by 25 people |
The Truth About EPN
If you're an affiliate seeking the best options, you may have heard of eBay Partner Network. Before you even consider joining the ePN program, read up on the truth about it...it just might save you a migraine or two.
This non-profit page is intended to let you, the prospective affiliate, get the low-down on the most nefarious affiliate program to hit the internet.
This non-profit page is intended to let you, the prospective affiliate, get the low-down on the most nefarious affiliate program to hit the internet.
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Let's Get Aquainted
About Me: I've been in the field of marketing management and graphic design since 1998, as well as search engine optimization and search engine marketing since 2004.In the realm of affiliate marketing - I have approximately two years of experience (beginning with Amazon Associates), but began my ePN career in the late summer of 2007. My interest in ePN came purely from Build A Niche Store, a software package that assists in building eBay affiliate stores. Since that time, I've created and maintained 10 niche ePN affiliate websites, each with a wealth of personally-written content, optimized to their fullest extent. The sites were pulling in a combined $1,100 - $1,500/mo., and I spent at least 20 hours a week working on content, keyword research, page enhancement and legitimate link and article building.
SEO is my full time job, and I applied it to the fullest extent for my affiliate ventures. I was able to achieve several major two and three word keywords on Google organic search, and have achieved several page 1, position 1 & 2 rankings on Yahoo for the same terms, bringing in hundreds of targeted visitors per day to certain sites.
I've always been a practitioner of white hat behavior on the web - when it came to all of my sites, I've never bought, sold or traded links, used trademarked entities or did anything even the slightest bit shady. Little did I know, it wouldn't ensure my security in the least bit as an ePN affiliate.
What is EPN?
Some background info...
eBay Partner Network is an affiliate program in which webmasters can earn commission based on a percentage of an eBay seller's fee, for products sold through click-throughs on their site, via a cookie.
The program gained popularity through its heyday on CJ.com, an affiliate marketing network. eBay ended their relationship with CJ.com in early April 2008, prompting a series of negative changes yet to come, as their program became self-hosted and all statistics were tracked on their new website.
The program gained popularity through its heyday on CJ.com, an affiliate marketing network. eBay ended their relationship with CJ.com in early April 2008, prompting a series of negative changes yet to come, as their program became self-hosted and all statistics were tracked on their new website.
Bad Omens: The Beginning of What Was Yet to Come
Initially, the inconvenience of affiliates (some of which had years of seniority under their belt) underwent the process of having to convert all of their soon-to-expire CJ.com links over to the new ePN format.Suddenly, traffic inconsistencies followed, as Googlebot et. all registered as valid click-throughs, skewing data. ACRUs (active confirmed registered users), a measurement statistic typically paying the affiliate a cool $20 for each new user who registers with eBay and makes a transaction for the first time through their affiliate links, were no longer being reported (in some affiliates' cases, they ceased entirely).
Frustration set in as ePN representatives failed to address various concerning issues on the message board, fostering feelings of ePN's indifference amongst affiliates. Seemingly, months passed without acknowledgment from eBay about the blaring errors within the program, spanning from mis-reported commissions, the complete fall of the ACRU payment program, inflated clicks from bots and overall horrible tracking compared to the previous CJ.com tool. Although system fixes were performed, problems continued to persist.
It became obvious that the "quick fix" solution for each discrepancy was to provide public relations damage control - a frustrating, infuriating trait that ePN affiliates would continue to endure to the present day.
August 1, 2008: A.C.R.U: F.U.B.A.R
In another unicorn and rainbow filled newsletter, ePN announced a major change to its ACRU payoff scale. Rather than handing out the typical $20 per new registrant through your affiliate links, the system now changed to pay $1 to $50 depending on "quality," a word that would later go down in infamy (don't worry, we're almost near the good part).
The confusing mish-mosh of changes to the ACRU program was explained with a candy-coated shell. Based on an enigma of unseen data and statistics - another magical attribute that would soon haunt affiliates, your ACRU payoff was calculated behind closed door. In other words, expect the $1, don't hold your breath for the $50. Or, perhaps, you were simply part of the crowd who still hadn't gotten a single ACRU since the in-house change back in April 2008.
