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.

Those are my current stats. I’m hanging on by a thread. I’m at the “danger zone” with a rock bottom 0.03. I’m almost afraid to even check my email at this point.

ePN Affiliates: For Whom the Bell Tolls

It’s not news to mention how ePN is ban-happy, and it has been worse than ever according to what I’ve been reading on the eBay Partner Network forums. More high-tier affiliates with many years of ePN service are being banned for no reason. When honest top performers get the ax, how else could it possibly look to the rest of the affiliate community? It’s like a crowd of chickens in a slaughterhouse watching their comrades getting their heads get cut off a few feet away. Especially with an affiliate program that has been notorious for invoking absolute terror in its affiliates, and even suspending and strong-arming them into handing over their server data (tell me where that was ever mentioned in the TOS?)

I’m scared. I’m doing nothing wrong, but I’m still scared. It’s because this program is merciless on people who perform well, let alone the ones who don’t. I rely on ePN as my main source of at-home income. Thanks to the newly [enigmatic, secretive] mathematical EPC/QCP/ACRU system that has been put in place, I am at an absolute loss as to how I can perform to fit ePN’s standards anymore. I’m ranking highly for many “action-based” keywords, I’m promoting high price tag items that don’t sell frequently, and I have an overwhelming feeling of doom over a program that doesn’t show any mercy, provide any assistance, or even any forewarning.

I don’t know about you, but I will be scrambling over the weekend to start up several more affiliate stores from other affiliate programs, as I have relied way too much on this program, whose outlook is very grim.

This is a bleak holiday season for eBay affiliates, to say the least.

First of all, there are two ways to sell a used car on eBay: eBay Motors Local Classified Ad and regular auction (which we all know of). Local Listings is actually 100% free. Yes, that’s right – it doesn’t cost you a thing, and there’s absolutely no fine print. HOWEVER…it is not your typically-formatted eBay transaction: all you do is post your car and desired price. There’s no auction, nor is there a Buy It Now. It’s just like putting your car into one of those free circulars in town, except you have a much bigger audience on a site like eBay.

I tried eBay Local Classifieds for a 7-day period, and wound up getting 5 queries. Every one of them asked if they could come over to see the car, which is understandable. However, the obvious drawback here is that I’d have to put up with the same usual haggling and lowball offers that I would in the local paper. Once the eBay Local Classified Ad had ended, I decided to go for the tougher option, and put the car up for sale as a regular auction.

There’s one thing you’ll have to keep in mind when selling your car on eBay: it comes with a hefty fee. Therefore, list your car with the price you want to get for it, PLUS the cost of listing it. The cost for selling a used car on eBay is a $125 successful listing fee (that means your car hits the reserve price or someone buys it with “Buy It Now”), plus a Reserve fee of $7 (if you used it), as well as a Buy It Now fee (if you used that, too). I wound up using these two options.

Doing Your Research on Comparable Cars

Your first stop is Kelley Blue Book – here, you’ll be able to get a relatively close appraisal for your car. Don’t be too generous with the final step when it asks you for the “condition” of your car. Very few people truly have used cars in “excellent” condition, unless the car is dent-free and has a fresh paint job. The middle value is usually the way to go, unless you’ve really beaten the crap out of your car or never got it fixed from past accidents. Regardless of what car salesmen and insurance adjusters tell you, the KBB value is pretty spot on in regard to what your car is worth in the used car market.

Before listing your used car on eBay, check out what they’ve gone for in the past. The best way to do this is to do a search for your car (i.e., “2000 toyota camry LE”), then on the left hand column, click “Completed Auctions,” click “submit,” and see the auctions for other similar cars that have sold. Note their final price, and compare it to your car’s mileage and options. This will give you a good idea about what your car should be selling for.

Now, you have two great sources dictating what your car should be worth. It’s now time to actually create the listing!

Writing for Success on eBay

When you list your item, there are ways you can make your listing much more attractive. First of all, your title should be VERY descriptive. Use a format like this: “2000 Toyota Camry LE in Queens NY.” Why that format? It lists the year, make, model, trim and location in one title. You’ve just eliminated everyone who wasn’t willing to buy “LE” trim camry or a car located in “Queens NY”, and attracted the ones who do…all by seeing your listing on an eBay search result page!

Within your description, write a nice summary paragraph. Mention who the original owner was (it’s always a bonus if it was you, and if it never had any previous owners). Talk about the condition of the car.

Don’t mention accidents – let that be a “don’t ask, don’t tell” issue. It’s not dishonest, unless you lie when someone asks you! Know that anyone can very easily run a Carfax report on your car, which lists every single accident it’s been in. Yes, Carfax costs money, but it’s really common to go to any car forum and find people asking others, “..hey, can you get me a Carfax on this car that’s up on eBay?” Your car’s VIN number is forced to display on your auction page. If you lie about accidents and come across one of these people, you’ll look really stupid.

