eBay PartnerNetwork Blog

Whether tailgating at the stadium or holding down the couch, football season is an American tradition best celebrated with food, beverages and a large group of family and friends.

As one would expect, hardcore fans start thinking about how they will prepare for the games before the first pre-season match up gets underway. Demand for football-themed items tends to ramp up in mid-August, continuing throughout the playoffs and bowl games.

Many of your visitors will seek ways to support their favorite collegiate or professional team in style, so think like a fan to score big on extra revenue by driving fervent fans to eBay.

Go Team Go!
Who do you root for? Everyone has a favorite team, and searches for specific college and pro teams spike during this time of the year. If the NFL Super Bowl were decided upon by the team’s eBay popularity, the Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers or the Pittsburgh Steelers would all have a fighting chance. In the NCAA circuit, Alabama, Florida, Ohio State and Georgia would be selected to play in the BCS’ top-tier bowls.

Tailgating Essentials
Sometimes the tailgating pre-party can be even more fun than the game itself, if you have the right gear to provide a celebratory atmosphere (or if you are forced to root for the Detroit Lions). Savvy hosts aren’t going to find the truly unique items at the local party store – eBay is a great resource for tailgate gear. From logo chairs to canopy tents to portable grills, true tailgaters can find what they’re looking for on eBay.

It’s all in the Cards
Sports trading cards are always a hot collectible on eBay, and fans start to think about buying vintage and modern cards while cheering on their favorite players. And there are also plenty of other sought-after sports collectibles on the site, including vintage memorabilia like photos and tickets.

Let the Games Begin!
There’s just one more essential item required by the football fan… a ticket to the game! Now is the time when the diehards are looking to snag a pair of season tickets. As the season gets underway, supply and demand for single game tickets for NFL and NCAA football games will increase even more.

There are many creative ways to capitalize on one of America’s favorite pastimes, even if you don’t operate a sports-oriented website. Keep an eye on the teams making plays and headlines to score big with visitors who are scouring the web for relevant content and finds.

Best of luck for many victories during the football season!

The eBay Partner Network Team

Beginning Monday, August 16th, at 9:00am PDT, eBay’s Fashion Vault will have French Connection products up to 60% off retail prices through Wednesday, August 18th at 9pm PDT! Make sure to check the Fashion Vault for updated information and specific sale items.

About French Connection
The UK based brand with the clever FCUK acronym -offers a fashion-forward clothing range with a quirky spin on design, priding itself on quality and affordable prices. The whole business is born of a desire to be original, distinctive and accessible. Whether fcuk has shocked or amused, it certainly made you think. Bold, witty and intelligent. The collection includes select women’s skirts, dresses, fashion shorts, tops and denim from Fall ’09 and Spring ’09 collections. Prices range from $20 – $110, average price of $65.

Receive an Extra 30% Off
Join the In Crowd to get a coupon code for an additional 30% off, as well as future exclusive offers and coupon codes.

How to Promote eBay’s Fashion Vault
You will be able to promote this exciting flash sale in several ways:

• Dynamic Banners in sizes 160×600, 300×250 and 728×90.
• You can access the Fashion Vault XML Feed.
• Use the Link Generator Tool with the Custom URL or Item ID options to link directly to sale items.
• Use seller id: Stylepremium for the RSS Feed Generator, and Custom Banner.

Happy Promoting!
The eBay Partner Network Team

The extended daylight hours should make summer seem longer, but the season always seems to pass by too quickly, especially for students who are more interested in the beach than books. But before we know it, the yellow busses will again be scooping up the neighborhood children to bring them together for reading, writing, arithmetic and recess. Parents and teachers are already counting down the days until the morning bell rings, and you can capitalize on this by tying in to some of the most sought after back-to-school items for sale on eBay and Half.com.

