eBay Partner Network Tips from The Source

The eBay Partner Network is the new affiliate manager of eBay. And the eBay Partner Network blog is up and running providing eBay network affiliates with timely information about how to optimize their affiliate sites and drive quality traffic to eBay.

Apparently eBay has determined that a great deal of the traffic which was derived from Commission Junction affiliates prior to the switch to the eBay Partner network was of low quality. To eBay this is an issue because if a buyer is driven to the site from a link or a page totally unrelated to eBay or any product on eBay to which the buyer had no intention or interest in when they clicked an eBay affiliate link. Obviously people who follow links such as those described above will not be engaged or interested in buying anything and simply click back off the site.

We have all seen and been the unwitting victim of these links on sites which are simply built to scrape traffic and send it to wherever the site owner thinks he/she could make the most affiliate commission. eBay is very interested in making sure there sites are no longer part of their affiliate network.

eBay wants more product oriented informational sites within the eBay Partner Network. Sites with up to date content related to the products promoted via affiliate links.

One such site (full disclosure the site is designed by iBusinessLogic.com) which we believe provides the kind of quality traffic generation eBay is looking for.

FavoriteTeamwear.com is a NASCAR focused website blog which provides unique and interesting content related to the sport and offers merchandise and apparel from several sources including eBay.

The web visitors to FavoriteTeamwear.com are not tricked into following links to merchandise, when they choose to follow a product link it is very obvious the item they are viewing is for sale. The site also provides more than a simple place for people to find NASCAR or Sprint Cup merchandise. Keith Bloemendaal writes topical and interesting articles about the sport and current events relating to NASCAR. This content is what brings viewers and the content is the primary focus of the site. This is what we believe the eBay Partner Network is looking for in its affiliates.

For more information about what eBay expects from its affiliates in the new era of the eBay Partner Network read the latest post on their blog below, or drop on over to the eBay Partner Network blog

Tips for Sending Engaged Buyer Traffic to eBay Sites

September 5th, 2008

As many of you are aware, last week we made the decision to expire a small
number of affiliates from eBay Partner Network, because the traffic they were
sending to eBay was in the lowest tier of the program for quality and did not
generate enough engagement with the site. We had a lot of dialogue with our
current affiliates on our discussion boards after the action, so wanted to use
this as an opportunity to further open our lines of communication moving
forward.

Our philosophical approach at eBay Partner Network is to pay generous
commissions for quality traffic that drives incremental buying activity on eBay,
i.e., purchases that occurred due to the affiliate’s actions. Thus, we’ve
looked closely at how engaged the traffic is from our affiliates and in the
interest of eBay’s sellers and the overall health of the program, we made the
decision to expire a small number of affiliates who were driving the least
engaged traffic. Moving forward, should we notice that any affiliate is driving
low quality traffic according to our metrics, our goal is to provide help in
improving the affiliate’s site(s) before taking any action such as
expiration.

In the interest of helping you maximize the impact of the traffic you drive
to eBay, and enjoying in the financial benefits, we also wanted to re-post some
of the tips from our board posts which some folks found to be very helpful.

What does “engagement” mean?

“Engagement” is how we look at a user’s experience on eBay once directed via
an affiliate link. Among other metrics, we look at the time that users spend on
eBay, the number of pages that they view, and their bidding and buying activity
after coming through an affiliate link. For example, a user who visits eBay and
then leaves the site immediately is not “engaged”, whereas a user who comes and
browses the site and places a bid or makes a purchase is highly “engaged.”

Can affiliates affect engagement and conversion?

Definitely and there can be a big difference in performance on these metrics
between affiliates. To illustrate the point with an extreme example, a site that
helps potential buyers find and research stereo receivers and then points them
to great deals on eBay will drive more engaged buyers with better conversion
rates than an eBay banner on a ringtone site. Also, a user is far more likely
to be engaged if they knew prior to the click that they were going to be driven
to eBay.

How can affiliates improve engagement from their sites?

Many of you are already using these techniques and others, but for those who
may not be, here are some tips to improve engagement.

• Maximize the amount of unique content to your site. Create commerce-oriented
  content for your site that engages the user in the shopping experience.
  Conversely, avoid putting eBay affiliate ads on pages that have little to do
  with shopping – e.g. ringtone sites, non-commerce oriented social network sites,
  e-mail services, etc. Also, sites that do little other than offer links to
  redirect to eBay generally don’t perform well and remember to always make it
  clear on the affiliate links that they will be redirected to eBay to shop

• Use more targeted creatives and tools. If all you have is a simple text link
  to eBay or a static eBay banner ad on your site, consider using one of our flash
  creatives. Use what you know about your users and your content, so consider
  using our banners targeted to specific demographics (e.g. male vs. female) or
  categories. Also, consider using our Editor Kit and eBay To Go (US only)
  widgets, which can be customized to show specific eBay listings for a given
  category or keyword right on your page.

