Warning! eBay switches to one-day cookie in October!

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  1. Marisa Wright profile image87
    Marisa Wrightposted 11 years ago

    eBay is changing its affiliate scheme in October and there is one HUGE change which has been sneaked in.

    Their cookie is now a 24-hour cookie, same as Amazon.  For Hubbers, that makes eBay effectively worthless and I strongly recommend you remove your eBay capsules!  Amazon will now be a better earner for almost everyone.

    As you know, eBay doesn't pay per sale, it uses a complicated pay-per-click system that usually pays far less than you could earn for a similar product on Amazon.  But eBay currently has a long cookie - so the customer doesn't have to buy right there and then, they can think about it, browse around, dither, and you can still make your commission.  So although you're earning less per sale, you have more chance of making sales.

    As from October, that won't be the case.  eBay and Amazon will both have 24 hour cookies, and since Amazon pays a lot better, ditching eBay becomes a no-brainer.

    Sadly that's not going to help me on my websites, which rely on eBay - because my sites serve a worldwide audience and offer products on all the eBay sites depending where the customer lives.  There isn't an Amazon in every country.   I'm not a happy bunny.

    1. Writer Fox profile image40
      Writer Foxposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you very much for posting this.  But I don't like it one bit!

    2. ologsinquito profile image76
      ologsinquitoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Marisa, thank you for posting this. Sorry to hear this will affect you. It's something we should all know about.

    3. galleryofgrace profile image71
      galleryofgraceposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      off topic;
      The voice portion of the "fat belly " ad at the bottom of this forum comes on by itself. and stays on. I wonder if readers have to put up with voice ads while they are trying to read our hubs. What a turn off!
      What else can HP do to us?

      1. ChristinS profile image36
        ChristinSposted 11 years agoin reply to this

        report ads that do that to HP staff, that is not allowed on here.

        1. CraftytotheCore profile image73
          CraftytotheCoreposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I've heard those voice ones and sometimes I see one that looks like it is bouncing around on the screen.  Very annoying.

    4. Organised Kaos profile image71
      Organised Kaosposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Gahh, a bit new here and am confused by all this. So does it mean that once 24 hours is up ebay will change the products I chose in their adds? Does that mean that we don't get paid the same amount as the products that I chose?
      What else does this mean? Besides the fact Amazon pay more percentage way, what other benefits are there with going to Amazon?
      Many thanks to someone whom is now trying to do a bit of Hubpages study!

    5. pauldeeds profile imageSTAFF
      pauldeedsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      What you predict may come to pass, but I believe that eBay wants to have a program that is competitive.  With their black box payout scheme, it's certainly within their power to  adjust the formula to result in similar total payouts even with a shorter cookie.  I'd wait and see what happens in October before making huge changes to your Hubs.

      Historically, on HubPages Amazon and eBay have performed similarly on a per click basis for most of the year, but Amazon usually does better during the holiday season (when people tend to put in huge multi-product amazon orders).

      1. Marisa Wright profile image87
        Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

        I'm not predicting, Paul.   It's in the notification to eBay affiliates:

        "For a “Buy It Now” item, you will be compensated if a user makes a purchase within 24 hours. For “Bid” items where a bid is placed within 24 hours of the initial click, you are credited for winning auctions for up to 10 days, which is the maximum length that an auction can last."

        As you know, most people don't bid on an auction immediately - they will watch the item until closer to the end of the auction, THEN start bidding. So we'll likely to get little or no commission on auction items.

        This makes it even more important that HubPages looks into enabling "Buy It Now" items only.

        1. pauldeeds profile imageSTAFF
          pauldeedsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          You stated some facts about the cookies which I don't dispute, but your conclusion that eBay would become less competitive with Amazon as a result seems to be based on the assumption that eBay would pay more or less the same amount per sale that you generate (and as a result of the cookie change, you'd generate fewer sales).  Under quality click pricing it wasn't transparent how the payouts were determined.   It appears that yesterday they posted a FAQ on how the commission will be calculated in the new system

          I don't know what the net effect of the cookie and commission changes together will be on earnings.  But I do know that EPN knows they are competing with Amazon and others for affiliates, and if they want to affiliates to market eBay for them they have to have a competitive product.  So, I'd be surprised if the average payout per click changes too much.

          Anyway, I stand by my "wait and see" advice.  If in 2 weeks it's clear to you that eBay is less effective, then by all means switch your capsules to Amazon.

          1. Marisa Wright profile image87
            Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            My point is, it has nothing to do with the level of commission.  It has to do with the cookie being valid ONLY for the first 24 hours.

            Before, if the customer "watched" the auction, then went back and bid a few days later, you still got your commission.  Now, you won't.

            1. pauldeeds profile imageSTAFF
              pauldeedsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

              In your original post you said "that makes eBay effectively worthless and I strongly recommend you remove your eBay capsules".

