Learn About eBay Widgets

Starting October 1st 2009 eBay Affiliate publishers (people who send traffic to eBay for a commission) will be paid ‘per click’ instead of ‘per sale.’
This news was delivered in my email inbox today. The new program called ‘Quality Click Pricing’ is so confusing and controversial that within a few hours I received a follow up email from Steve Hartman – who runs the EPN program to explain (or defend) the plan more clearly. I must admit, on the face of this new structure, I’m not pleased – but, time will tell if it will benefit publishers.
I think my reaction might be less negative if they already had in place their promised comparison tool – which eBay stated they’ll roll out sometime later this month. I don’t mean to ‘rag’ on eBay – but when have they ever released a tool on time? And, it makes me especially bitter after reading, the announcement just this week about the eBay Store Traffic Reports that;  ‘yes, we know the traffic reports are broken, they have been for several weeks – and won’t be fixed until mid-September.”
Meanwhile, I’m studying the new material provided, reading the boards, and plan on attending the live webinar on Friday. If you’d like to attend here’s the information:
When: Friday August 21st at 9am Pacific Time
Attendee Direct URL:  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/intercall1/join?id=Aug21&role=attend&pw=Attend 
U.S. Attendee Phone:  US/Canada Dial-in #:  (866) 478-6394
Alternate Web Login
Conference Site URL:  http://livemeeting.intercall.com
Meeting ID:  Aug21
Attendee Entry Code: Attend
     Int’l/Local Dial-In #:  (660) 422-4755 – Session will be in English only
     Conference ID:  24785491

The eBay Partner Network ~ Rolls Out New Changes Taking Effect July 20, 2009

If you are lucky enough to be approved to use the eBay Partner Network (EPN) expect this latest round of changes to make your returns diminish father. Of  course in typical eBay fashion these days they’re making the rules even more complex to follow.

If you couldn’t make it all the way though the email sent to the partners – here are the highlights:

• If you make less than $25.00 in a month, eBay will roll it over until you do make $25.00 and then pay out. In other words if it takes you several months to reach $25.00 eBay will hold the money in reserve till such a time as you reach the payout.
• You may only put the EPN affiliate links on your own websites and blogs (and newsletters if you have been approved) – no affiliate links on pages like Facebook, Twitter or MySpace. What I didn’t read was whether the EPN considers a ‘blogger’ (google) blog your property or not.
• No hiding the URL – you may not use a tiny URL or similar

Of interest, and despair to me was the paragraph about copyright infringement….

“We have also updated the language in the Network Agreement to make it clear that our partners may not use promotional methods that violate intellectual property or proprietary rights of third party trademarks. This includes, but is not limited to, using a third party trademark (or a term confusingly similar to it) in your URLs.”

While I feel it is completely within a copyright or patten owners right to have terminated any violators – it’s that eBay will be involved. The VeRO program is broken and a mess – any eBay seller can tell you that.  And now, it sounds like that very same team will be visiting the EPN.

I just received an email from eBay announcing a new line of widgets.

These new widgets showcase eBay’s Daily Deals.

Here’s the word from the Partner Network:
About the Daily Deal program:
“Every day we feature four items from trusted sellers that are deeply discounted (usually between 20% and 90% off) and offer free shipping with every item. The four daily deals are backed by major eBay Power Sellers and retailers such as TigerDirect, Eforcity, Toolup, SmartBargains & Buy.com. Expect to see a wide variety of super low priced items in categories such as: home electronics, computers, home & garden, appliances, parts & accessories, sporting goods and much much more.
What’s the catch to the Daily Deals?
It’s important to let your visitors know that if they love an item, they shouldn’t wait and risk losing out on the amazing deal being offered.
How to promote the Daily Deal program:
To showcase and promote the Daily Deal on your site, there are several simple to advanced integrations options available including static banners, javascript banners, and dynamic XML feed.”

Did you know once the customer clicks on your eBay link that eBay tracks the buyer longer than just the first click?  They use what’s called a ‘cookie’ to follow the computer as it moves around the Internet. By tracking the customer eBay can credit you with affiliate revenue even if they don’t purchase as soon as they click.

EBay tracks that buyer for 30 days – so anytime within the next month that the computer returns to eBay you’ll get credit for the next purchase (only one). However, eBay gives credit to the last link that was clicked affiliate link. Which means if the buyer clicks on someone else’s affiliate link after yours they’ll get the revenue.

Happy St. Patrick’s day! Luck O’ The Irish To You.

One of my daily rounds on the Internet is Google Trends. The application shows you the days top 100 searched on terms. This is a great place to get Niche ideas.

Over the last week I’ve noticed the number of  “Irish” searches on the rise, with today being the crescendo.

Here’s a sample of things Irish people are searching for to make their St Patrick’s Day complete:

corned beef and cabbage recipe
st patrick s day drinks
guinness beer
reuben sandwich
where was st. patrick born
pressure cooker corned beef
corned beef
how to cook cabbage
green beer
shamrock shake
leprechaun jokes
listen to irish music online
irish beer
irish whiskey
darby o gill and the little people
sherlocks san antonio
jameson whiskey
leprechaun movie
blarney stone
blood pudding
are leprechauns real
st. patrick s day
shamrock seeds
crock pot corned beef
leprechaun
shamrock fest
pressure cooker corned beef
chicago st patrick s day parade 2009
irish car bomb
irish drinks

This made me stop and think….

