Pixelrage.net

Just a couple days after hearing about a new anti-302 redirect threat from good old ePN, and after a month of being pissed about how my eBay affiliate sales have dropped like a rock, I’ve discovered something incredibly disturbing on my Build A Niche Store sites. I bet yours have been affected, too.

It’s the quintessential part of being a webmaster: TEST YOUR LINKS! Click your eBay links. Try it right now on your eBay affiliate sites. If you see this message, you’re not alone:

Uh oh. Looks like your ePN sites have been sucking for quite awhile, as they have been showing your beloved customers a worthless error page for God knows how many days now. No wonder your sales have sucked. Yes, it’s time to panic, but only for 5 seconds. Then, slap yourself across the face and do this IMMEDIATELY.

1. Log into BANS, and click the “Setup” tab.
2. Look on the upper right red box entitled “4. Affiliate Details”. UNCHECK “Cloak affiliate links”. Yeah, it seems to now be broken. Now, save the change.
3. Visit your live site, visit a single page and click an eBay link. The item should now be showing properly.

If you haven’t been using “cloak affiliate links,” then you shouldn’t be affected.

I have to say, I’m rather pissed at Build A Niche Store. I know they don’t give a shit because they sold out to some new bidder who has completely neglected the community, but it’s no excuse.

By the way, you’re not done yet – if you run 15+ sites like I do, you’re about to get really mad. Every single one of them will need a code adjustment in order to avoid the June 8 eBay Partner Network ban. In short, you’ll have to replace your item.php file with a community-edited one (once again, because the original developers don’t give a shit, and haven’t been offering patches or upgrades in years).

Here’s your cue to make this change right now…the clock is ticking! This is NOT a time to procrastinate, my friend.