              1. agvulpes profile image84
                agvulpesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                Well so far I would say the Marisa is on the money.smile
                Normally see something from ebay about every other day!  Not 1cent from ebay this month so far sad

                Looks like another strategy plan on the way smile

                1. pauldeeds profile imageSTAFF
                  pauldeedsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  There are some issues with the ePN campaign level reports that we are still waiting for eBay to fix, so none of the October earnings are certified yet.  However, if the aggregate daily earnings are correct (and I believe they are), total ePN earnings across HubPages are actually up 40% since the change.  Because they now pay for actual sales, you may see 0's for a while and then get say $6 all one day.  Anyway, I suggest that you give it some more time.

                  By the way, eBay annouced here that while some partners may make less and some more under the new scheme, that total partner earnings are unchanged.

                  1. agvulpes profile image84
                    agvulpesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                    Thanks Paul would you say that leaving it sit till the end of October before going to a Plan B would give us a good indication of where ebay is heading ?

          2. LuisEGonzalez profile image79
            LuisEGonzalezposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Just to see if I understand correctly; Ebay will still pay for clicks?

            1. LCDWriter profile image90
              LCDWriterposted 11 years agoin reply to this

              Luis, my understanding is that they will not anymore.

            2. Matthew Meyer profile image70
              Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

              They pay for actual sales now.
              Paul has a bit more details above.
              http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/117407#post2481926

              1. LuisEGonzalez profile image79
                LuisEGonzalezposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                Thanks for clarifying this for me

  2. Nell Rose profile image86
    Nell Roseposted 11 years ago

    Thanks for the info Marisa and sorry to hear that it will mess up your sites. I tend to use Amazon more, in fact I forget about ebay pretty much, good thing if this is happening.

  3. ChristinS profile image36
    ChristinSposted 11 years ago

    That stinks. I've wanted to do Amazon, but unfortunately I live in a state where the Amazon affiliate program is not available sad

  4. hardlymoving profile image63
    hardlymovingposted 11 years ago

    I concluded months ago that Ebay, compared to Amazon's commission based model, pays us pennies where I get dollars from Amazon on a big ticket purchases.  Amazon approved associates can get up to 8% commission ... although my average has been 6%.   I have been deleting Ebay ad links from my articles.

    1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image77
      TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I deleted all of my Ebay capsules about six weeks ago when I realized they were changing the ads at will and many did not match my articles!

  5. relache profile image65
    relacheposted 11 years ago

    I've found that based on my subject, either Amazon or eBay has more appropriate products, so I'll wind up keeping whichever has the more relevant product.

  6. LCDWriter profile image90
    LCDWriterposted 11 years ago

    galleryofgrace--I've noticed that ad comes on as well sometimes.  I usually keep my sound on mute but if I accidentally have it on, I'll hear it.

  7. Victoria Lynn profile image89
    Victoria Lynnposted 11 years ago

    Yep, my state doesn't allow Amazon affiliates either, so it's a moot point for me, as with others.

    1. Marisa Wright profile image87
      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Even if you can't use Amazon, consider that an eBay ad may distract a reader from clicking on an Adsense ad - if it's not going to give you a return on that click, you may be better off without it.

  8. Shil1978 profile image79
    Shil1978posted 11 years ago

    Thanks for the heads-up Marisa. I wasn't aware of this, but I did start shifting from eBay to Amazon capsules a while back. Am glad I did smile

  9. Barbara Kay profile image75
    Barbara Kayposted 11 years ago

    I've never done well with Amazon, but have with eBay. This must depend on the individual hubs. With Christmas just months away now, I'm disappointed eBay is doing this. I've always done well at Christmas with eBay.

  10. paradigmsearch profile image60
    paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

    This pretty much reflects my thoughts. I will be raptly watching my eBay earnings stats. If no significant change, I'll continue to muddle along. If I suddenly start seeing strings of zeros, out comes the chainsaw; one less ad for Google to get perturbed about.

    1. Tenerife Islander profile image67
      Tenerife Islanderposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I will do likewise! I have never made much from Amazon but with eBay I do get money coming in so I will wait and see how it goes!

  11. paradigmsearch profile image60
    paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

    Well, I've got zeros 6 days in a row. Sharpening the chainsaw.

  12. profile image0
    Beth37posted 11 years ago

    mmm cookies.

  13. ChristinS profile image36
    ChristinSposted 11 years ago

    Is it just a fluke then that I earned a lot more than usual on Oct 1st from eBay? like way more than usual... I'm waiting for stats for the past few days to update.  I think I'll stick it out for awhile before removing capsules since I can't use Amazon in my state... sigh.

    1. paradigmsearch profile image60
      paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Your hub topics are probably more conducive to eBay sales than mine. If the cookie thing doesn't do you in, I'd certainly keep them.

    2. Marisa Wright profile image87
      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You may be doing a good job, Christin.   The new eBay system will work if you can write Hubs which drive a reader to buy the eBay product RIGHT NOW THIS MINUTE - and if they do, then the commission will be higher.

  14. Writer Fox profile image40
    Writer Foxposted 11 years ago

    http://s2.hubimg.com/u/8433669_f248.jpg

  15. psycheskinner profile image76
    psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

    Is Amazon back for people is "banned" states?

  16. paradigmsearch profile image60
    paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

    I've looked at my lifetime eBay sales. Nothing to write home about. I've deleted two eBay capsules so far. Expecting to do more. Only keeping the big-ticket items, cause you never know...

 
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