• Integrate eBay links within your content. Sites that find a way to work eBay
  advertising into the content, rather than just as a simple ad at a top, side, or
  bottom of a page, tend to perform better.

• Optimize your landing pages. Use what you know about your users to help them
  find what they want on eBay. If your site is about tennis rackets, avoid landing
  your users on the eBay homepage, and instead send them to a search results page
  on eBay for targeted tennis queries.

• Use our geotargeting functionality. Sending a visitor on your site who is
  from the UK to ebay.co.uk (our British site) rather than ebay.com (our US site),
  will significantly improve conversion rates and engagement. You can select this
  option when you’re generating eBay links in the “tools” tab.

• >Avoid simply incentivizing visits to eBay or registration with eBay –If you
  are going to give your users cash back or points, tie those rewards to actual
  valid purchases on eBay. If you incentivize visits or sign up, a user’s primary
  motivation is typically not browsing or purchasing from eBay, so their value to
  us is low.

How can affiliates test & improve their performance?

• Set up specific campaigns to test out any new sites, links, content, etc.,
  and ideally, test these new approaches in smaller volumes than your overall
  traffic. This way you will be able to evaluate the performance of each new
  campaign separately, ramp up the ones that perform the best, and prune the ones
  that don’t perform.

• Leverage the custom ID reports to further segment your testing. In an
  upcoming release, additional category reporting will be made available that will
  help you identify at campaign, tool, and program levels the categories whose
  traffic is most likely to convert into sales, which will help you further
  optimize your content and affiliate links.

Lastly, as we have set high standards for the program, we are also taking
this into account as we screen new registrations. We are committed to growing
the number of quality affiliates in the program, and we want to make sure our
newest partners can meet those expectations. As a result going forward we are
paying close attention to all aspects of applications – especially the
descriptions of affiliates’ business models and URLs that affiliates are
planning on sending traffic from. If you are interested in applying, please
keep this in mind as you fill out your application.

We hope you find this communication helpful and wanted to thank you for your
work in driving great traffic to eBay. We remain committed to working with you
to continue to build and strengthen eBay Partner Network.

The eBay Partner Network Team

This video will give you a quick idea of the basis of the upcoming Jay Berkowitz presentation at eBay Live 2008. Our parent company, iBusinessLogic is very pleased to be working with Jay and proud that he has included our work in his upcoming eBay Live keynote speech.

Enjoy this preview, but don't mis the live show in Chicago!

"Learn to bear bravely changes of fortune".

It looks to me like further signs of the "Amazonation" of eBay.

Higher closing fees for items posted in a shopping format at lower listing fees driven by DSR performance. The happier the customers the more exposure you get and the more increased FVF eBay will reap.

I think eBay is also attracted to the way Amazon reigns supreme over their sellers and has a "at our pleasure" attitude about if you sell there or not. This is a reversal of the last 5 or 6 years of eBay's campaign tactic of driving sellers to the platform, they took the buyer for granted and focused their marketing on "you to can make a living on eBay, everyone is welcome come sell here". They were at trade shows and any event that had a large group of potential sellers pounding this message. Well look what they got, an unscrupulous unmanaged International den of thieves destroying their name and platform while we the sellers that made them who they are (and many who left along the way) took the brunt of the problem.

At the same time Amazon took another approach, the opposite approach, customer's are gold and sellers offer goods here at our pleasure in a very regulated system. They pay little upfront and share a bigger piece on the back end and they will make buyers happy or they will be gone and no unhappy buyer will be left in the lurch, you will resolve. This is not the "we're the asphalt at the swap meet and you buy and sell to each other and work it out if you're screw each other" kind of a strategy.

Guess where I shop?

eBay knows whats wrong and they are desperately trying to fix and create a format buyers can use. I think I understand the strategy and direction of this new plan. To little to late? Executed ineffectively?

I have my concerns.

Louis Palafoutas - PeSA Member

and vintageroadshow.com, Louis also sells under the eBay names wjoutlet and vintageroadshow

eBay no longer wants certain types of sellers on their site... Where to Go?

With all of the recent turmoil in the eBay community, mainly derived from comments expressed by the "new" powers that be within eBay, it is no wonder some long-time sellers are expressing more than a little angst over the quick use of terms like "retail experience" and "buyer experience" in conjuction with new performance-based discounts tied in with detailed seller ratings and feedback. It is not as though they were minor adjustments which should be obvious to everyone involved with using the eBay site for the last 10 years or so.

