eBay PartnerNetwork Blog

Hi all,

Using impression pixels on your site is an easy and important practice. Tracking impressions will tell you how often you are showing eBay ads to your users. If you combine that data with the number of clicks, you can track the Click-through Rate (also called CTR) which will tell you how well you are matching the ads to your users’ interests. In other words, tracking impressions will help you improve the quality of the traffic you send to eBay.

We have made it really easy for publisher to include impression pixels on their site. (See the blog post titled “How to check if a page already has an impression pixel” to see if you are already including impression pixels.) To create an impression pixel for any tool that doesn’t already include one (Link Generator links created prior to May 1, 2009; RSS Feeds, Data Feeds, and API calls), just follow these steps:

1. Log into the eBay Partner Network interface
2. Click “Tools” on the top navigation bar
3. Look at the bottom right of the page for “Impression Pixel Generator” and click the link
4. Pick a Program
5. Pick a Campaign ID
6. Pick a Tool
7. Click “Generate”
8. Copy and paste the code into your web page

The eBay Partner Network

Shannon Lisecki, Senior Strategic Partner Manager of EarthLink, one of our long-time affiliates, took the time to share some of her insights with us on various industry related topics.

As a leading national Internet service provider, Atlanta-based EarthLink has earned an award-winning reputation for outstanding customer service and its suite of online products and services to facilitate a safe and secure Internet experience.

Q: What percent of your overall commissions earned does eBay Partner Network represent?

A: Well, if I told you this, I would have to kill you. In all seriousness, we do not disclose that level of financial detail. However, suffice to say, eBay Partner Network (ePN) is a valuable and significant part of our advertising and partnership revenue stream. I see our ePN relationship continuing for a long time.

Q: How do you evaluate the economics of different advertising options on your website?

A: We look at the overall revenue stream to the company based on the placement and on our user experience. We may elect to go with direct partnerships, advertising, or affiliate advertising, or use one of our content providers. We also look for opportunities to promote specific items that interest our demographic.

Q: Which industry thought leaders impress you the most?

A: I was impressed with Lorrie Norrington’s presentation at a recent event. I look forward to seeing how eBay is able to capitalize on the secondary market [Editor: here Shannon is referring to eBay’s unique strategy of growing by being the best marketplace for out of season, outlet inventory, overstock/returns, and liquidation inventory on the web.].

Q: How did you get started in affiliate marketing?

A: EarthLink’s first foray into affiliate marketing was with eBay via CJ and Amazon.com Associates program. We later expanded our use of affiliate marketing to include additional advertisers on CJ and other affiliate networks. We continue to use affiliate marketing selectively on our site.

Q: How long have you been a member of ePN?

A: We joined the ePN as a beta partner. We have been an eBay affiliate as long as I have been at the company. Our affiliate relationship with eBay started on or before 2001.

Q: What new directions do you think the industry is headed in?

A: I think the industry will continue to move towards rewarding quality buyers and cracking down on shady practices.

Q: What concerns you most about recent developments in affiliate marketing?

A: EarthLink’s core business is Internet access. While we have affiliate relationships, we don’t use all the bells and whistles that most affiliates use. Many of the recent changes in affiliate programs have not affected our implementations.

Q: Which sites or feeds do you read on a daily basis?

A: I am old school. My husband and I read the paper. We get the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the New York Times. There is something relaxing about reading the paper in the morning or, even better, in the evening after the kids go to bed. For my daily online fix, I check out searchengineland.com, searchenginewatch.com, sphinn.com, eBayinsiderblog.com, ebaypartnernetworkblog.com and affiliate-blog.amazon.com. I also use Google Alerts to keep up on my latest interests. I am on my.earthlink.net throughout the day getting my fix of breaking news, weather and my eBay watch list.

Q: One tip that you can share with other affiliates about improving their performance on ePN?

A: Your best bet for success is to bring quality buyers to the eBay site. That means understanding your users and highlighting eBay opportunities that resonate with them. For EarthLink this means integrating eBay throughout our start page including our “my eBay” feature, which allows real-time tracking of our users’ personal bid, watch, sell and won lists. We use eBay’s API and XML feed to pull in listings on our web search result pages and our deals page (deals.earthlink.net). Every year, I am always surprised at some of the listings that resonate with our users. Our users were very interested in the cave home that was for sale earlier this year. Not only did they look at the listing, they then went on to buy other items on the site. I am always looking for interesting content or popular products that I can promote. I rely on the eBayinsiderblog.com to find it.

Thank you Shannon, for letting us get to know you! We wish you and EarthLink continued success.

Amanda
eBay Partner Network Team

Hello Partners,

We thought it would be helpful to send along some tips and best practices when filling out the special business model forms. Please note that you only need to submit a special business model form if you fall under the following business models: Loyalty & Incentive, Downloadable Software, Electronic Communications and Other. If you promote eBay through banner ads or text links on your blog or website, and do no special tactics to drive traffic to your site other than SEO/SEM, you do not need to fill out a special business model form.

If you fall under a special business model category and need to submit a form for approval, please be sure to include as much information on your business model as possible. Here are some examples for each category:

          • Loyalty & Incentive
                    o Include your URL.
                    o Be specific about what exactly the incentive is. If cash back, please include how much is                           given back and how the payment is made. If points, please include how many points and                             how the points can be redeemed.

          • Downloadable Software
                    o Include the URL where the software can be downloaded, if applicable.
                    o Include a thorough description of how the software works, with screenshots where                                     applicable.

          • Electronic Communications
                    o Please be very specific about how your e-mail list is generated.
                    o Send all details of how you are compliant with CAN-SPAM.

          • Other
                    o Include as much information as possible so that we can review your business model.

If we do not have enough information about your business model to do a thorough review, we will not be able to approve your application. Please be sure to answer all questions with as much detail as you can.

Thank you,

The eBay Partner Network Team

Hi all,

As we announced in our post on July 17th, we are improving our capabilities in click filtering.  Specifically, we introduced yesterday some additional click filters designed to better identify and remove clicks from a larger set of bots and eliminate more invalid clicks.  This will align eBay Partner Network’s click filters more closely to the industry standards recommended by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

As a result, you may have seen a drop in your clicks in the interface today.   The scale of this drop will vary by publisher; if your site is crawled regularly by bots, you may see a higher than average drop in clicks.  This did not affect sales and ACRUs.

The main benefit of this is that you will get far more accurate data when calculating metrics such as conversion and click through rates, which will allow you to better optimize your banners and widgets.

The eBay Partner Network team