When we won eBay’s developer of the year award for 2007 (last year) for AuctionAds at the eBay Live! / Developers conference we were given the opportunity to have lunch with President of eBay U.S. John Donahue. While at lunch he asked me and dillsmack several questions about AuctionAds and the eBay Affiliate program. Somewhere in the conversation he asked me what was the 1 biggest thing they could do to improve the affiliate program? My answer: Drop commission junction asap. He inquired more and I gave him reason after reason as to why CJ was a really bad partner for them. From our bad experiences in tracking, reporting, signingup (we have horror storries that I dont even want to say) basically lets just say it was very difficult to work with them.
Anyway today on eBay’s afflilate site:
Today eBay unveiled the eBay Partner Network, a new global affiliate program for publishers driving traffic to eBay. Officially launching on April 1st, 2008, the eBay Partner Network will be eBay’s new in-house affiliate network, designed to more fully align the programs across eBay’s global properties and give affiliates expanded access to revenue opportunities across its platforms.
Since 2001 eBay has enabled affiliates and Web site publishers to be paid for all traffic driven to eBay. With one of the most competitive payouts in the industry and one of the broadest and deepest product selections available to affiliates, the eBay Partner Network will continue to help eBay extend the reach of its platforms to the edges of the Web. The new in-house program will allow eBay to more closely align the program with the needs of its publishers and the eBay Community, and will eventually engage all of eBay’s assets to create one of the most robust affiliate networks in existence.
The washington post also has a big write-up on it here in which they talk to our friend Matt Ackley.
I think everyone who has been doing eBay affiliate stuff has seen this coming for a long time. I was still surprised to see it finally happen though. But honestly it was time. Good call eBay!
Hat tip to @manatee for tipping me off this morning
September 15, 2009 at 6:13 pm
never had a problem with CJ, always got fair pay on tents, knives, firesteel, camping equipment.. whatever I put up links for.
cant blame cj for poor marketing peoples..
July 29, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Has there been any progress with regards to the terms eBay requires partners to adhere to? My applications been rejected twice now with vague or a list of possible problems as to why I was not accepted. Anyone had any answers to this yet?
April 17, 2009 at 6:23 pm
eureka: I guess we now have you to thank for how totally screwed up and crappy ebay EPN has treated their affiliates since moving in-house to the most incompetent group of wannabes and idiots since the advent of affiliate programs.
thanks alot you arrogant asshole.
April 3, 2009 at 3:37 am
Is there a decent alternative to ebay auction? They rejected an application out-of-hand.
March 24, 2009 at 4:08 pm
We applied for an ebay affiliate. We have 4 sites with over 2 million hits per year for good niche products that we publish.
They dismissively turned us down for no reason and no comment. Just a terse email.
We joined Amazon instead. Last week se sold $800 in commisions on used and new products cross related to ours.
We have one word Ebay and PayPal are now dirty words and we refuse to do business with them.
March 10, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I’m joking ShoeMoney! I’m actually quiet happy with CJ. I mean, I do this stuff part time, maybe an hour a day .. and I pull in around $10k per month. Good enough for me while I got to school.
December 21, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I suppose that is great news for those of you who already have a partner network program set up with eBay. Unfortunately, it has made it difficult to impossible for the rest of us to profit from eBay and join their exclusive network.
The eBay partner network does not seem to be permitting new members. They refuse to give a reason why sites are not accepted nor will they provide a list of parameters that they use to deem a site worthy of their program. Instead, they dismissively state in a generic E-Mail that you can try again in a few months and maybe their parameters will change.
That leaves those of us who were not grandfathered in with no options. I have just made sure to discourage people from using eBay in various posts, unless they want to waste more time and frequently more money in a bidding war.
What choice did I have?
November 5, 2008 at 9:00 am
Interesting. I m going to be ebay partner.
April 15, 2008 at 10:33 am
This is great news!!!
March 19, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Good news for everyone having issues for CJ.
March 19, 2008 at 6:10 pm
best news i have heard all day
w00t!
March 19, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Very nice work dude. It goes to show ebay listens to their affiliates. Very very nice.
))))
I am sure you caused someone their job at CJ
March 19, 2008 at 8:50 am
I hate CJ too, they ban members before giving check,also site cj.com is very slow.
