Get Ready for Another Slap by Ebay Partner Network!
Put your Hard Hats on again… this is another Sky is Falling post!
Are you Bent Over yet? Got your hat on?
In a very interesting discussion going on this morning and it appears eBay and the ePN may not be paying commissions on ANYTHING purchased through an eBay Store! It started with a question in the BANS Forums and has continued over in the ePN forums, hoping for a “eBay Certified Response”!
Edit: 08/19/08:
Just to clear this up, we did get a response from a different eBay rep who stated Store Sales are DEFINITELY credited to your affiliate account. It appears the first three reponses were from level 1 support or something… who knows! Its all Good News though!Â
Well… the news thus far is not good to those of us who may promote items that are largely sold in eBay stores. Cars, big ticket items, etc. If your niche has a high number of listings inside of ebay stores versus auctions, you NEED to pay attention to this!
Here is the answer thus far from three different eBay Partner Network Reps:
Amy Shetty wrote:
Unfortunately purchases through eBay Stores are not eligible for
commissions at eBay Partner Network.Susan Braham wrote:
Please note that the main thing is: although you can link to eBay store
items, you will not receive commissions for them through eBay Partner
NetworkAnd Alison Newman wrote:
Although you can link to eBay store items,
you will not receive commissions for them through ePN.
The problem here is that it has ALWAYS BEEN included in the commission structure in the past! Heck, I have promoted my own eBay stores in the past and received credit back on my own listing fees! In the ePN Partner Agreement is states:
Winning Bid Revenue: For participating sites, a publisher will earn a percentage of eBay revenue based on their assigned payment structure, if an end user comes to eBay through their promotional link and completes a bid or BIN (Buy It Now) that results in a successful transaction within 7 days. eBay revenue is the total amount of fees earned by eBay Inc. or International AG from a winning bid or BIN that eBay Partner Network’s tracking mechanisms credit to your Promotional Content. In most cases, this includes the insertion fee and the final value fee. For more information on fees for a particular site, please refer to the “Selling Help” section for that site.
eBay is no different than Google in this case… they have left enough gray area in their rules and guidelines, to change the rules anytime they want! Lets cross our fingers this morning and hope the eBay Reps just don’t know what they are talking about!
Developing….
Previously Published Articles You May Like to Read:
- Steve Hartman Says Farewell to eBay Partner Network
- eBay Partner Network $20k Affiliates Contest
- eBay Partner Network (eBay Affiliate Program) Open for Enrollment
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I have been doing my part to "Build the Internet" since 1994, when I built my first website! Since then, I have built hundreds of niche websites for myself and many others, focused on design, applications, ecommerce, search optimization and internet marketing.
Hmmmm …. this actually makes a bit of sense to me. I’d been wondering why my total commission is so much less so far this month than it’s been in the past … even though the amount of clicks hasn’t changed much.
Oh well, I guess a good thing about using wordpress blogs in combination with BANS is that it would be fairly easy to switch over to adsense or other affiliate programs if EPN really does tank in the future.
Todd
Call me dumb but what exactly do you mean with “eBay store”. Is this a new feature where you get commissions?
@ Todd –
Same here. I have a few sites that focus on bigger ticketed item, which are sold mostly in eBay stores. The earnings have tanked… I assumed it was n my own end, but this is a whole new light going off!
@ Manuel -
eBay stores are like ecommerce sites for ebay sellers. Instead of listing everything i the auction format, they can pay a fee to ebay and have what is called an “eBay Store”.
The store listings have never been a part of the rss feed for BANS, but they HAVE always paid commission on them in the past. I know this for FACT because I used to have an eBay store and drove traffic to it from offsite. I received commissions on those sales in the past, but since I have no way to track it now… I cannot tell if they still are.
Mark
@ Manuel – eBay stores is not a new feature. Here is eBay’s definition of an eBay store:
“An eBay Store is a comprehensive e-commerce solution that helps you get more out of eBay’s access to millions of shoppers worldwide. By showcasing all of your merchandise in one central location, an eBay Store creates a central shopping destination where buyers can learn more about you, your products, and your policies.”
@ Mark – Once eBay’s affiliate program went in house back in April I knew it was the beginning of the end of something so good.
One minute, I’m am really looking forward to the new WordPress templates. The next minute, I’m considering converting my sites to accept other affiliate programs. I feel like Mr. Bill. Oh No!
After reading this I went and checked a site of mine that revolves around a specific car part. Pretty much all of my listings go to an eBay store. The site gets around 100 clicks a day and has only made 3 sales this whole month. I kept wondering why it was not making me anything at all. This news is pretty depressing. If this turns out to be true than it might be time to say goodbye to eBay.
