An Affiliate is someone who refers people to a product or service, and receives a percentage of the profits or fees from the sale.

The eBay Partner Network is eBay's affiliate program. It provides you with ways to refer people to almost anything eBay, and pays you a percentage of the fees ebay makes from your referral. ePN can be a money making part of your online home business.

*(it used to be run through Commission Junction, but now ebay runs it)

For instance: if someone goes to ebay, from your referral and,

• signs up as a new ebay member - you get a sign-up bonus amount
  

• goes to ebay and buys something - you get a percentage of the fees ebay collects from the item's seller (varies by program, but estimate approx. 40% for newbies)
  
• you can even send people to your own auctions and earn an affiliate fee

One thing to understand, from the start, the ebay Partner Network, (ePN from now on, ok), is a great program, but it is serious about maintaining it's integrity. You must use it honestly, nothing 'sketchy or shady'. They are strict about their rules. This program won't make you a millionaire, but, depending on how much effort you put into it, it will generate a good stream of income for you.

*Note all discussions relate to ebay US, but I will provide links to other nation ebay programs that may have differences

*A note of caution; I've been told I can get 'wordy' and 'long-winded', and yes, they're right, so just skip to any particular section that interests you if you want to by-pass things you already know.

Affiliate commissions paid monthly.

ePN only has two payment methods;

• PayPal
• Direct Deposit to your bank account

So you must have at least one of these to participate in the ePN as an affiliate.

ePN pays monthly, usually by the 18th, and has a minimum $5.00 payout. If your earnings are less, they will carry them over until you have earned at least $5.00.

• You must be at least 18 years old
  
• Valid email address
• PayPal or checking account
• Tax number if you are a business, SS# for individuals
• a place to use affiliate links and widgets, (web sites, blog, etc...)
  

As mentioned, ePN wants to protect it's integrity, and moral perception, so you CANNOT use their affiliate links or widgets in environment that promotes:

• Violence, or sexual materials
• counterfeit or fake items
• any type of discrimination
• any illegal activities
• purchase of firearms, alcohol, or tobacco
• gambling or betting
• infringes on the rights of others, both real and intellectual
• promotes medical drugs, ( I think also medicines, but not sure)
• Political content or activities. * This is an 'iffy' one. I'm not sure opinion-type site fall into this category, I think it would really take a blatant in-your-face type of site to get their attention. But... if this is you, you should check deeply to see if your site is allowed.
• Yellow-Journalism type sites that are mostly slanderous and defamatory content

Gee... other than that, you're probably ok.

Ok, hopefully at this point, you have a basic understanding of the 'what is', and the 'do's & don'ts' of the ePN affiliate program.

• what it is
• what it does
• how you get paid
• what you need to become an affiliate
  
• and... what you can't do

The steps to fill out the form to register, explain how to generate affiliate links and widgets, and how to get started, are all handled very professionally by the folks at ePN. They have FAQ's, Vidio tutorials, and 'hold-your-hand' step by step screens to get you rolling, so I won't waste your time 're-inventing the wheel' by going over all those things here. They do it much better, and they're the folks that know. But remember, I will provide you with all the links you need, at the end of this article.

So, except for a couple items, we will skip those things, and get into some examples of how, and where, you can use them to make money.

* But here's a teaser, this link to one of ePN's FAQ's will show you how to zero in on the exact answer you need. (but don't forget to come back here, OK)

When you get to the ePN registration page, most of the form fields are pretty 'cut and dry', like name, address, etc.., But there are a couple that you should think about first.

Some folks have had trouble getting approved, I'm not saying these next fields are the reason why, but I think poor choices here could be less than helpful.

I think the first field to ponder is the "Primary Business Model"

You want to be honest, but you also want to avoid any red flags...

They give you 9 business models to choose from:

*be aware, they say they are not accepting some business models any longer, but they don't tell which ones. We don't know if it's one of the ones they list, or whether they don't list them at all anymore. So maybe a little discretion to be safe.

1. Shopping comparison - probably a safe choice
2. Loyal/Incentive - this one could get extra scrutiny because both ePN, and ebay have lengthy promotion/promotional program restrictions
3. Downloadable software - probably safe
4. Content/Website - probably safe, but also they probably lok at content, just in case
   
5. Coupon Site - probably a safe choice
6. Electronic Communications (email/IM) - this one could get extra scrutiny because both ePN, and ebay have lengthy program restrictions/guidelines in this area
7. Social site/Forum - probably one of the safest choices
8. Merchant/Seller - again probably a safe choice, but they will want to know what you sell
9. Other - you know they will be checking your 'Other" choice

Remember, I am not saying be dishonest, just the opposite, a good relationship benifits both sides. But if you have a choice, I would go for the 'apparently' safer one.

Then they give you the same selections to choose as a secondary business model.

* I skipped it, but same advice goes for the box above the 'Primary Business Model' button where they ask you to describe your business. *If you are not a business, just put 'Individual' in the business name box.

Whew! how about a short break? Maybe a cup of coffee and a quick poll?

Great news! You received your ePN approval email, so let's go get that affiliate number to use on Hubpages.

*Disapproved? Bummer! But there's a link below for you to try to fix it.