March 19, 2008 at 8:49 am
because many people believe that CJ doesn’t have a good payout rate, and alot of the people have had issues with them therefore they are happy.
March 19, 2008 at 8:49 am
yup and I think it might be the changing all the links … or maybe their system automatically does it … I dont know but I don’t want to change each and every link.
March 19, 2008 at 3:19 am
CJ links are so hard to track. I just hope their new program makes you sales easier to track. I had some success with the current program but stopped when I could not figure out through CJ which links were the successful ones even using their SID tracker code option. Look forward to seeing the new offering. Released April Fool’s Day I believe !
March 18, 2008 at 7:35 pm
More like how the loss of partnership with eBay will affect CJ.
March 18, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I will like to know the how the partnership with CJ will affect Ebay
March 18, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Wow. This is great news! CJ ca get very annoying!
March 18, 2008 at 12:00 pm
“I’m curious about the BANS implication as some of your loyal readers did actually take the dive into the program. I have not seen any official word from BANS, but I’m hoping that it will be addressed soon”
The folks at BANS have stated that they’re on top of this and anticipate that the change over will go smoothly. They were informed of it ahead of time and are addressing the issues currently.
March 18, 2008 at 9:32 am
It looks like CJ is just tanking. Amazing how many people hate it.
March 18, 2008 at 9:30 am
That would really be SOMETHING. Lure people into a fake affiliate problem on April Fool’s. Historic.
March 18, 2008 at 9:29 am
I have yet to use CJ, so I guess I don’t care as much.
March 18, 2008 at 9:28 am
I’m an “Ebay Partner” sounds a little weird compared with “I’m an Ebay affiliate.”
March 18, 2008 at 9:21 am
Well they don’t dominate me!
March 18, 2008 at 9:14 am
This great news! It great opportunity to all!
March 18, 2008 at 2:26 am
Adult friend finder….isnt is nothing compared to Ebay? :O
March 18, 2008 at 2:26 am
Its a good thing who had issues with CJ!
March 18, 2008 at 2:25 am
Wonderful news. Thanks a ton!
March 18, 2008 at 2:24 am
Same here. CJ closed my account and on contacting them, sent me no reply. wtf
March 18, 2008 at 12:41 am
I’m curious about the BANS implication as some of your loyal readers did actually take the dive into the program. I have not seen any official word from BANS, but I’m hoping that it will be addressed soon.
March 17, 2008 at 11:49 pm
I got the email from eBay today. Actually got three uk, canada, us. It’s for real.
March 17, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Will this affect Shoppingads inability to show relevant ads? I was getting all this traffic from my KWs being mentioned on the biggest show on national TV and Shoppingads is serving irrelevant ads for counterfeit purses and ipod cases ( i swear they must have some weird default that shows the worst items in ebay while hundreds of my KW items are available). After this I had to change all my eBay links to CJ. I would say 50% of the time SA serves up irrelevant ads. Then half the time it will correct on a refresh, but how may visitors refresh?
March 17, 2008 at 9:50 pm
I have seen some weird reporting with CJ for sure. I’ll have several days in a row where I make $40 or $50 each day from my eBay links and then I’ll go through a stretch where I’ll see like $3.15 or thereabouts for 5 days in a row. That freaks me out.
March 17, 2008 at 9:25 pm
finally !!! CJ report sucks !!! I think ebay alone will do a better job !!! Now I wonder whos next???? I hope buy.com and priceline will leave CJ…
March 17, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I think this is a fantastic move on eBays part. Cutting out the middle man is a smart business move and should make for a more effective affiliate program.
The incentive to switch early for an extra 5% bonus for the month of April in nice…and kinda removes that agitation I feel if indeed I do have to redo ALL my eBay aff links out there in the www.
Hopefully, the migrations will be smooth and eBays servers will be tough enough to handle the over-load…especially on April 30th
Great post.
Shoe, if you had a hand in this decision, THANK YOU!
March 17, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Google search about CJ horror stories, do the same at DP , NP , SP ect… If there ever was a first selective scamming affiliate company, this is it! Or WAS it…
March 17, 2008 at 6:57 pm
I guess it’s better late than never. I’m sure there are a lot of happy people out there because of this news. I wonder how much influence came as a result of that lunch? We’ll see how much this benefits everyone soon.