The confusing mish-mosh of changes to the ACRU program was explained with a candy-coated shell. Based on an enigma of unseen data and statistics - another magical attribute that would soon haunt affiliates, your ACRU payoff was calculated behind closed door. In other words, expect the $1, don't hold your breath for the $50. Or, perhaps, you were simply part of the crowd who still hadn't gotten a single ACRU since the in-house change back in April 2008.
August 20, 2008: The Firestorm
With no warning came a nuclear attack from the ePN team: a wave of permanent mass bannings prompted with no notice, rhyme or reason. To add insult to injury, it was delivered with generic legalese through an e-mail template that eBay has used to ban black hatters, TOS violators, and now - those who have truly done nothing wrong:
Dear John:
Dear [Chump/Loser/Nobody] (Take your pick!),During a recent review of eBay Partner Network publisher accounts and site metrics data for clicks your account drives to eBay.com, we determined that the traffic generated from your account is significantly less engaged with the eBay site as compared to the standards set by our other affiliates. While we appreciate your efforts to drive traffic to our Advertiser sites, we do not think that it is mutually beneficial to further our business relationship at this time. As a result, we will be expiring your eBay Partner Network account in 7 days and we request that you remove all of your eBay Partner Network affiliate links by that time. Payment will take place as per the Network Agreement for any traffic driven to eBay Advertiser sites prior to the expiration date of August 27, 2008.
One of our account managers will contact you if a more appropriate business opportunity arises to work together again in the future.
Regards,
The eBay Partner Network
You have received this administrative communication because you are registered on the eBay Partner Network. If you have any questions, please visit the ePN Network Agreement, Code of Conduct, Privacy Policy, and the eBay Advertiser Terms and Conditions.
Copyright (c) 2008 eBay Partner Network Inc. All Rights Reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. eBay and the eBay Logo are trademarks of eBay Inc.
As stated in the ePN Network Agreement Section (L)(3)(i):
(3) Termination by ePN or an Advertiser
i. ePN may terminate this Agreement and your account, one of your websites, your use of a Promotional Method or your participation in a certain Program at any time for convenience in its sole discretion upon 7 days notice. An Advertiser may terminate your participation in its Program or your use of a Promotional Method at any time for convenience in its sole discretion upon 7 days notice.
...and the Aftershock
It didn't matter if you were young or old, experienced or new, earning 6-figures or 2...the bannings covered a wide radius of honest, hard working ePN users. It doesn't even matter if one out of 50 of your sites was the trigger for your banning - your entire account is banned. Some relied on ePN as their primary income. Some advertised their ePN sites on local television or by magazine. All had to cope with the loss - as a ban from ePN is permanent.Think "AdSense Ban," without even the possibility of an appeal, or even a courtesy follow-up or "fix it" request from the staff.
The purpose of the bannings was later described by an ePN representative with extreme tact and opacity as being due to a lack of quality from "less engaging" traffic.
As usual, this is not further defined as it is covered up for the sake of protecting eBay's internal algorithm - a convenient excuse masking wide-scale, unwarranted discrimination that has led to the loss of many valuable affiliates.
After all, how is an affiliate supposed to control the free will of human beings around the world, and their purchasing habits? As an SEO professional, I know the answer to be "through a highly targeted, clear and concise website that is of value to the customer." What will stop a consumer from visiting a "product A" website and buying 2 "product B"s? That should be eBay's problem - I just drove them to the site like I was supposed to do.
Perhaps eBay should do some research -- here you go.
Famous Last Words
Terminated ePN victims speak out -- actual direct quotes that speak volumes, after the August 20th lash-out. Just when you thought "well, that could never happen to me," the proof is in the pudding! (references: 1 | 2):
- "My site drives very targeted traffic to eBay, I often hear from my visitors how much they enjoy my site and use the eBay links on my site...I can't imagine how much better a site can be targeted than mine, offering more than just eBay ads but a LOT of other information related to the topic. My site ranks #1 for most eBay searches for this topic and it was all EARNED, not purchased...WHO can possibly stand up to whatever standards they require?"
- "I've been affiliating for eBay for over a year as well and never used any practices to drive traffic that could be construed and questionable."
- "I totally depend on ebay. I have been an affiliate for almost two years. This is my year to date earnings; clicks-189684 epc-7.50 income-14,220.95...I have e-mailed ebay to try and find out what exactly I did wrong. We should be given a warning to fix, correct or stop any unethical behavior that we are not aware of."