Ok, log into your ePN account. You should be looking at your Dashboard page, like below. If not , you're in the wrong place, get to your 'Dashboard' page.

ePn tracks your affiliate activity by something they call a "Campaign". It's just a name for where or how you are using your affiliate ID. It's for your beneifit because it helps you track your affiliate activity and productivity. For instance; you could create a campaign for your Hubpages, and and another for your Squidoo lens, and and another for your blog, and your web page, and on, and on.

(Here's hoping you will be successful enough to need all those campaigns!)

Anyway, defining a campaign also alows you to see reports tracking it's profitability.

Or, you can be lazy, and just use the "default" campaign # that comes with your account.

Did you notice I said campaign #? That's because each campaign you create, (or the default campaign) gets a 10 digit number when you create it, and... this is the magical number you will enter in your Hubpages affiliate account settings as your ePN affiliate ID.

Ok, so click on the top 'Campaigns' tab, then click 'Create Campaign'

OK, now enter a campaign name. You can use something like Hubpages, or whatever descriptive term means something to you.

* You can only use one affiliate ID on Hubpages. But if you are able to run multiple ebay links on other sites, you can test responses for different promotions by creating new campaigns and just adding a number for the next one, like, 'myblog', and 'myblog1' or whatever else means something to you.

Now, when you click 'Create'... ePN, will generate a 10 digit number, this is your affiliate ID for that campaign.

Grab it and head for your Affiliates Settings screen on your Hubpages account screen

1. Click on 'My Account' on the Hubpages header
2. In the 'My Account' column, choose 'Affiliate settings'
3. 3rd row down is ebay, enter your ePN number in the affiliate code box
4. Done! Now you will be paid twice for any action you get from your Hubpages ebay capsule. Once with your Hubpages 60/40 split, and again from ebay for you ePN affiliate action.

Your affilate ID is set now with Hubpages, you won't have to mess with it again. It will automaticcally be used in any ebay capsules you use. Even on different Hubpages.

 The action, (read, money), you get from your Hubpages ebay capsules will be proportional to how you use and promote them.

There are many variations, but really only two basic ways to use your ebay capsules.

1. As a sort of 'sidebar' of a list of products, that are associated with, or compliment, the content of you Hubpage article.
   

• For instance; if you Hub is about kid's birthday parties, then your ebay module search keywords would be ones that return a variety of kid's birthday party supplies

• or you could write about oil painting, and use search keywords for oil painting supplies, and so on
• you can also be a little more specific, say your article is about baseball memorbilia, and you only wanted authentic autographed items to be in you ebay capsule, then you just refine your search keywords to more specific item requirements
• you can choose to show 1 - 6 search result items in the ebay capsule, since this is a sort of 'shotgun' approach to adding ebay items to your content, I like to use the maximum number to give my reader the most results to think about
• you can also choose to show only items from a particular seller, just put the seller's ID in the capsule. 

   2. As a focused product selection from that matches the promotional focus of your Hubpage content.

• An example of this would be a Hubpage promoting a particular product. such as, say your article is on a new phpbay website widget version 2.1, then you would use search keywords specific to that product only. Your results list may be shorter, (depending on availability) but your action will be more focused for your reader. No extraneous stuff, just the product you are promoting.
• or your Hubpage content may be on a line of products, say, perhaps, time management practices, it's similar to the single focused product approach above, but not quite so singularly focused. Your search keywords will still be more specific to your content, but they will generate a variety of auctions associated with your topic.

Both methods work, it's just up to you to choose the focus of your Hubpage and how you want the ebay capsule results to fit into your game plan.

You can even use the "-" minus sign with keywords to exclude types of listing results you do not want in your ebay capsule. You can do alot with the search selections, so be sure to check out the ebay help section in the capsule for more ideas for your search item selections.

VERY IMPORTANT! Remember, content is King! Both Google and Hubpage's rankings and ratings are based on the content of, and traffic to, your page. A page full of weak or little content, and too many ebay capsules will not get you traffic! People won't come, or stay to read. You must be willing to develop good beneficial content or you are wasting your time! Think about it, what was your opinion of the last ad farm or link farm page you visited? I bet you clicked-off as soon as you got the gist of the page. It had no benefit for you. Well it's the same for the folks you want to entice to read your Hubpage.

Great! You made it this far. I hope you you are ready to go sign-up to be an ebay affiliate. Here are the links I promised to get you through the process.

Pretty Important! Remember my admonisments about keeping things honest and up-front? The ePN discussion boards are filled with posts from frustrated banned/rejected affiliates. Some deserved to be banned, others did not have a clue why they were banned. Some of the violations are so technical you could be doing it without knowing it, so this is a great place to get an idea what's expected of you, how you can safely use your affiliate links, and what will get you into trouble.

If you are only using your ID in the Hubpages ebay capsule, you will be ok because Hubpages is like-minded to ePN, and they will keep your activity legit, but if you are going to use your affiliate ID in other unregulated settings, then you better be informed about the rules and requirements of ePN or you won't be an affiliate long.

There are some good Hubpages that will help you with ePN too!

I hope you found this article helpful. And I hope you won't begrudge me this shameless plug for my other hubs, and....

my ecommerce activity at Appletreedeals.com,

Thanks again for hanging with me this far. I hope you'll leave a comment with your opinion on this effort.

ps. Praise, worshop, and adulation are always welcome. I even appreciate positive constructive criticism. But if you are just feeling 'sparky' and want to complain... the complaint dept. is two doors down, on the left.