~Terry
March 17, 2008 at 6:45 pm
The email all of us eBay affiliates got this morning said that all links would have to be migrated over to the new affiliate program by May 1. Maybe “migrate” just means that we’ll have to sign up with the new affiliate program?
March 17, 2008 at 5:30 pm
lol i dont think this is a joke
March 17, 2008 at 5:27 pm
CJ is still dominates and w.e they pay is better than alot … now Pepper Jam has entered so lets see how that works.
March 17, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I feel bad for valueclick shareholders right now – ebay must be their largest advertiser and this stock will fall faster than a wounded gazelle.
March 17, 2008 at 5:12 pm
hmmm….
Jeremy, didn’t you mention some BIG APRIL FOOLS joke for this year?
Hmmm I wonder!?
March 17, 2008 at 5:03 pm
intresting….
March 17, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Interesting, Ebay disconnecting w/ CJ.
March 17, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Its about time but kinda bit late
March 17, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Mr. Shoemoney, I have an important question. I signed up for CJ after I seen your picture of how much you made in your CJ account and thought that maybe you were also recommending them. Now you don’t care for them? Which affiliate program out there do you honestly think is the best. I haven’t made a penny with CJ and I sense something wrong with the tracking myself as no one ever clicks on anything.
March 17, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I was going to try my luck in the eBay affiliate niche, I guess I’ll try it now.
March 17, 2008 at 4:02 pm
great! maybe the interface won’t be so clunky.
March 17, 2008 at 3:39 pm
“eBay has always been their biggest earner. It will indeed be interesting to see now who will follow.”
I also wonder…
http://3magin8.com
March 17, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I sure hope not. Changing every aff link would suck.
March 17, 2008 at 3:02 pm
CJ does dominate the industry right now. They have almost 5,000 programs. Sure they pay like shit but most people dont know =(
March 17, 2008 at 3:01 pm
eBay has always been their biggest earner. It will indeed be interesting to see now who will follow.
March 17, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Dominant of what?
March 17, 2008 at 2:56 pm
I’m curious to see what kind of impact this has on CJ/ValueClick. The eBay program has to be a significant portion of the revenue for them. This could really shake up things in the affiliate world if CJ looses their dominant position.
March 17, 2008 at 2:55 pm
It does sort of sound like eBay is going to start competing with AshleyMadison and AdultFriendFinder doesn’t it.
March 17, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I may actually use their program now. CJ was awful.
March 17, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Yes, this is great news.
March 17, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Thank you thank you thank you for influencing eBay to drop cj!!
Cj is bad news for publishers, not only is their tracking not accurate, they also give themselves the right to drop anyone at any time WITHOUT NOTICE. That means, your ads are working, you’re driving traffic, but your click throughs are not being tracked, and they don’t even tell you about it. In the meantime you’re wondering why your links aren’t working.
Kudos also to eBay to drop that dead weight!!
March 17, 2008 at 1:53 pm
it was switched over to rover a long time ago… I dont think there is a need to change links.
March 17, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I agree. I’ve been having a few issues with Commission Junction myself. This will help out a lot.
March 17, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I also received this email today and am very excited! Ebay is so large that I had originally thought it should have its own affiliate network. Hopefully there will be some better tools so that we (the affiliates) can customize our links!
March 17, 2008 at 1:48 pm
The “eBay Partner Network” hmmm I love that name, could get you in trouble with a less than tech savvy wife or husband though… “Hey Hun, I’m one of eBay’s partners!” *slap*
March 17, 2008 at 1:41 pm
One thing’s for sure. Cutting out the middle man is a good way for one or both sides to make more money. Hopefully it’s the affiliate side.
March 17, 2008 at 1:36 pm
ahh damn! I wonder what this means for all those BANS users (myself included) hmm I wonder how this will incorporate everyones ebays inhouse stores and scripts…
I am pretty excited, I wonder if there will be a big change in commission from CJ to inhouse
March 17, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I’d be really interested in hearing some of the bad experiences you had with CJ and why, Shoe
March 17, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I’m pretty excited, too. I’ve been having so many tracking problems with CJ, it’s not even funny. I like the fact that we’ll be able to sign up for multiple ebay locations all in one place.