Thanks Elijah and Mark. So that roughly means i can pay some fee to eBay and get a store site where I can sell my products? Isn’t that just a feature for powersellers on eBay?
Pretty much!
I paid $25/month for an eBay store in the past… maybe it was only $20, I dont recall anymore! One of the best things I got with it though was eBay metrics. Its kinda like TeraPeak, but a bit more detailed… $20/month for that also!
The thing is… you save ALOT of money on listing fees.
Mark
How is this worth since eBay doesn’t charge for a private listing anymore? I know the days you had to pay for opening an auction but thats expired (only for private users).
LOL – Free? eBay?
I honestly did not even know that!!
in the past, you ALWAYS paid to list an auction. There was a fee just to create the listing, then if you wanted it to have a reserve (which is needed on items you order from the manufacturer, when sold on eBay) cost, they charged for that as well.
I could list a $1500 (my cost) item with a $1600 reserve, and the listing would literally cost me $25+ dollars on that single listing!
in the store… it was like .05 cents.
Mark
Is there any way to exclude store listings from BANS stores?
@ James -
They already are excluded… The problem we have is that once a user goes from our site to eBay, many of them likely shop & buy in the eBay stores.
As long as I can remember, these sales were credited to us… it appears they no longer are. Still waiting for a definitive answer though.
Mark
This blows….my best store is almost completely ebay store related. This might explain the last week or so.
The traffic and clicks are the same as they always were but sales have dropped dramatically. I was writing it off to coincidence as it’s only been a few days.
Any idea as to if and/or when EPN supposedly initiated this change?
This is all getting a bit confusing and frustrating. Why don’t Ebay specifically state what is and what isn’t allowed? It seems to me that if this latest glitch is sorted something else will pop up. Next they will probably say that they are not paying commissions out for a certain type of niche or category.
OK, maybe not as diverse as that but it’s getting to the stage whereby all the great work Mark does on here, the lady at Niche Store Strategies and the guys over at the BANS forum seems to be pegged back somewhat (albeit temporarily) by Ebay coming up with a new condition (or should that be spur of the moment afterthought?).
Just to clarify. Do you have to specifically select an Ebay Store to appear in your listings? Or just by selecting a certain category number your site will be populated with a combination of auction listings and Store items?
Regards
Frank
@ Frank –
The ebay STORE listings are not fed to BANS through the RSS feed, however, we have always been encouraged to promote the stores with our affiliate links. You can even use the widgets to promote them via the ePN.
If you have never done anything specific, you would not be promoting the stores… otherwise you would know about it.
The problem is when one of those auction visitors we referred for blue gloves, sees a pair of red gloves listed in the persons store and buys them.
Mark
Well one has to ask the question-are we not just a leach on the back of ebay! They put a great concept together,we come along for a small fee to set up a Bans business and expect to make thousands of dollars off their back-It struck me some months ago when i started with Bans this was due to have changes as I have sold lots of other and again i say other company’s products to eventually having to give it in because they kept cutting the proffits down for me to be not worth the bother–The answer is not to panic here but always have plan A and plan B,time to consider pushing into plan B and find other products and ideas out there to sell. I will still be spending the hours on my bans stores-The flip side to the coin is-the ones left with good content bans stores and blogs etc will i guess have more customers as ebay will sure weed out the weak sites-Maybe that is their ploy of action! This is only my opinion-but try not to panic and still keep putting those hours into your web sites make them the best you can-you will always keep learning when you are trying to make a living from the internet.
John
We need an Amazon option that is similar to BANS…
I have to make something absolutely clear. It still costs to list ANYTHING on eBay! I manage eBay for the company I work for and we have a pretty good size eBay bill for the $200K we sell every month.
Mark,
Do you know if fixed price listings in core are the same as Store sales?
Chuck
@ John -
Very interesting and true perspective! eBay however are the ones that invited all of us to get involved in their affiliate program and put it out there for anyone to join.
I was actually a member of their affiliate program BEFORE I started using BANS and only found BANS as part of an expansion into the affiliate side versus ebay seller side.
One thing that you said which rings very true is that they may not want weak affiliate sites promoting them. I recently read on another blog of a person who was in the process of negotiating with eBay to let him enter the affiliate program. In one of their responses he said they specifically mentioned weak affiliate sites as the thing they do not want in their network. link
Its going to be an interesting discussion as most affiliates are under the assumption they are compensated for store purchases.
@ Bill,
That would be great, with the exception of the restraints on what qualifies on Amazon. Last I remember you only got credit for an Amazon sale if the purchase was completed within the same browsing session.