Of course, there are the basics that every student needs to succeed, such as pencils, pens, notebooks and markers. But the older students can’t survive without a laptop and a printer to help them write all those pesky term papers. And because all students need a way to safely transport their homework assignments from home to class, boys’ and girls’ bags and backpacks are hot sellers right now.

Choosing an outfit for the first day back to school is almost as important as figuring out where to sit in the lunchroom. Parents are searching eBay for clothing by popular retailers and designers like Gap, Ralph Lauren, Gymboree, Abercrombie & Fitch and Justice to make sure their little learners are dressed for success.

Parents aren’t the only ones turning to eBay for great deals; teachers are searching the site to simplify their supply shopping while stretching their paycheck further. Teaching supplies and resources are a hot category, with elementary educators looking for math, reading and phonics items and wholesale and bulk lots of books.

Textbook sales are beginning to pick up with the college crowd. Savvy students know the bookstore isn’t the only place to find the items on the professor’s required reading list. And it’s not just economics students who are scouring half.com and eBay for textbooks – biology, chemistry, physics and anatomy students are searching the site for their educational tomes.

As the temperatures begin to cool, searches and sales on these items will begin to heat up. Don’t forget that you can use the Link Generator Tool to promote these popular search terms and lead your readers directly to the search results. By linking to some of these categories on your site, we hope you’ll not only earn an A+ for effort, but hopefully some additional revenue!

And to help with your promotions half.com has two great coupon codes available:

Coupon code: HALF2010BTS10PERC

• Provides 10% off purchases between $100 and $200
• Max discount of $20
• Valid from 7/20/2010 to 9/30/2010
• Valid only for Books
• Valid for only New Users
• Can be used only once

Coupon code: TAKE5OFFBOOKS10

• Provides $5 off $50 and above
• Max discount of $5
• Valid till 1/3/2011
• Valid only for Books
• Valid for only New Users
• Can be used only once

Good luck with your Back to School Promotions!

eBay Partner Network Team

The globe is abuzz with FIFA fever, and it’s been an exciting Cup so far! The month-long soccer (or football, to the rest of the world) tournament is in full swing and there’s still time to score some extra revenue by creating a tie-in to some of the most sought after World Cup items found on eBay.

With increased listings for soccer and World Cup during the first two weeks of the games, sellers are capitalizing on the attention brought to the event that only happens once every four years. Memorabilia, clothing and collectibles are hot, along with high-priced tickets to view the matches.

Whether watching the matches live or on television, spectators are no doubt familiar with vuvuzelas, the buzzing South African horns. These instruments weren’t even on our radar a month ago, but listings have skyrocketed since the games began. The same goes for the Adidas Jabulani, the World Cup 2010 Official Match Ball that has been used during all of the games.

With international audiences cheering on their favorite teams, bids and listings for the teams still in the hunt have been increasing as the games play out. Who knows what team will take home the cup, but if the competition was measured by eBay listings, USA and Mexico would be neck and neck, with Argentina and Germany following closely behind. Buyers also seem to have taken an interest in the host country, as items from South Africa – not limited to World Cup memorabilia – have surged since May.

Although defending champ Italy was favored over Slovakia with 6:1 odds, the underdog came out on top, unexpectedly knocking Team Italia out of contention. Italian fans might find a little bit of solace in knowing that their merchandise is much more popular with eBay users, with nearly 25 times as many items listed. However, if Slovakia continues to do well, listings may follow suit.

By keeping an eye on the games and thinking of ways to capitalize on the excitement of the World Cup and other current events, you’ll catch the attention of both current and new website visitors. And by tapping into the buzz, eBay affiliates should be able to score some financial GOOOOOOAAAAAAALS!!!!

The eBay Partner Network Team

Now you can promote merchandise alongside the release of one of the most anticipated children’s movies of the summer. June 18th will be the debut of ‘Toy Story 3’ by Disney and Pixar films. Coordinated with this date, eBay has worked directly with Disney to stock their eBay store with ‘Toy Story’ inventory. This includes items in the following categories: toys, apparel, home & décor, and collectibles.

