eBay Affiliates

1. 56

   Mrvoodooposted 14 years ago

   238 impressions (8 days into) this month, 196 clicks, £0.16 earned (about 20-25 cents).
   
   Is promoting eBay a waste of time, my CTR must be about 80%+ but the revenue is shockingly bad. 
   
   The eBay listings are indexed as keywords which do bring extra traffic but is it worth the hassle?  Even at 1 cent a click via Adsense 196 clicks would have earned me $1.96 instead of the abysmal 20-25 cents made via eBay.
   
   Anybody have any eBay success stories to keep me motivated, I had a few sales last month, one was even quite juicy, but divided up amongst the amount of clicks sent to eBay (over the month) it still only rounded off to about £0.02 per click.
   
   Any joy?

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2. 0

   Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

   I make good money on Ebay, but it is a chore. Because the products are ever changing, it's a different way to think. Hurts alot, takes a lot of time. But it is possible. Payout is only $5 and it's a 30 day cookie instead of a 1 session cookie at Amazon. So I continue to experiment and climb the learning curve.
   
   Given the way Amazon has been axing affiliates in states, I continue to chug away on Ebay, in anticipation of being axed someday. Although the Mass budget passed without one this year, I bet it comes back next year.

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3. 87

   Marisa Wrightposted 14 years ago

   Mrvoodoo, are you talking about eBay on HubPages or do you have an affiliate site?
   
   I have a couple of affiliate sites and my earnings are doing OK.  On HubPages, not so much.  On HubPages, there are lots of other ads to catch a reader's attention.  You will only sell through the eBay capsule if the products are closely related to the Hub content.  You virtually have to write a Hub that sells what you have in the eBay capsule.

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   1. 56

      Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Hi, yes I was talking about through HP, I have written hubs as you say for specific products, my CTR to eBay is pretty high so they must be relevant enough to spark interest, but very few sales, guess I'm targeting the wrong products.

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      1. 87

         Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Ah, I see what you mean.  Sounds like you're doing exactly the right thing.  I find my eBay income on HP lags far behind my Adsense income, so I don't worry about it too much.

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         1. 56

            Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            My main concern is that eBay is taking potential Adsense clicks away, but then perhaps they wouldn't have clicked those ads anyway so eBay is like a back-up plan/safety net, but then it's a shame that 80% of my visitors click through to eBay if by removing those capsules perhaps I could increase Adsense CTR. hmmmm,  guess I need to experiment.  It's all very complicated, thank you so much again for your input, now I really must pass out, good night.

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            1. 87

               Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Hope I catch you before you pass out - yes, I had the same thought. The pretty pictures on the Amazon and eBay products are more likely to entice people to click just to have a look, whereas they might have clicked on an Adsense ad instead.
               
               I removed nearly all my Amazon capsules for that reason, since I can only earn gift vouchers there anyway.  I cut back severely on my eBay capsules, too, until I started my affiliate sites and started getting eBay income every month anyway.

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               1. 56

                  Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  This is my thoughts exactly, this is what I think is happening, however because Hubs are kind of long and thin, and the majority of the ads are centralized at the top, at least by leaving them there but lower down it's another click opportunity if not a very profitable one, I just wonder how many people having read a hub go out of their way to scroll back up to click ads, rather than just hitting the back button, etc.
                  
                  Congratulations on your success with your affiliate sites, I've been looking at BANS sites myself, but haven't quite got around to pushing forwards with it yet.
                  
                  I guess it's all about experimentation, and playing around until you find what works, thanks again Marisa, much appreciated.

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         2. 92

            viryaboposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Then maybe i should stop worrying about eBay declining my application.

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         3. 92

            viryaboposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Then maybe i should stop worrying about eBay declining my application.

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            1. 56

               Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Well there is money to be made there, but yes TBH when I see all the hubbers complaining about not being accepted I do think that they're not overly missing out on much, lol.

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4. 56

   Mrvoodooposted 14 years ago

   Thanks for that Nelle, it's good to hear that you're doing well via eBay, it's not something I've spent a lot of time promoting before, but I thought I'd try it out on HP, as yet I haven't been overly impressed with the results.  The 30 day cookie is definitely a nice touch, and far superior to Amazons, however like I said my eBay CTR is very high, but the rewards (as yet) just aren't there. 
   
   I'll give it a bit longer, see if it improves, and if not possibly ditch it.
   
   Thanks again.

