How To Get Approved For EPN

Background

Several years ago, it was pretty easy for an affiliate to get approved for the Ebay affiliate program. The program was being run through the huge CJ (Commission Junction) affiliate network. All you had to do was sign up at CJ, then apply for the Ebay program. The applications were pretty much rubber-stamped after that.

In April 2008, Ebay closed up their CJ program and opened up their own independantly run 'Ebay Partner Network'

in August 2008, there were widespread reports of affiliates being banned from the EPN Network with no warning. There were more bannings approx. 1 year later.

In September 2009, EPN introduced it's 'Quality Click Pricing' model of calculating commissions. This took it away from a pure affiliate pay-per-sale or pay-per-bid model to something more like a pay-per-click model (with a hidden "quality factor" factored in).

It Gets Tougher

Starting in the Fall of 2008, it's clear that it has become easier and more common to get banned by EPN network. And it is also harder for a new affiliate to get approved. This could be partly attributed to them reacting to 'black hat' affiliates, partly due to their change in commission structure, or something entirely different. Who knows?

Joining thru the Pepperjam network was an option some affiliates used, but that option ended in late 2009.