Make the listing as positive and attractive as possible. List everything you’ve put into the car, with the dates when you’ve purchased them: brake pads, belts, tires, tune ups, replacements, etc. It shows that you care about the next owner by giving them the information that they not only want to see, but the information that might help influence them further. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather consider a eBay used car listing with a readily available list of improvements over one that has no information at all. Always think in the shoes of the buyer and what they’d like to see as a potential used car owner.

Aside from the description, you’ll want to post pictures. Unfortunately, eBay charges too much for additional pictures. Fortunately, you can post as many as you want, for free :)  Simply go to PhotoBucket or Flickr, create a free account if you don’t already have one, and upload all of the pictures of your car (they should include all angles: head-on, front quarter panel, full side, rear corner, back, interior facing dashboard, backseat, and finally, the engine bay and the trunk). Make sure the images aren’t too big – 600px by 450px should be more than enough. When you’ve posted these pictures, simply copy and paste the “direct URL” of these images, and insert them into your eBay auction under the description using plain HTML image tags. You’ve just saved yourself money by not paying for a worthless eBay feature.

Setting the Price

The final step is to choose how you want the auction to run. Will you let it go as a plain old auction, hoping for the best as the week goes by? Or, do you want a little security in case the auction doesn’t go as well as you had hoped? I wanted the latter, so I opted in for both a Reserve Price and Buy It Now. The Reserve Price is the least you’ll accept as an offer, it’s an invisible number that only you can ever see. Unless someone hits this number throughout the course of the auction, you are not obliged to take the winning bid. On top of that, you can make things easy on others (and yourself) by setting a Buy It Now price. This is the set price in your mind that you really want to get for your used car. If it’s overblown, then don’t waste your time or anyone else’s. Another good tactic is to mention “This car’s Blue Book value is $X” directly on your auction, so that people know you took the time to do research…don’t worry, they did research, too. Let it be a couple hundred bucks below your car’s KBB value. Once someone uses Buy It Now, your auction ends immediately and they have purchased the item, making it an invaluable service for the seller.

So, I set my Buy It Now price at the price I really wanted for my car ($5,900), the reserve price at $5,700 which was the bare minimum I would have accepted, and the starting price at $4,000 to get people interested. I already knew what comparable cars went for, so I was pretty confident. My auction got 4 bids in 24 hours, and finally, someone did the Buy It Now.

Setting the Auction Terms

Take it from me, you’ll want to do two things when you sell a used car on eBay. First of all, make it be cash only. Why? Well, personal checks, bank checks, cashier’s checks and PayPal can all be canceled. So, they can pay you, pick up the car, disappear, then stop payment. You’re pretty screwed in that case, and nobody on Earth wants to be in these kinds of court battles. Protect yourself and demand cash. Either that, or clearly state that checks and PayPal are accepted only when the money has successfully been deposited in your back account – until then, the transaction will not happen, and they understand and agree to these terms when they bid on your auction. When you put that in writing ON your eBay auction, it’s as good as gold.

Secondly, be sure to state that you will not help in any way with the transportation of the used car once it has been sold. It is entirely up to the buyer to figure that out for him/herself, no exceptions.

Stand Firmly – Take No BS

People are people, that’s for sure, and they might attempt to swindle the deal after it’s over. Here are several scenarios that can happen after you’ve sold your used car on eBay:

• They might want to ask if they are obliged to buy this car in case they see it and don’t like it. The answer is “yes,” they have entered a contractual agreement by clicking “bid” or “Buy It Now.” This is clearly stated in eBay’s terms. Refer them to read the terms in case they ask this question. eBay even reminds them that they commit to buy once pressing the big button. It doesn’t matter if your car is a beauty or a total piece of crap – when they bought it, they committed to it.
• They might want to persuade you to help them transport the car. Now you know why I told you to explicitly say that you will not help with this! Be firm and reiterate that you stated in your terms that this would not be included in the transaction. If they don’t like it – it’s too bad. It’s in writing.
• They might beg you to reconsider payment terms. If you asked for cash, they might insist on PayPal, and mention that they’re not comfortable carrying thousands of dollars in cash. Once again, that’s too bad – they bid on this auction having read your terms, and clearly knowing what they are. If they didn’t like it, they wouldn’t or shouldn’t have bid on it.

The Receipt

Once the buyer arrives (and hopefully all went well), count your cash to make sure it’s all there, and give them a receipt. This usually says “On (date), I, (your name), sold a (car year, make, model) to (buyer’s name) for (dollar amount). Signed (your name, date), (buyer’s name, date).” Make two of these, so that you both have a copy.

