As you will know, eBay recently announced the creation of eBay Partner Network, allowing affiliates to work directly with the world's biggest auction website.

I said at the time that I was happy about that because I have never enjoyed using Commission Junction. Well, I thought it would be a good move and so it has proved to be (for me at least) with me making much greater use of eBay links since I signed up for the partner network.

It's now just a more pleasant experience to go in and get the links you need, and there's also geo-targetting so you can sign up for various flavours of eBay (.co.uk, .fr, .ca etc) and it will display the right ads for you.

To mark my rekindled interest in eBay, I spent a bit of time playing with the eBay Shopping API and have worked out how to embed listings and search results into my pages (without using Javascript widgets). Here's one of my first attempts, where I display eBay search results below a toy listing to see if it can be got cheaper from the auction site: WWE Superstar Microphone

By the way, if you are working with, or planning to try working with the eBay API, you might well need to look at creating your XSL stylesheets to display the results nicely on your page. I can really recommend Oxygen XML Editor which I'm currently running a trial version of.

The only annoyance I have so found with the eBay Partner Network is that if you want to create plain links, it only generates Javascript code as opposed to HTML. This is a pain but can be got round fairly easily. Other than that, Im pleased with the new platform and look forward to making some dosh with eBay!

Labels: commission junction, ebay

eBay has announced it will be leaving Commission Junction to set up its own Partner Network. According to the announcement, the new system will have:

• Easy global registration to multiple countries simultaneously
• New, targeted banners and rich media creatives
• New landing page optimization and geo-targeting capabilities
• More detailed reporting capabilities for eBay’s programs

You can find out more about the partner program at their blog (by the way, I think different blogs for different languages may be better than posting in different languages to the same blog!). Information on how to sign up will be available after April 1st.

This must surely be a huge blow to Commission Junction. No offence to the people that work there, but I've never enjoyed using that interface one iota. It's always been slow, clunky and click intensive. I get loads of emails about non-relevant program launches and the payment system has always seemed less than clear (although they did send me an email for the first time with full VAT invoice recently which was helpful).

Despite all that, I think many affiliates would have been compelled to sign up to access eBay, and probably Argos too. The loss of eBay takes away one major reason to use Commission Junction at all.

Labels: commission junction, ebay

Commission Junction gets a bit of stick for not making product feeds as easily available as other networks such as Affiliate Window and Buy.At.

But could they turn around affiliate opinion with their launch of web services and their own API?

We are pleased to announce the launch of Commission Junction's Web Services. These services have been tested in beta for the past several months and because of their success are now being made available to a wider audience.

Web Services are made for tech-savvy publishers who are looking to increase their ability to promote their advertisers and shape their network environment. With Web Services, you can create innovative applications to extend the power of your affiliate program through enhanced Product Catalogue functionality and advertiser searches. Use Web Services to connect directly to Commission Junction's technology and create custom applications to access the specific data that matters most to your visitors.

This is the first in a series of Web Services releases and includes the following Application Programming Interfaces (APIs):

• Product Catalogue Access – This API offers real-time access to the Product Catalogue database. Using it, you can find a product or group of products to display on your site since the API enables keyword searches as well as item specific searches by UPC, manufacturer, model number, advertiser, SKU and more.
  
• Link Search Functionality – Publishers can use this API to search for links through a SOAP interface using a set of parameters to return link results that include information like their relationship status and link code that can be used to capture publisher referrals. In addition, you can find the perfect link for display on your site using search options that are very similar to those available via the CJ Account Manager™, including searching by link type and size, advertiser, language and other link attributes.
  
• Advertiser Search Functionality – This API allows publishers to search for advertisers through a SOAP interface using a set of parameters to return advertiser results that include information such as their relationship status and program terms with the advertiser.

As part of this launch, we are also unveiling our new Web Services developer site, located at http://webservices.cj.com. This site contains helpful news, resources, sample code and forums. Use this site to get information on how to use Web Services and share your best practices.

Use Web Services to boost your revenue and develop applications today! Let the innovation begin!

Labels: affiliate network, affiliate tools, commission junction