- "I've been an eBay affiliate for 3 years now, and my site is 11 years old."
- "...with ePN I had high hopes, dreams, aspirations of true success....
gone are those days." - "How can eBay treat it's affiliates this way? I've invested countless hours developing and adding content to my sites for EPN to drop me."
- "...just got my email, ebay affiliate for several years, high quality niche sites, no junk, no spam, no black hat. Ebay listings are on my blog sites, one gets 20,000 visitors daily, many go to ebay and buy. Like some of you above, significant ebay income, mid to high 5 figures yearly."
- "We actually built our community around ebay. I can't tell you how much traffic we've driven to ebay...It just hurts me that I've worked so hard with Ebay...and to have formed such a great community now over this, and now my incentive to keep going is gone. Like I've been kicked in the teeth as a thank you for driving traffic that would not have otherwise been driven there."
- "I got the boot also. I just spent over $2000 and countless hours getting my EPN setup."
- "We have been with eBay for over 6 years, Total Motorcycle is a top website worldwide, the leading motorcycle website in North America and gets 1.5 million uniques per month for traffic with our 500,000 pages of content (with eBay being on 90% of those pages)"
- "I was a small guy. I made less that $1000 this year with EPN, so it is not just the big ones they want out.."
- "After 19 very good months as an ebay affilate, the EPN network has sent me my expiration Email...i am unaware of what I have done. I am a disabled Vietnam Vet confined to my home, and trying to eek out a living from the web, This seemed to be a wonderful way to do it...now it seems like all this will come to an end."
- "Ebay has hurt people here and still is not classy enough to respond. A good business practice might have involved a warning to improve your sites or performance. Even Google does that."
- "Last December I found something I really loved to do, eBay affiliate marketing. I devoted my entire life to it. I love it!! And I feel like I am pretty good at it. I even paid for a TV commercial in my area to promote one of my websites. I have about 30 well developed, content rich sites and I make a modest amount of money from them, it's a great supplemental income for my large family. I was planning on going full-time this month. But last night I got the "letter"."
- "What adds to the insult is not even a peep from epn. At least come on here and say we're looking into this on a case by case basis. I've never seem customer service run like this or an affiliate program.
- "This is just sick, a flawed system running wild, the Rude part about it for the rest of us left in the program is the not knowing why every one is getting booted and are we next!"
Is eBay Dying?
Food For Thought
A major rift in upper management. Bizarre plans to re-manufacture the auction, fee, payment plans and business structure. Banning sellers from leaving negative feedback on transactions. Adjusting the seller's fee in the corporation's greedy favor. Rumors of a shift away from auctions and toward direct sales. And then, there's this:
Source: Quantcast results for eBay.com
Source: Alexa.com
Source: Google Finance/eBay 10 yr data
Source: Just a little joke :) come on guys, you can cut the tension with a knife in here!
Source: Quantcast results for eBay.com
Source: Alexa.com
Source: Google Finance/eBay 10 yr data
Source: Just a little joke :) come on guys, you can cut the tension with a knife in here!
Articles About the Grim Reality of eBay's Future
(If you've got one, send me a message and it will be posted here)
- eBay is Committing Suicide | Google Finance
- An interesting take on some of the worst business moves ever.
- Banned from EPN (.com)
- Yes, a site dedicated to this very topic. Why? Because it had to be done! Kudos.
For the Conspiracy Theorists
Numerous explanations are being discussed as to why ePN has banned such a wide range of legitimate affiliates. Here are the current top theories:
- eBay is in trouble (financially): This is a current favorite amongst theorists. There's no doubt that things have been brewing at eBay: the recent change of upper management, the drastic measures being taken on eBay's long-lasting policies in regard to selling, and the overall head-scratching over the simple rule of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" - ePN being the biggest of them all.
- eBay is suffering in search engine rankings: Bad Google! eBay ain't what it used to be in SERPs. No longer does the auction megasite appear in top positions of page one for hundreds of product searches - try it out yourself! The theory: ePN has selectively banned affiliates of whom appear higher in SERPs than ebay.com itself...
- ePN...a two-bit organization?: Most have questioned the actual functioning of the ePN team itself. As a branch of one of the largest internet-based corporations of the world of whom undoubtedly has an inexhaustible budget, they seem to take a terribly long time to reply to affiliate questions, fix critical reporting errors, or show any kind of legitimate message board presence (sans the commonplace public relations & diplomatic quick fixes). The August 20th mass banning decision, pitched to upper management, took the cake, however.
