eBay Partner Network
I switched my links to the ebay Partner Network when it became live a few months ago. I believe that I have switched all my links, but I am experiencing a drop in the commission that I previously experienced.
This is a little confusing, there has been mixed views from a number of affiliates that I have spoken to. The split is around 1/3 have seen a significant drop, 1/3 have stayed the same and 1/3 have expericend a rise in sales and commissions.
eBay are listing a number of great tools, nice to have them all in one place, but are people using them, or are they just switching links? With the affiliate space becoming alot more competitive use of every tool that affiliate merchants / affiliate networks have to offer is essential. Anything that can be done to enhance a site with the aid of a merchant instead of link and banner dropping must be good.
Probably the most useful tool with ebay is the affiliate RSS feeds. with a little php (other server side scripting languages are available) this can be used in a number of different ways to enhance a site and add unique content.
The next step for myself is to have a look at the eBay API, now freely available - they used to charge! A step up from the RSS feeds. Saving my time I may just invest in BANS
I can’t speak highly enough of BANS, I really like it. I have about 7 or 8 sites on the new system and they all generate steady income. Nothing earth shattering, but with the right niche and the right site there’s a lot of potential there. I had to upgrade a load of sites from the original version this last couple of months, and with all the link cloaking and stuff built in, I’m seeing a lot better search placement than the older sites.
It’s templating system is pretty good so you can add all sorts of side content like blogs and news feeds with a bit of jiggery pokery. You can have a look at my latest one at www.strangespookyandweird.com - that’s more a fun site than a real niche one but there are some great unexploited niches out there for the taking.
Comment by Dio | July 16, 2008