That should be it! Selling a car on eBay is relatively painless. What I like the most is that the buyer HAS to buy it when they’ve won it (otherwise, don’t delay and start the dispute resolution process). It doesn’t go that way when you put an ad in the paper. I don’t have the time, patience nor people skills to deal with hagglers and hardcore negotiators. This was truly a great experience, and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to list their used car on a massive site that gets a lot of eyeballs. From the research I’ve done, it seemed as though most cars wound up getting sold after being put up on eBay, so, why not try it out for yourself?

Back in very early days of the eBay affiliate program, one could have made a full-time career out of selling used cars on eBay and making tremendous commissions. That practice was nipped in the bud with the inception of eBay Autos, bringing forth a new tier of virtually worthless commission scales for things like used cars, car parts and the like. Changes kept happening throughout the early 2000s, making that “percentage of a percentage of the seller’s fee to eBay” dwindle affiliate commissions.

Enter the ACRU

Then, in August of ’08, the ACRU or “Active Confirmed Registered User” value-based payment system came out. Instead of receiving your cool $20 per eBay user sign-up, you received anywhere between $1 and $50 (more likely the former) per sign-up, per ePN’s new algorithm that auto-ranked each sign-up with a quality rating. This rating determined how “worthy” that new eBay member was, based on their likelihood to continue coming back to eBay and purchasing more things in the future. It’s a ridiculous and irrational system that punishes affiliates for the behavior of other human beings. Either that, or it was a very poor way to punish the entire affiliate community for the select few cheaters who’ve created false accounts on different IP addresses. Reminds me a lot of when the entire gym class was given early morning detention because an asshole jock was fooling around in class, and the teacher wanted to make an example of him.

Later that same month, ePN got ban-happy and started cutting dozens of affiliates from the program with no rhyme or reason. In looking at the old forum posts, it was apparent that both high-earning affiliates and low-performing ones alike were cut. One guy was making nearly 6-figures per year on ePN and got the ban stick, while a newbie just learning the ropes got it, too. Those who didn’t were left shaking in their boots, overwhelmed with feelings of paranoia and wondering if the ePN Grim Reaper would be coming for them, soon…even though they were playing by the book.

Wait, Make That ‘Quality Click Pricing’…

On September 1, 2009, ePN announced that all new ePN members would now be transitioned over to a new “Quality Click Pricing” payment method, and all veterans would be transitioned on October 1st. Quality Click Pricing basically starts everything over at square one. Your traditional EPC (earnings per click) chart will disappear, and a QCP metric chart will take its place. It was then stated that the EPC system was somewhat of a beta test to see how affiliate sales have worked, solely for the reason of eventually transitioning to QCP. on Not only that,  but ACRU scores will also be removed entirely and will not be available for your statistical review.

What does this mean for you? It means that you better damn well be considered “quality” in ePN’s eyes, or you will be in for a heart breaker of a year in your affiliate routine. Rather than receiving commission like you always did, you’ll now be receiving payoffs on a per-click basis. According to the “How will this affect me?” writeup, you’ll receive the same commission as always. If you’re a high performer, you’ll get more – otherwise, you’ll be earning less. What’s a high performer or a low performer, though? ePN has enimgified (yes, that’s a word I made up just for this situation) their system so much that Einstein wouldn’t even be able to make it out. A blog post noting tips for success with QCP mentions that it’s all about being very drilled down and focused in terms of driving traffic. This might be a serious issue for those of you with “broad” product categories. Even during the EPC era of this program, ePN stated that anyone who had an EPC of .03 or less set off the red flag for a possible banning. At least you knew if you were in trouble with the EPC chart. That’s now gone, making the ePN program even more opaque than ever before.

How will the EPC program work out in the long run? This month will be the true test. Needless to say, marketing forums across the internet are buzzing with fear and grief. Keep in mind, there are people who use ePN as their full time revenue source. This goes to show that it is NEVER a good strategy to rely on just one affiliate program – you truly never know when something drastic will happen, or when they’ll simply die off.

Over the past year, ePN has done nothing short of making a complete jackass of themselves, instilling fear in their affiliate community, and becoming a PR nightmare that has spun out of control. Bannings still happen every day, without reason – and it’s nearly impossible to get back in once you’re banned…much like getting banned from Google AdSense. It also doesn’t help when your plea for a reason doesn’t even get answered by the team, especially since you get a generic “Dear John” letter when it happens.

ePN: where the strategy is “if it ain’t broke, fix it, then disassemble it, then put it back together, fix it, and re-paint it. Then lay off a percentage of your constituents. Then go back to fixing the system that ain’t broke once more. “