- ePN is waning its affiliate program on purpose: It begins with the ties broken from affiliate marketing giant CJ.com, and continued with a partially finished, half "coming soon!" project known as www.ebaypartnernetwork.com. Is ePN purposely sabotaging its own affiliate program for an ultimately bigger business direction intended by the parent company, eBay? Is this a gradual elimination of the affiliate program as we know it?
- eBay taking measures to fudge quality ratings: eBay's quality ratings for its ePN program will be publicly released (to investors and everyone else) on September 9, 2008. What better way to boost the score, than trim the line of those who are causing their desired data to stray?
A Warning to You: The Affiliate
Here is a running list of affiliates who are not safe from an unexpected banning by ePN, which may surface at any given moment during your term as an affiliate:
- High earning affiliates
- Low earning affiliates
- Multi-year affiliates
- Newly registered affiliates
- Affiliates running targeted sites whose customers occasionally win auctions unrelated to the site's product category
- Affiliates with abnormal click through rates
- Affiliates with legitimate click through rate/EPC ratios
How To Avoid It....
The Pre-emptive strike
Well, if you were lucky enough to not get banned, you're probably wondering what you can do to shelter your account. Here are two juicy tidbits of info for you:
- Drop all ePN banner ads: As you may have realized, ePN banner ads SUCK. They don't convert - period...and they are the only thing that makes your "impressions" statistic on your ePN front page increase. Simply remove every single one of them, and never use it again. This is not a rumor! It's been admitted that high "impressions" vs. overall clickthroughs and sales contributes to the ban!
- Drop all poorly performing sites: Yet another tidbit of classified info for you...if you have any sites getting a handful of hits per day, or just not getting sales at all - pull the plug on them! What you'll want to do is make your top performing eBay affiliate sites be the only statistic-producing variables in your account. Everything else gets the cut! In the meantime, turn those sites into parking pages (I recommend NameDrive)
- "Can I avoid the ePN ban by joining Pepperjam?" If you didn't know, Pepperjam is another affiliate marketing portal, just like Commission Junction. ePN is one of its affiliate programs, and you can join ePN through Pepperjam. It is possible to rejoin ePN if you've been banned, however, you might have to be a little crafty. Join Pepperjam, search for eBay and join their affiliate program. You'll have to be manually approved by ePN. Try using one of your blogs as an example site when prompted.
eBay EPN Alternatives
"So, what alternatives do I have," might you ask? Stick with affiliate programs that value you as their MVP.
- Buy.com Affiliate Program (via CJ.com)
- This California-based retailer has an annual revenue of $290 million, and allows you to offer anything from computers, electronics, books, videos, music and more to your site visitors. Via their CJ.com affiliate program, you can utilize their custom links, banners and even an RSS feed.
- Overstock.com Affiliate Program
- A Top-20 Internet Shopping Site. Selling virtually every product category known to man, you'll surely be able to find highly relevant products to populate your site with. Enjoy their 7% flat rate commission, targeted links, and feeds.
- Amazon Associates
- The household name of the internet: this $14.8 billion/year grossing website offers the most popular, long-standing affiliate program around. With a vast horizon of products to choose from, you can't lose. The only downside is their 24-hour cookie.
What You Can Do to Stop The Injustice
Quite simply put, spread the word: don't join ePN. Was the context of this page bitter? No. Well, if you though so, you've missed the big picture: it is a true account from an ex-affiliate who has done nothing more than follow the Terms of Service of ePN (and I even had the poor judgment to advocate their rules to other affiliate marketers to help promote them), provide high quality sites both in graphic design and contextual merit, only to be stricken by a mass-banning for unknown reasons, through a vague e-mail blast.For your consideration: if you should so choose to join ePN, do so under the knowledge that the sites you create may trigger a banning at any point - even if you follow the rules. Many people have suffered this fate, and most likely, many more will. It could be next week, or next year. Or five years from now. I don't know about you - but I prefer not to build 100 page websites with unique content and high SE rankings that have the constant possibility of being banned at any point, only to become utter shells worthy of resale or simply being reverted to a parking page. Remember - as an eBay affiliate, you may be selling items that simply are not available on any other affiliate program on the internet but eBay (for instance: antiques, industrial machine parts or autographs). Once your ePN account is banned, all possibilities for your site's future are gone, as well.