I have done wuite a bit with the AWS code over the years, so it would be rather trivial to write a mod to BANS. HMM… Wonder if Adam or Kelvin could be working on something like this?
Chuck
It’s funny, as an eBay seller this confuses me.
I have an eBay store, for which eBay charge me 10% of all sales. This is higher then the 5.25% sliding down scale they charge on auctions outside of stores.
So, eBay don’t want to pay people to promote items that help them make MORE money?
I don’t’ get the logic?!?
Perhaps there never was any to begin with!
A.
http://iphoneauctions.com.au
@ Chuck -
I dont know about the fixed price question…
I can relate to the high monthly fees!! Our ebay fees used to range from $5000-$10000 each month!!
Bill – I had an amazon store for the last 8 months using a point and click software. I didnt really give it much time due to the growth of my BANS stores, but in the entire time, I sold nothing.
I would like to see iOffer come out with an affiliate program. They are gaining on eBay every day!!
Mark
Well now I know why my BANS has only made pennies this month.
Should we just drop BANS totally and move on to something else?
Mark and all,
To put it as eloquently as possible- THAT SUCKS!
I really hope that the reps you talked to don’t know their @sses from a hole in the ground.
I’ve been wondering why the top keyword search phrase on my BANS domain has generated zero sales and now I know.
There are way too many big ticket things sold in ebay stores because it’s cheaper for the seller. I sold on ebay the last two years and I know.
If it is true than ebay has simply found another way to screw people and I will be looking elsewhere for affiliate opportunities.
Obviously they don’t give a damn or feel they need any help promoting their network. Until people start pulling money out of their pockets they won’t pay any mind to them.
My two cents,
Jeff
@ James -
I dont think it’s something to move away from ePN with yet. There is QUITE a bit of confusion on the ePN forum about this and event he ePN moderators are unclear as to what we get paid for an not.
As of this morning, it appears to have been escelated to the network support team… so hopefully, we will have a definitive answer soon.
I have emailed a few folks at eBay myself as well as Mandy from the Pepperjam network for firm clarification.
If in fact eBay does NOT pay commission (Which is why I think a few of my store centric BANS sites have tanked) on store type sales, its just time to re-evaluate the way we send people to those listings.
Mark
Well, if they aren’t paying, it’s a recent change — I’ve been getting paid for store sales for a while. In fact, when I asked them if it was OK to promote my OWN store via my affiliate links, they encouraged it, and assured me they DID pay commissions on store sales.
Here’s a copy of the email I got from them:
Dear Mr. Bob Edwards,
Thank you for your reply. I’m happy to provide further information about earnings.
I’d like to inform you that the store items are similar to ‘Buy It Now’
so you will earn commission for these also.
We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.
Kind regards,
Kurt Kelly
eBay Partner Network Support
____________________
So I don’t know what to think, now — if they have stopped paying, that’s really going to hurt — a lot of my big-ticket items have been in the Stores.
Bob
@ Bob -
I saw that on the BANS forum, it was from June 5th or so right?
Hopefully, and likely, it appears there were a group of level 1 support people answering the first round of questions.
The post on the ePN forum has several others who have shows their store sales as well.
I guess we ARE being paid for store sales after all! GREAT NEWS!!
Now if they could get the right answer to us the first time… LOL
Mark
I have just been getting into this (not using BANS – phpbay – but it’s the same idea) and this ebay stuff freaked me out. However we can all breathe easier. It has been clarified by a “pink” (forum rep for those who do not know).
“There seems to be some confusion regarding earnings with eBay Stores items so we’d like to clear up a few discrepancies here and with CS responses. eBay Partner Network affiliates do generate revenue share earnings as well as ACRUs for eBay Stores items, which are fixed price listings. The responses some of you posted from CS incorrectly addressed the question. We have cleared up this misunderstanding should CS need to answer any similar questions in the future. Thanks to those who attempted to find an answer and we apologize this wasn’t more clearly stated. ”
So there we go…. store items sold through affiliate links still earn commision.
Ok…I just logged into my ePN and looked at my clicks per campaign…..and half of my stores weren’t even listed!
Does this mean that they simply didn’t get any clicks this month (which very well could be the case)….or have those sites been “dropped” by ePN?
UGH!!
It’s official — one of the pink posters on the EPN forum cleared it up — they DO indeed pay for store sales, same as any other fixed-price item.
They apologized for the poor info support has been putting out, and said they had been instructed as to the actual facts.
Also, over on the BANS forum, a number of us went back and checked our sales records, and we are getting paid, same as always. Why the one guy who started the thread didn’t is still in question, but it wouldn’t be unheard of for EPN to miss a payment, would it???
Bob
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