eBay has announced that they will be closing their affiliate program on CJ and launching the eBay Partner Network, an in-house eBay affiliate program.
Back in September 2006, eBay announced the launch of their own affiliate linking infrastructure called Project Rover.
At the time, I speculated on my blog whether “a full secession from CJ (was) in the works?”
The eBay Partner Network is officially launching on April 1st, 2008. eBay started up with Commission Junction on March 2, 2001.
“Affiliate partners are central to eBay’s ongoing strategy of improving the user experience and increasing engagement,” said Matt Ackley, vice president of Internet marketing at eBay.
“The new eBay Partner Network will allow us to have a direct relationship with our affiliates, innovate faster and deliver new products and tools in a more timely and efficient manner, providing new revenue opportunities for our affiliates and creating a more streamlined user experience for our buyers and sellers.”
The eBay Affiliate Program has more than 100,000 members globally and is one of the most successful tools for driving buyers to eBay, according to an announcement from eBay.
The move from CJ will impact both eBay and Half.com, and current affiliates will have to move to the eBay Partner Network by May 1st, 2008.
I touched base with Dave Osman, SVP Operations at Commission Junction for comment on the in-house affiliate program plans from eBay.
“As you might expect, we hate to ever lose a client, regardless of their size. CJ has enjoyed a very long and fruitful partnership with eBay, but because of their very unique technological capabilities and considerable staff they felt that they could migrate the management of this program in-house,” stated Osman.
“We’ve worked very closely with them over many months to ensure that the transition is as smooth as possible for publishers. Of course, we wish them well on the affiliate programs they’re taking over, we’re looking forward to continuing to support the eBay programs that remain with us, and we’re pleased that eBay is continuing their close relationship with our Mediaplex division,” Osman continued.
eBay’s Tradera AB, ProStores, Inc, Reseller Marketplace, Media Marketplace, eBay Stores and StubHub will not be affected and will remain with Commission Junction.
Additionally, eBay affiliates working with other platforms, including Affilinet and Tradedoubler, will not be affected.
More details on the transition process for eBay affiliates at http://affiliates.ebay.com.
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Hey Linda, I don’t think that it will make much of a difference for auctionAds. They are using the eBay web services API and not the CJ one as far as I know. eBay will not change much there, only the URL.
I would be very surprised, if their in-house platform does not have some sort of “SID” tracking functionality.
I would also assume that eBay extends their web services API to provide access to reporting data via automated means. Their API is not beta, like CJs so I think that this might be benefitial for them from a technical point of view.
From an overall business point of view things might look a bit different. It’s hard to tell, because there are many factors and many unknowns (to me) that could play an important role there.
Wonder what this means to all who have invested in Build-A-Niche ebay stores. At $100 a pop, I sure hope thay can convert easy enough.
Man Valueclick is having a really bad day!
1st it was the eBay news, then news of the biggest Can Spam settlement in history. 2.9 Million. Way to go Vclick! Your stock is really going to take a hit now.
New ValueClick Spam Case – Record 2.9 Million Settlement
Wasn’t eBay CJ’s #1 advertiser by far? I’m guessing this news hurts CJ in a big way in terms of revenue.
Wonder how shoppingads.com (originally ShoeMoney’s AuctionAds) will be affected because of the changes above. Their widget was pulling from CJ too and serving TONS of CJ/eBay links to TONS of affiliates – at least in the beginning, not sure how they are doing now.
I predicted this back during the LMI debacle. CJ made a very bold and bad move that affected too many without giving notice to their merchants. They backed off, but it made their merchants that were on the fence consider other options. Fortunately eBay took their time and has finally been able to make the move. Plus, ss others have said, this was probably inevitable due to the size of the program. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
eBay is like a 500 pound gorilla. Where does a 500 gorilla sit? Any where it wants. I think it was inevitable that eBay would move on and start their own system.
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