While it might only make money once a year – wouldn’t it be a real traffic magnet to create an “all things Irish” site?

It’s something to think about. You’ll have a year to put it together.

Hot off the press (or, I just received an email – LOL) is great news from the EPN. I’ve  always wondered when payday was, and now it officially set for the 25th.

Here’s the email announcement:

“In an effort to ensure you know the eBay Partner Network payment dates well in advance, we have decided to implement a consistent payment date each month. Starting in April 2009, the eBay Partner Network will process payments to publishers on the 25th of each month, unless it’s a weekend, when you will be paid the next working day.

For example, if you are eligible to receive payments from the eBay Partner Network, you will be paid for April activity on Mai 25, 2009.”

I just read the article The Coming Evolution in Affiliate Marketing: A Focus on Quality  and found it very informative.  Written by some of the senior managers in the eBay Partner Network team it clearly shows the new direction and thought behind the changes in the eBay Affiliate program.

While some members are experiencing difficulty being approved by the eBay Partner Network (EPN) I think this new direction will improve the program overall. Anyone who has done a search on the web has come across those link farm sites, with little content and lots of banner and pop-up ads. They’re frustrating to the searcher, and as the EPN is starting to see, not bringing in quality traffic. Quality traffic to eBay is someone who clicks through, stays on the site and makes a purchase.

The bottom line here is how much we make for eBay when we affiliates drive traffic to the site. Once the visitor lands on eBay will they register and purchase? If so, will they return again? Traditionally, the larger affiliate sites who sent massive volumes of traffic to the site received bonuses and rewards (just like a salesperson in the real world receives bonuses for bringing in large clients). But did those massive amounts of clicks to eBay pay off by sending  buyers to the site?  This paper seems to indicate that eBay is rethinking that strategy and focusing their monetary incentives on smaller, more focused sites that are much more likely to send highly qualified traffic (or purchasers) to eBay.

What does that mean for us? Well, the silver lining here is that using a system like How To Make Money Using The eBay Partner Network  you can create a customized site around your niche. I teach you how to set up and add quality content that focuses specifically on what your visitor is looking for. Once the searcher spends a little time on your site and you have built a rapport with them you can gently recommend a product or service found on eBay. These customers are much more likely to click over and purchase from eBay. And, as a result, the EPN is much more likely to reward your efforts.

In the future perhaps, we’ll even see a more fair division of the affiliate share in the form of a ‘performace bonus.’

OK – I’m just dreaming there, but this article seems to be indicating there might be some thoughts along that line.

For example: In one move last year eBay changed it payout commission to match the value and pay more for high-quality leads by changing the payouts for Active New Registered Users who came in through affiliate click-through. In the four months since the new pricing launched the number of new users referred by the affiliates qualifying to the upper tiers of payout increased by 80%.  Which sure seems to indicate that the affiliates who paid attention to building their site put a little effort finding in out ways to engage their audience by offering quality content instead of a bunch of banner ads had a higher payout rate.

This article is a very informative look at inside the eBay Partner Network. I think it highlights their current thoughts on direction of the program as well as answer a few questions about why they took this program ‘in house’ last year. If you’re interested in affiliate marketing I suggest you read it. You can download a copy here.

For more information on how to create an affiliate website, including tips on how to get accepted to the partner network check out How To Make Money Using The eBay Partner Network

In the recent eBay Partner Network newsletter, eBay wanted to warn affiliates about a potential problem – that could get your account ‘expired.’

It seems that sometimes users visit your forums or blogs and copy and paste your links into their material. It actually sounds perfect, because then your link goes viral, more people are exposed to it and as a result you’re likely to generate income. Well, except -  it seems some of these links are ending up on adult content sites or into eBay listings, which are violations of eBay policy and will get your account shut down.

As a precaution disable ‘right clicking’ to copy on your sites. If not, be vigilant – use google alerts to track your unique content – and put a policy in place on your forums about copying links.

eBay Partner Network now works with it’s sister site worldofgood.com which means you can now help promote for good. The site facilitates business in rural and poor areas of the world by acting as a broker and requiring that ‘artisans’ receive equitable payment for their baskets, pottery, and wares. 

Don’t worry – this is not the charity auctions the eBay promotes through MissionFish where eBay refunds back the sellers fees based on Charity contribution. On worldofgoods.com the sellers are charged a commission for selling, and you’ll receive the same split you receive for driving traffic to the main eBay site.

Thanks eBay – I’m off to do a little research and see if I can create a site to drive traffic to those wonderful products on worldofgood.com!

Want to create your own passive income generating site? Check out www.learnaboutwidgets.com

In case you missed the live podcast – Marlene now has the interview on her site at:

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=19245&cmd=tc

We talked about how to create a content rich site to show off your stuff to EPN and get them to accept you into the Partner Network.