You open a marketplace's "top offers this month" page. Next to one offer it says something like EPC $3.00.
Three dollars a click? You start doing the math. A thousand clicks a month, times three, that's...
STOP. Put the calculator down.
That number isn't a promise. It isn't even about you. I read the monthly "top offers" pages from two big marketplaces, plus their own help pages, to work out what these numbers really mean. And what they quietly leave out.
The short version. EPC, APV, AOV and hop conversion are averages from OTHER people's traffic. The two pages I checked don't say how offers get on the list or which dates the numbers cover. Treat the page as a shortlist, not a forecast.
The 4 numbers, in plain English
Let's get the alphabet soup out of the way first.
1. EPC: earnings per click
What one click was worth, on average. If affiliates earned $1,000 from 2,000 clicks, the EPC is $0.50.
It's the headline number because it rolls everything into one figure. That's also its weakness, as you'll see.
2. APV: average payout value
Your cut of one sale. ClickBank's glossary calls it the average commission you get paid for each sale.
3. AOV: average order value
What the CUSTOMER spent. Not what you earned. It's total revenue divided by the number of orders.
4. Hop conversion
The share of clicks that turn into a first sale. ClickBank calls its affiliate link a "HopLink", which is where the odd name comes from.
How they fit together
Here's a made-up example so you can see the gears turn.
A course sells for $200. That's the AOV. The program pays 40%, so your cut is $80. That's the APV. If 2 in every 100 clicks buy, each click was worth $1.60. That's the EPC.
Change any one of those and the EPC moves. Which brings us to the fun part.
5 catches nobody mentions
1. It's somebody else's traffic
EPC blends every affiliate's clicks into one number. A warm email list and a cold ad audience end up in the same average.
So a high EPC might mean a great offer. Or it might mean three affiliates with very loyal audiences. The page can't tell you which.
What to do: ask where the traffic behind the number comes from. Email, paid ads or search?
2. "Earnings" isn't always YOUR earnings
This one surprised me. ClickBank's own pages define EPC two ways. The glossary says "Revenue / total clicks". The help center says "net commission earned per click".
Revenue is what the customer paid. Commission is what you keep. Those are very different numbers, and the monthly page doesn't say which it's showing.
What to do: ask one question. "Is this EPC based on commission or on revenue?"
3. APV counts money you haven't earned yet
On ClickBank, APV is another name for "Avg $ per conversion". The help center says that figure includes initial sales, upsells AND recurring rebills.
So an $80 APV doesn't mean $80 lands on day one. Part of it might arrive over the following months, and only if the customer keeps paying.
What to do: ask for the first-sale commission on its own. That's the number you can count on.
4. AOV without a commission rate tells you nothing
ClickBank's monthly page prints APV. Digistore24's prints AOV. And for most of the offers on Digistore24's September list, the commission field said "Upon Request".
An AOV of $200 at 40% pays you $80. At 25% it pays $50. Same AOV, very different month.
What to do: never compare an AOV with an APV. Get the commission rate first.
5. Nobody says how the list was made
This is the big one. I looked for a ranking rule on both pages and didn't find one.
- ClickBank calls its list the "highest-performing" products "right now".
- Digistore24 says "we handpick" its offers.
Neither page names the metric, the cut-off or the dates. A page titled "September" could be showing 30 days of data, or 90, or something else.
And it gets better. ClickBank's help center gives windows for its marketplace stats, and they don't even match each other: 30 days for EPC and conversion rate, 90 days for average commission.
What to do: treat "top" as "worth a look", not "proven".
So is the page useless?
Not at all. It's a good shortlist. It's just a bad forecast.
Use it to find offers worth a closer look. Then do your own homework.
How to use a top offers page (the right way)
- Shortlist three offers that genuinely fit your audience.
- Ask the seller five questions (they're right below).
- Run a small test with your own traffic.
- Compare your EPC with the printed one. Yours is the only one that matters.
The 5 questions to ask the seller
- Is the EPC based on commission or revenue, and over which dates?
- What's the first-sale commission, without rebills and upsells?
- Where does the traffic come from?
- What's the refund rate? Neither monthly page shows one.
- What's the commission rate, if it says "Upon Request"?
Top offers pages: FAQs
Is a higher EPC always better?
No. An offer with a lower EPC can earn you more if it fits your audience. A cooking blog won't convert a software offer, whatever the page says.
Is EPC per click or per 100 clicks?
On the ClickBank and Digistore24 pages I read, it's per click. Some networks are said to quote it per 100 clicks. I couldn't confirm that on their own pages, so check the definition wherever you see the number.
Why is APV higher than the commission on the offer page?
Because it can include upsells and rebills on top of the first sale.
Can I compare an offer on one marketplace with one on another?
Only roughly. They print different numbers over unstated periods.
Final thoughts
A "top offers" page is a menu, not a meal.
The numbers on it are real, but they belong to other people's audiences, over dates nobody printed, ranked by a rule nobody explained. That doesn't make them worthless. It makes them a starting point.
So read the page, pick a few, ask the awkward questions, and then trust the only data that's truly yours: a small test with your own readers.
About this article
I read ClickBank's and Digistore24's monthly offer pages and their own definitions on October 3, 2026. Both monthly pages were dated September 25, 2026. I named no offers from either list, and the course example uses made-up numbers.
Nativness publishes this blog. It's a devnet prototype with simulated escrow and no live offers or payout data, so it has no EPC figures of its own, and it earns nothing from the links here.
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