Let others know on affiliate marketing forums across the net. If you've been banned, express your disgust on ePN Forums. Blog about it - and advertise it in your forum signatures on DigitalPoint, or any other place where affiliates hang out.
Lastly, think about the hard working individuals who have dedicated hours, months, and YEARS to their affiliate success through eBay who have depended on the income to provide for their families, pay off their bills or edge off their tuition expenses. These are YOUR colleagues, and we're all in the same boat, as fellow marketers. Spread the word about what ePN has done to them, so that it can't happen again to anyone else.
Digg This and spread the word! Thanks for your support.
"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore."
Sound off on your distaste for the ePN program, and its lack of concern for you - the affiliate marketer!
Lensmaster
G wrote
I've been banned by linking with previous banned account. WTF!? I have only one account. This is so wrong and unfair. This is how epn take away my $6000.
Posted June 17, 2009
Lensmaster
Michelle Sollicito wrote
in reply to Tao eBars offer a way to avoid being banned by ePN. eBars automatically produce highly-targetted ads based upon your web page content, a bit like Adsense for eBay,, so ePN is getting what it wants - quality traffic! Easy to install and totally FREE, try eBars at http://www.ebarster,com
If you do somehow get banned you may want to try "aBars" - the Amazon version of eBars using Amazon Associates program..
http://abars.ebarster.com
Posted April 11, 2009
Lensmaster
Tao wrote
It actually did not turn out as bad as we feared. ePN did not cull as many as we thought they would - but they have definitely tightened up on who they accept and keep.
Also - check out my ePN script here which can easily boost your earnings as an ebay affiliate: http://www.megatao.com/easily-triple-your-ebay-partner-network-earnings
Posted February 07, 2009
Lensmaster
anonymous wrote
they have cheated so many people..
but read.. and dig deep.. there is a way to get the money back...
indirectly of course
Posted January 02, 2009
chobo wrote...
I was on the Ebay affiliate signup page when I had a gut feeling to search for "banned from ebay affiliate" and came across this site. After reading this, I'm not even going to bother with ebay, I can't stand companies that give affiliates the shaft. I've learned my lesson from the shitty Adsense program that bans small publishers for no reason.
Posted November 21, 2008
Lensmaster
Kev wrote
It's been a few months now since this was posted, any insight as to whether the situation is getting better or worse? If worse, i say LAW SUIT for the time and money all of you have invested!
Posted October 31, 2008
allinfoisfree wrote...
I see all the great content and keyword work you did and wonder why you can't convert the site into a money maker somewhere else. That seems like a lot of work to let go just because ebay let you go. I'm trying to build my sites such that I can change to a different target in the niche if I get the boot from eBay. I guess I'm just wondering if you have seen or considered any other options? I obviously don't know much about it, but I would think if you have a niche market you should be able to direct paying customers somewhere else.... Am I off base? Thanks!
Posted October 21, 2008
Lensmaster
Andrew wrote
EBay and its other business PAYPAL, both are evil. I had bad time with Paypal an year ago when Paypal blocked my account saying there was some unknown problem and asked for my details, sent all the required papers (even my passport copy) and they still didn't remove the 'limited access' nonsense. I called them and told them that my life was getting screwed because they were holding my $7k. They sent me an email and told me that they will no longer do business with me and will hold my funds for 6 months. Luckily, got my money after 6 months. At that moment I promised myself that I will stay from such greedy crocs.
Why are we using such stupid companies? Why dont people boycott them? EBAY is an unethical company which plays evil while hiding behind their Terms & Conditions of Service.
Ebay Sucks! Paypal Sucks! Pull down both sites!
Posted October 20, 2008
Lensmaster
Jezz wrote
I have created a few sites around ebay products.I had plans on creating more, but want bother now.They are too unstable, and hiding many things from affiliates.It's sad, that allot of affiliate programs funnily have problems...seems they just don't like to pay out!I'm under the impression that the only way to really make a great living online, is to have your own product or dropship!Affiliate marketing is too concentrated with greedy people controlling the affiliates.
Posted September 26, 2008
by Pixelrage
Think twice before you join an affiliate program that is highly likely to dismiss your account at any given moment, for reasons beyond your control. (more)
