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Stunning Look Inside the Old eBay Affiliate Network

Shoemoney had a post up yesterday about Shawn Hogan, and what is likely to be a very public look into the eBay Partner Network. Shawn, facing 20+ year in a Fed prison and millions of $$ in fines had originally written this on his own site, DigitalPoint, and if any of you wonder why the ePN system has probably changed so much over the last few years… its worth every minute of reading… twice!

Snip:

When I asked them why they would knowingly allow affiliates to violate their terms of service, they were very good at avoiding answering my actual question. Finally after pestering them with the same question for weeks, they broke down and informed me that their terms of service (and even the entire affiliate program to some degree) was a bit of a facade. It allowed eBay to do things they wanted to do (like spam search engines, deploy in countries where they had no actual presence, etc.), while also giving them a way to wash their hands of any wrong-doing when any of their large partners (like Google) would question them about it (like why there are so many spam sites directing people to eBay). They could simply say, “It’s our affiliates, and they are violating the terms of service we set forth.”

Its a VERY good read… get your coffee… draw your own conclusions

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About the Author, Mark Hansen

has written 573 article(s) at the Niche Store Builder site.

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. 

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5 Comments »

  • Sean said:

    LOL – I just read the snip it. Maybe that’s why gorg hates affiliates.

    Reply – Quote
    # 5 August 2010 at 4:27 pm
  • Used Abeka Curriculum said:

    What a MESS! I hope Shawn is exonerated quickly. This doesn’t win any respect for eBay, but perhaps they have learned something. There is corruption almost everywhere, but not everybody participates in it.
    Julie

    Reply – Quote
    # 6 August 2010 at 9:29 am
  • Mark Hansen (author) said:

    @Sean – For sure Sean! eBay and Google go back pretty far in their love/hate relationship though. A lot of it has to do with Paypal & Google checkout as well.

    @Julie – Yup… but I still hold out for the other half of the story also. I’m sure the actual no-bull story lies somewhere on the middle of all this.

    Shawn may have been pressured and coerced into taking a million dollars a month, but exactly how much pressure that would take… who knows?

    The only thing for sure.. its going to make for some GREAT drama! :-)

    Reply – Quote
    # 6 August 2010 at 9:37 am
  • Mike said:

    I don’t know.

    To say the money wasn’t important and that he wanted to quit, but since Ebay begged him he kept going……

    I have no love for Ebay, but something really smells bad there.

    If the money isn’t important and you want to quit, then ****** quit. This is all about two partners in greed, no matter how he wants to spin it. Partnership goes sour, and they start pointing fingers at each other.

    Reply – Quote
    # 6 August 2010 at 4:48 pm
  • Rochelle said:

    Honestly, sounds like a load of crap to me. If this is going to trial (and I have no idea what is going on – never heard of this guy before tonight), seems to me that his lawyer would tell him to zip his mouth shut.

    Nothing he wrote appears to be based in any kind of fact. It’s just what he said eBay said, etc..

    He contradicted himself at least once. Near the end he said that he quit, then he said he eBay removed him from their affiliate program.

    I laughed when he said that his eBay affiliate rep pressured him for things like a nice computer and TV, while he had a crappy computer and TV. Should we feel sorry for someone who made over a million dollars a month because he chose not to spend a bit of money on those things? Please!

    Yes, this does make for good drama, but it sounds a lot more like fiction than non-fiction.

    Reply – Quote
    # 6 August 2010 at 10:05 pm