Prices range from $149.95 for a programmable Buzz Lightyear Figure to $1.99 for a Disney ‘Toy Story’ bowl. As part of the promotion, the banner below will appear in all searches in the Disney store, and a small flash widget will display ‘Toy Story 3’ items for sale, through the end of June.

Promotion Ideas

• The ideal place to direct your interested ‘Toy Story 3’ shoppers would be the ‘Toy Story Landing Page’ in the eBay Disney Store.



• You may also want to send traffic directly to the Disney Store.
• Other popular Character searches in the Disney store include:
  WALL-E, Handy Manny, Cars, Tinker Bell, Pooh, Princesses, and Mickey
• Use the Custom Banner and advanced settings to limit products to the eBay Seller ID ‘Disney’
• Customize an RSS feed with Seller ID ‘Disney’ and search term ‘Toy Story,’ and then use Widgetbox to create a custom widget.
• Use the Link Generator to promote specific popular products such as:
• The Toy Story 3 Western Train Lego Play Set
• The Toy Story 3 Bullseye Action Figure
• The Toy Story 3 Rex Action Figure
• The Toy Story 3 Twitch Action Figure
• The Toy Story 3 Chunk Action Figure
  Or, the ever-popular
• Ultimate Programmable Buzz Lightyear Figure
• Remind buyers of the Disney Guarantee: “If you are not completely satisfied with your Disney product, you can return it for an exchange, refund, or merchandise credit.”
• You can also use this logo below or the image above in conjunction with any ‘Toy Story 3’ promotions on your site.

Good luck and Happy Promoting!
The eBay Partner Network Team

April showers may bring May flowers, but June really knows how to party. There’s plenty to celebrate in the first month of summer with high school graduations, Father’s Day and summer weddings in full bloom. By thinking ahead and tying these special occasions into your site content and promoting some of the most sought-after items of the season, you’ll be able to catch the eyes of visitors who need to pick up that perfect gift for dad, grad or the happy couple’s new pad. We’ve raked through the data to give you insight into today’s hot sellers.

Congrats Grad
Parents who want to get the graduation party started are digging through the Home & Garden category to find deals on balloons, tableware and serveware. To make sure their newly independent child makes it to all their college classes, they are stocking up on the a.m. essentials, alarm clocks and coffee. And of course, every student needs a laptop and an iPhone so they can contact the ‘rents when they run out of money or clean clothes.

Father Knows Best
Dad puts a lot of sweat equity into cultivating the greenest lawn on the block, and wants to keep it that way throughout the summer. Hot sellers in the Home & Garden category include weed control, sprinkler timers and controllers, and seeders, sprayers & spreaders. For those with dads who’d rather spend time playing on someone else’s green grass, the Sporting Goods category is a popular choice for golf clubs, headcovers, clothing and shoes. Children and wives of men who prefer to spend the weekend on water instead of land have been searching for pool pumps, marine audio speakers and fly fishing flies.

Over the Threshold
Brides searching for unique touches to enhance their special day are looking for wedding decorations, cake toppers and favors. Frugally minded guests looking to snag an affordable item from the registry without stepping foot in the store are scouring eBay for home décor gifts from retailers Ikea and Pottery Barn. And unconventional Aunt Millie has been searching for a unique gift to brighten the home of the happy couple, such as an oil painting, woven rug or antique mirror.

Now that you know what buyers are craving this season, take advantage of it! Use the Link Generator Tool to promote these popular search terms and give your readers a clear and direct path to the search results. By tying into these hot trends and highly sought after items, you might be able to tap into additional revenue potential as an eBay affiliate!

