Tuesday, May 06, 2008
First Thoughts on eBay Partner Network
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!
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
Monday, March 17, 2008
eBay Launches Partner Network, Bad News For CJ?
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:
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.
- 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
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
Monday, January 08, 2007
Bad Taste Advert
Ok, tales of funny or inappropriate adverts for eBay on Google Adwords are nothing new. Presumably they have some automated systems in place which gives rise to the occasional comedic advert appearing. But this advert for battered women appeared on my problem Exchange site today and must be up as one of the most inappropriate eBay ads yet!!?
Labels: ebay, inappropriate adverts, light relief
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