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5. 56

   Mrvoodooposted 14 years ago

   Thanks you both for your input above (it was very much appreciated), I have to sleep now, so won't be able to respond to anything else until the morning.  Thanks again and good night.

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6. 87

   Marisa Wrightposted 14 years ago

   Tried BANS, didn't like it. I use phpBay now (I wrote a Hub comparing the two if you want to check it out).  In a nutshell, I think phpBay is better for writers because it lets you create a site that's primarily about content, with an eBay store added - whereas BANS is the other way around. 
   
   If you decide to buy phpBay, please go to Embitca's Hub about the eBay Affiliate Program and join through her affiliate link - she got me on to it so I owe her one!
   
   <no links please!>

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7. 56

   Mrvoodooposted 14 years ago

   Thanks Marisa, that'll be the first thing I read in the morning, it certainly sounds interesting, and if I like the sound of it I shall seek out Embiticas hub.
   
   Thanks again for taking time out to offer advice.

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   1. 85

      embitcaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, please seek out my hub
      
      Just to follow up on what other people have said, I do very well with Ebay, but it can be a bit of a chore using it on Hubpages where there is no filtering. With the phpBay script, you can filter in all sorts of ways so I can make sure that the only auctions that show on a page are completely relevant.
      
      I really wish Hubpages would at least allow category level filtering. Ideally, I would like to see filtering for categories, and filtering for no. of bids and dollar amounts, etc. You can do it that way on Squidoo...
      
      One thing that does work in the Ebay capsule is negative keywords. Say for example, I was doing a hub on fashion dolls that weren't Barbie. Then I could add an Ebay capsule and put:
      
      fashion doll -barbie
      
      in the keyword box and it would not show listings that had Barbie in the title. This can be handy when you see stuff that is totally irrelevant in your auction listings in the capsule. You can do multiple negatives too, if I remember correctly, just put a spice between each one. -barbie -skipper  etc

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8. 70

   sunforgedposted 14 years ago

   Something to consider -
   
   You have an amazing clickthrough rate!
   
   But when selecting your items perhaps you should focus more on BIN auctions.
   
   Even if your potential sales are bidding, if they dont win, no sale for you, finding some well priced relevant item in eBay stores taht will always be there may be worth experimenting with

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9. 0

   rethansmithposted 14 years ago

   Your statistics seem rather excellent - with the exception of earnings.  However, based on the other stats you provided - you are doing pretty well.
   
   One thing to consider is your product choice.  People may come across your hub in while the are researching products to buy/comparison shopping etc.  While this is good, people like to visit a few other sources before they make the decision.  Making the sale really depends on how far the person is into making their "buy" decision.
   
   One thing you may want to play around with and track statistically is regular products like the hubs you have now versus impulse buy products - which are usually less expensive and will generate less revenue per sale - but perhaps the volume will make up for it.
   
   Just thinking out loud here...hope it helps.

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10. 84

    Whitney05posted 14 years ago

    Category filtering would be great!!
    
    It is possible to make some cash on Ebay you just have to figure out the best way and the items that would work best for your hubs.

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11. 81

    Janet21posted 14 years ago

    I do great with epn.  I earn close to $2,000/month.  This is across my hubs, blogs and lenses on Squidoo.  However, I write to sell.

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    1. 0

       Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Your hubs are fantastic and well written. You deserve every dollar!

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       1. 81

          Janet21posted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Thanks Nelle.
          
          Just to note, though.  I have been at this for over 2 1/2 years.  It was certainly not an overnight success.  Patience, hard work, and LOTS of very late nights.  I have learned to function on only a couple of hours of sleep a night.

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12. 0

    Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

    It was easier when the computer couldn't come to bed with you. My husband has been travelling on business and I made the mistake of working in bed the other night. Woke up at 2:30 am and decided to check my adsense earnings.
    
    From now on the laptop is staying on the first floor.

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    1. 81

       Janet21posted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I had to laugh outloud when I read this.  The sad thing is that I probably would do the same thing if I ever brought the laptop up to the second floor.

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       1. 64

          lakeerieartistsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Me too.  That's why my laptop stays downstairs.

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13. 64

    lakeerieartistsposted 14 years ago

    Good for you, Janet.  I know that I stay up many nights too late working online.

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14. 61

    dawei888posted 14 years ago

    I do okay on EPN. I have my own sites and got rid of all the EPN boxes in my hubs. I also use phpbay. It's very easy to make the sites but promoting them takes a TON of time. I recommend taking the time to learn to build sites then linking hubs directly to websites.

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