Happy Promoting!
The eBay Partner Network Team

It can be hard finding a gift for a Mom that has just about everything, that’s one of the many reasons eBay created its gift finder, one of the most intuitive gift finders out there. With Mother’s Day less than a week away, we wanted to remind everyone about the great opportunities available with the eBay Gift Finder. This tool has been fine tuned even further to bring eBay users the best gift finding experience around. The eBay gift finder is a great resource for finding gifts for anyone, no matter what their age, gender or tastes. While specific graphics and creative are not directly available for this page, it’s very easy to build links using the link generator with the custom url function. And if you’re based in Europe, no need to panic – Mother’s Day was a couple of months ago!

Hello Partners,

We’ve been busy ramping up the eBay Daily Deals, and new creative for these top converting offers is now available. These deals are real time, Buy It Now products with free shipping. Typical offers are discounted between 20% and 90% off the original price! The four on-going product deals are backed by major eBay Power Sellers and retail operations like TigerDirect, DealMonger & Buy.com. Expect to see a wide variety of super low priced home electronics, computers, appliances, sporting goods and more. Take a look at the fantastic deals being featured today: http://deals.ebay.com

What’s the catch to the Daily Deals? The only catch is that these fixed-price items are in limited quantities. When the item is sold out, it’s gone. It’s important to let your visitors know that if they love an item, they shouldn’t wait and risk losing out on the amazing deal being offered.
For showcasing and promoting the Daily Deals, there are several simple to advanced integrations available including static logo size banners, dynamic flash banners, and an XML Data Feed.

The static banners for the Daily Deals offers are available in 88X31, 120X160, 120X90 & 125X125 sizes while the dynamically updating flash banners are offered in 120X600, 728X90, 300X250 & 468X60.
Post these Flash banners using JavaScript code on your site today and keep your visitors informed of the newest Daily Deals at eBay! When an item sells out these banners will update on the fly to display the next great Deal we have lined up. You’ll notice that 1 of the 4 Daily Deals will rotate in when the page is refreshed.

You can also sign up to receive the Daily Deal email alerts to stay on top of the Deals being featured.
Remember that buyers are more conscious than ever of their spending habits, and are trying to find the best bargains online. This is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of that by showing them the Daily Deal, and the countless other great Deals you can find on eBay everyday!

Currently only available for the US, but other country programs are coming soon.

Thanks for promoting,

The eBay Partner Network Team

Hi All,

With January almost over for another year, it’s time to get your site’s visitors thinking about what to buy their loved ones as a gift for Valentine’s Day. 

There are a number of ways that you can advertise gift ideas.  We have a new seasonal creative, which you can find in the Creative Generator.  Select “No” for geo-targeting then US Program and click Search.  Look for the “Find Something For Your Sweetheart” themed banners.  We will also be opening these to the UK program soon.

Here are some hot gift ideas with Free Shipping auctions:

For her:

Key Necklaces
iPod nano
Fragrances
Designer Handbags
Diamond Earrings
Romantic Getaways
Concert Tickets
Handmade Cards
Heart Shaped Sunglasses

For him:

Electric Shavers
Digital Picture Frames
Concert Tickets
Golf Club Sets
The North Face Jackets
Citizen Watches
Fragrances
Nintendo Wii
Digital Camera SLR

To use these landing pages simply copy the url to the Link Generator Custom url field and generate the code.

Love from the eBay Partner Network Team!

Trainz.com is an e-commerce website specifically built for the model train enthusiast. Started in the late nineties by Scott Griggs, a lifelong model train hobbyist and salesman, Trainz.com sells collectible and new model trains, as well as scenery and materials for model train tracks. 

Trainz.com sells inventory on its own website as well as on eBay, conducting about 4,000 total transactions per month. Since much of its inventory is sold on eBay, Trainz.com has incorporated links to its eBay inventory all over its website, encouraging visitors to check eBay as well as Trainz.com for the particular product they’re looking for.

In early 2007, Trainz.com became a member of the eBay Partner Network so that it could be paid for the visitors it was driving to eBay, whether a visitor bought a Trainz.com product or not. Since then, the company has seen an increase in revenues as a result. (more…)