love.

You're failing on step 1, because you have very few pageviews on your blog, and the book you did make has only gotten 2 sales and one chargeback.

As someone who cleared $5k in the first hour of launching their ebook, I can tell you I knew it was going to sell way before I actually created it because people were flocking to my content already. It's too easy to fall into the trap of analyzing your copy and marketing.

Focus on making shit people love that they don't need to be sold on and they will buy it. Stop wasting your time analyzing two sales.
 
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RealDreams

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You're creating busy work for yourself.

For this strategy, you only have a few simple steps:
1. Create content people love
2. Package a more in-depth version in an ebook
3. Sell the eBook version while people are reading the free content they love.

You're failing on step 1, because you have very few pageviews on your blog, and the book you did make has only gotten 2 sales and one chargeback.

As someone who cleared $5k in the first hour of launching their ebook, I can tell you I knew it was going to sell way before I actually created it because people were flocking to my content already. It's too easy to fall into the trap of analyzing your copy and marketing.

Focus on making shit people love that they don't need to be sold on and they will buy it. Stop wasting your time analyzing two sales.
Thanks for the wake up call.

The point is my content is about psychology and self improvement and what scares me is that as MJ said in tmf , I'm polarising a small group of people: the ones who are truly looking to improve themselves (and so benefit from my content) and those who are just looking for a shortcut and might react in hatred when they read my harsh-straight to the point advice.

Either way, I'll make sure to write more valuable content from now on.

Do you have any other advice for a guy writing on debatable and non-scientific topics?
 

RealDreams

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Okay, now that's funny.
Quick update on the whole situation.

Basically the customer didn't chargeback because the product sucked, but because HE DIDN'T RECEIVE THE PRODUCT in the first place. And that was a GumRoad's problem and not mine. I can't f*cking believe this! And they also banned my profile.

As a matter of fact, I haven't received the money of the sale, and the customer didn't receive his e-book. The scammer here seems Gumroad and not me. That's just hilarious.

NOTE: I found all this out as the customer sent me an e-mail.
 

RealDreams

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Does anyone know how to deal with all this?
 
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John Clancy

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Have you tried getting in contact with Gumroad support to sort this issue?


Scroll as far as the section about protesting your suspension and review the guidelines there. With the evidence you have onside, you should be able to get your account reinstated.
 

RealDreams

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Have you tried getting in contact with Gumroad support to sort this issue?


Scroll as far as the section about protesting your suspension and review the guidelines there. With the evidence you have onside, you should be able to get your account reinstated.
I tried contacting them.
I contacted them this morning and they replied to me with a text that looked like a template.

I contacted them again a hour ago, no reply yet.
 

John Clancy

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I tried contacting them.
I contacted them this morning and they replied to me with a text that looked like a template.

I contacted them again a hour ago, no reply yet.

That sucks. Hopefully you hear back from them soon.

You could reach out on Twitter, as both the founder and company are active there.

Beyond that, there are other platforms you can use to sell your products. It's unfortunate that Gumroad has banned you for no apparent reason, but at least you can pivot with little loss.
 
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RealDreams

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That sucks. Hopefully you hear back from them soon.

You could reach out on Twitter, as both the founder and company are active there.

Beyond that, there are other platforms you can use to sell your products. It's unfortunate that Gumroad has banned you for no apparent reason, but at least you can pivot with little loss.
Yeah, luckily everything got solved now.

I promised the customer I'll send him a free copy of my next release to excuse myself for the inconvenience he experienced.
 

csalvato

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Thanks for the wake up call.

The point is my content is about psychology and self improvement and what scares me is that as MJ said in tmf , I'm polarising a small group of people: the ones who are truly looking to improve themselves (and so benefit from my content) and those who are just looking for a shortcut and might react in hatred when they read my harsh-straight to the point advice.

Either way, I'll make sure to write more valuable content from now on.

Do you have any other advice for a guy writing on debatable and non-scientific topics?
Here's my advice: Create content people love

Do that by creating content, putting it out there, and measuring what topics and writing style get the most page views and time on page.

Once you're at about 3-mins on page and several thousand page views, it's much easier to make money flow into your account. But to do that you need to be thinking of and adding value to the lives of your readers.

Good luck.
 

RealDreams

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Here's my advice: Create content people love

Do that by creating content, putting it out there, and measuring what topics and writing style get the most page views and time on page.

Once you're at about 3-mins on page and several thousand page views, it's much easier to make money flow into your account. But to do that you need to be thinking of and adding value to the lives of your readers.

Good luck.
Guess I'm close to that.
I've got 4 minutes of average read time in the last week (with 541 users) and a bounce rate of 4.20%. I guess that's a con.
One of my weak points* is lack of views, but I believe I will increase them in a matter of months by publishing quality content and improving my actual posts and optimizing them for Search Engines.
 

csalvato

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Guess I'm close to that.
I've got 4 minutes of average read time in the last week (with 541 users) and a bounce rate of 4.20%. I guess that's a con.
One of my weak points* is lack of views, but I believe I will increase them in a matter of months by publishing quality content and improving my actual posts and optimizing them for Search Engines.
If you have quality content you need to promote that great content, not write more. Reddit, social media, promoting your content to other content producers. (i.e. backlinking) and keyword optimization will get page views up.
 
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RealDreams

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If you have quality content you need to promote that great content, not write more. Reddit, social media, promoting your content to other content producers. (i.e. backlinking) and keyword optimization will get page views up.
That seems to be the missing link then!
I will make sure to focus more on social media sharing.

Thanks a lot.
 

Andy Black

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That seems to be the missing link then!
I will make sure to focus more on social media sharing.

Thanks a lot.
Not just social media sharing? What about going where people you can help hang out, and then helping them to see what works and resonates the most?

Maybe this call will help you?
 

SEBASTlAN

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Do you have any suggestion? I've heard of eJunkie but I've got no idea how reliant it is.
Selz and Podia. I know there's more but I can't think of them right now.
 
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nicheevolution

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I released an e-book (priced 19.49$) on Gumroad a few months ago. Mind you, I only made 2 sales so far.

Tonight, someone bought the product and guess what, chargeback after 20 minutes.

And not only that, apparently my account was suspended, too. Without any explanation.

I used GumRoad as a distribution channel for my e-book that I link on my blog. I guess that's what the command of "Control" from CENTS means. Learnt the lesson.

Gotta find a new way to distribute my e-book. Any suggestions?

I thought about direct selling but I'm not aware of the legal aspects (VAT taxes etc.) and I have no idea if it's worth it for a guy who gets 50-70 visits a day on his blog.

That's bullshit. I've been seeing them being recommended everywhere but all these content creators on youtube. After doing some research this seems to be a common occurrence with them. Shitty customer support, regular suspending of accounts if you hit their chargeback threshold even if its fraudulent activity. Fraud is an inevitable part of e-commerce but seeing that the company throws you under the bus as soon as they start receiving chargebacks from scammers makes me wary about ever signing up with them.

Guess I'll go with e-junkie or look for another reasonably priced company.
 

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