Lorrie Norrington - President of eBay Global Marketplaces - recently stated in a keynote speech: "....However, if you cannot, or will not change business practices to provide a great customer experience, then eBay is not for you."

Good sellers recognize the value of the bargain image that eBay nurtured for many years. In contrast, high volume sellers appreciate the retail experience language, while low volume or one-of-a-kind & consignment sellers have a harder time with this particular message. Is there a place for everyone to be comfortable? Apparently it is no longer going to be eBay.

Mr. Donahoe, who has been running the company since his appointment to the top spot was announced in January 2008, wants the company - the Internet’s largest eCommerce site - to operate less like an unruly flea market and more like a strip mall where buyers are guaranteed to have a comfortable and predictable shopping experience. See NY Times Article

If this message of change is affecting your online business plan or if you are unaware of other venues available to sell the types of goods you feel eBay was built upon (yet now seems to no longer want), we have assembled a short list of alternate venues for your to explore. Some of these marketplaces offer a venue for your online sales of unique and one-of-a-kind items and others could be more appropriate for the types of inventory no longer wanted on eBay.

1. OnlineAuction.com - Fixed flat rate yearly or monthly price to sell , 13 million listings live on the site.
2. eBid - $49.95 lifetime price to sell, international sites. Less active listings than OLA but growing.
3. Etsy - Free to list, 3.5% transaction fee if items sell, dedicated to hand-crafted & arts merchandise. Etsy has 870,000 registered users with 160,000 individual artists listing 1.5 million hand-made creations.
4. Yahoo Stores - Not an auction venue, but a great place to set up an online store if you do not want to build your own website with a shopping cart. $39.95 a month + 1.5% transaction fee for the basic package.
5. BuyitSellit - Buy It Sell It is an Ink Frog product. Many eBay sellers will be familiar with the Ink Frog eBay listing software solution. The BuyItSellIt basic package is free, but there are upgrades available including a digital delivery option for $9.95 per month. BuyItSellIt offers to also feature eBay listings alongside the shoping cart listing created in a merchant's BuyItSellIt Store.
6. Amazon Webstore - While the fees are higher here - $59.99 per month plus a 7% transaction fee - Amazon Webstores provide the Amazon experience to buyers and allows merchant specific branding. In addition, the merchant may operate multiple niche-specific Amazon Webstores all under one account for no additional fees.

Amazon Webstores Details

All credit card processing and transaction fees. There are no other hidden fees such as hosting, payment gateways or merchant accounts.

Payment Fraud Protection for you. WebStore by Amazon uses sophisticated fraud detection tools in use on Amazon.com. This allows you to benefit from Amazon’s world-class fraud protection services and experience.

Purchase protection for your customers. Customers who shop on your WebStore will feel more confident buying from your site knowing they are protected by the same A-to-z Guarantee that protects shoppers on Amazon.com.

Creating multiple WebStores within your account. Each WebStore can be a customized and independent Web presence for no additional monthly fee.

The option of adding Amazon products to your WebStore. Offer items from Amazon.com through your WebStore and the Amazon Associates Program allows you to collect a referral fee when such items are sold!

Every merchant must make his or her own choices when it comes to multi-channel selling. Using a multi-channel listing service which can feed inventory to many venues is also an option. This option is often the most expensive way to get product online and many small businesses cannot take advantage of the services of a ChannelAdvisor or Infopia multi-channel management solution. But if convenience and automation are your goals these are the types of services you should look into. Merchant Advantage is another service worthy of investigation if you have a large inventory and are interested in placing it in multiple online venues.

The point here is that there are multiple options to explore. eBay is not the only marketplace, yet it is also not a marketplace to be ignored or abandoned. Using eBay in a smart and informed way is the best solution. Doing that while exploring the other solutions mentioned above (or many more) is a smart business plan for the future.

Diversify, reduce costs, raise efficiency. These are not just terms for large corporations - they will apply to any business. See what you can do to make them apply to your business.

Scott Pooler

Is eBay messing with your seller experience!

• DSR's getting you down?

• Best Match Confusing?

• Has your eBay Seller experience gone "As Expected"?

You are not Alone!

eBay has initiated numerous radical changes in the last several months and you are not the only one trying to keep up! The good people at PESA and ECMTA (Professional eBay Sellers Alliance and E Commerce Merchants Trade Association) discuss matters like this with the members of the two associations on a regular basis. They figure that many members trying to find a clear path forward is more productive than one eBay seller trying to do it on their own. Continue Reading