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eBay Affiliate Program Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is the eBay Affiliate Program?
A. If you have a Web site, the eBay Affiliate Program is a way for you to earn cash, introduce your site visitors to the tremendous value and selection of eBay, and be a part of the team that is building the world's largest trading community. You'll receive $5.00 every time someone clicks on your eBay link and becomes an active registered user by placing a bid on eBay. Plus, you will earn $.05 each time the user comes back and places a bid through an eBay link on your site. It's simple! Sign up today and join us. We want you to be a successful eBay affiliate, and we've taken steps to support you along the way. You'll receive monthly commission checks, and you'll have the tools you need to maximize your effectiveness and satisfy your site visitors.
 
Q. How will the new program reward affiliates?
A. There are now two ways to be rewarded for promoting eBay - Payment for Sale and Lead generation.
 
Sale Payment: $.05 per bid - NEW!
You will now be paid $.05 each time a user comes to eBay from a link on your site and bids on an item (within 30 days of the original bid cookie being dropped). The cookie will expire when the user places one bid on eBay or after 30 days have passed and the user has not bid on an item on eBay. These bids will count whether the user originally registered from your site or not!
 
Lead Payment: $5 per Active Registered User. You will now be paid $5 per user that registers through a link on your site and becomes active by placing a bid on eBay within 30 days of their initial registration.
 
Q. Why is eBay changing the program?
A. eBay has grown to be one of the largest Internet shopping destinations through the ongoing support of affiliate partners such as yourself. We have received significant feedback within the past year that you have generated a tremendous amount of registered users for eBay and would like to be compensated for the ongoing activity that these registrations produce. For this reason, we are altering our current program to create a way for you to earn commissions for driving both active registrations and bidding activity from your site.
 
Q. When will the new program launch?
A. The new program will launch on Monday, December 10th. However, you will not see any changes to the information in your account (reversals) until the second week in January.
 
Q. What is a reversal?
A. A reversal is the process of removing a registration from your account that does not become active within 30 days of their original registration. These registrations are 'reversed out' as you will only be compensated for active registrations.
 
Q. What does "per active registered user" mean?
A. An "active registered user" is defined as an individual: (a) who registers for eBay from the specific URL designated by eBay (b) who confirms his or her registration with an eBay-supplied password sent by email, (c) who then goes onto eBay and places a bid on an item within 30 days of their original registration, and (d) who does not have an account with eBay at the time of registration.
 
The program is not session based - users do not need to click, register, and make a bid during the same visit - they can come back and finish the registration process within 30 days.
 
Q. Will the cookie duration be changed?
A. Yes! The cookie duration will be extended to 30 days for both the registration and bid tracking.
 
Q. January Bonus Payment - How will that work?
A. As we transition over to the new compensation model, there will be a 35 day lag time between when a user registers on your site and when eBay is able to determine and report back if the user became active. eBay completely understands that the compensation you receive as a participant in our affiliates program is significant to you. To help offset the delay in the regularly scheduled payment, eBay will be making a one-time bonus payment to all affiliates (that meet the $25 minimum threshold for payment) in January. This bonus payment will be equivalent to 40% of the total registrations your site generated during the month of December. Meaning, if you drive 100 registrations during the month of December, eBay will make a one-time payment to you for 40 registrations in January. This bonus is in addition to the payment you will receive for all registrations that become active during the month of December; due to the 35 days needed to determine activity, the December registrations that become active within 30 days of registration will be included in your February payment. All registrations that fail to become active within 30 days of registration will be reversed out of your account.
 
Q. Will I receive a regular payment in January in addition to the January Bonus Payment?
A. Due to the 35 days needed to determine activity, the December registrations that become active within 30 days of registration will be included in your February payment. If your site generates bidding activity during the month of December, you will receive payment for those bids in January.
 
Q. Will this new program only be for new affiliates? What about current eBay Affiliates?
A. This change in payout structure will be for all eBay affiliates, both new and existing.
 
OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
 
Q. How do I add links?
A. Once you sign up for our affiliate program, you'll be provided with a variety of banners, buttons and text links which you can add to your site. You can log into your account through Commission Junction (www.cj.com) at any time to see a list of our available banners. Once logged in, select "eBay" in the Current Merchant Partner area. You'll now see our information page. Select "Show Links" towards the bottom. Choose your desired link and select "Get HTML." Copy and paste the HTML code to your web page. It's that easy!
 
Q. How many links can I have to eBay?
A. You can have as many links, both text and banner, as you would like.
 
Q. May I use the eBay logo or content on my site?
A. You will have access to a wide variety of buttons, banners, and text links after signing up for our program. You are welcome to use any of the graphics and text links provided. You may not alter or modify any banners or buttons without obtaining prior written permission from eBay. You must also secure permission before using any third party's copyrighted materials. If you are unsure about your rights to use or modify the materials for your Web site, please contact us.
 
Q. What if I have more than one Web site?
A. We certainly recommend adding our links to all of your web sites. In fact, we encourage it! Tracking will still take place through Commission Junction. All of your sites will be listed under your one account.
 
Q. How do I check the status of my account?
A. Once your application has been approved, you will receive an email notification welcoming you to our program. This will include your Commission Junction password, so make sure to make a note of it. To see your account status, log in to Commission Junction at www.cj.com. Once logged in, you can see your account balance at the top center of your screen and get instant site statistics under the "Generate Reports" area on the right.
 
Q. When do I get paid?
A. Once you join our program, you'll be able to log into your account at www.cj.com and go the area titled "Generate Report." Here you can see how much you've earned and even download a file if desired. Earnings are automatically sent out every month via check to all Affiliates who have accumulated at least $25 in their account. There are no invoices to send and no data to track-- all payments are taken care of by eBay and Commission Junction. For those affiliates earning over $600 in a year, 1099's will be issued for tax reporting purposes.
 
Q. Can I still get paid to sign up other affiliates?
A. Absolutely! When you post an affiliate referral link on your site, you'll receive $2 plus 5% of the future earnings of every affiliate you sign up to eBay's Affiliate Program at Commission Junction. The affiliate referral link HTML resides with all the other eBay affiliate banners; it's called "Publisher Referral Link" on Commission Junction.
 
Q. Are there any restrictions?
A. We'd like everyone to promote eBay. However, there are cases where we cannot allow certain sites to participate in our Affiliate Program. We will evaluate your application in good faith and will notify you of your acceptance or rejection. We may reject your application if we determine, at our sole discretion, that your site is unsuitable for the Program. Unsuitable sites include those that:
  • Promote sexually explicit materials
  • Promote violence
  • Promote illegal activities
  • Promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age
  • Include "eBay" or variations or misspellings thereof in their domain names
  • Otherwise violate intellectual property rights
    If we reject your application, you are welcome to reapply to the Program at any time. You should also note that if we accept your application and your site is thereafter determined, at our sole discretion, to be unsuitable for the Program, we may terminate this Agreement.
     
    Q. Do I need to sign any kind of agreement?
    A. There is nothing for you to sign but you must agree to the terms of our Agreement before joining our program. To see a copy of our Agreement, click here.
     
    Q. What if I have more questions?
    A. For additional questions about the Affiliate Program or to contact a customer service representative, please contact Affiliates@ebay.com. You can also reach Commission Junction's Customer Service center at http://cj.custhelp.com Should you wish to contact Commission Junction's Client Services department, their email address is support@cj.com.