I posted this over at shoemoney.com too... So I have a small site related to eBay. It's my only profitable site. It's nothing big but I've learned a lot about SEM from it and it brings in a few bucks a month. I have managed to rank #1 for two keyword phrases directly associated with my site and number 4 and 8 for another 2 keyword phrases. My Traffic is up and things are good. The only problem is that a competitor is bidding on the keywords and managing to get a horizontal sponsored link on Google directly above my #1 ranking. When his ads are active I get about 50% less traffic to my site. The issue is that he is bidding on keyword phrases that contain eBay which is against eBay affiliates program TOS as far as I am aware. Not being one that likes to rat people out I just weather the storm, but at the end of the day it affects my pocket book, and I can't bid on those words as I don't want to get booted. He hasn't been booted and I don't suspect he will be as he has been at it a while. What should I do? Ignore it like a man or bring the situation forward? Is there a code of ethics that is adhered to in this industry? An unwritten rule that says all is fair or something along those lines?
If you are SURE he is bidding on a phrase with eBay in it (not sure how you could be certain) I would confront him and see how he responds- always better to make contact first, just like in any situation like this.
Send him an e-mail directly first...maybe he isn't aware that he's breaking the rules. Not everyone reads the terms & conditions carefully, so he may have missed the part about trademarked terms (it is right at the top, but regardless...). If that doesn't resolve the issue, then take it to the eBay affiliate program folks.
Well lets say the adsense ad shows up for ebay auction (thats not the actualy term) but not aucton alone wouldn't that mean he is bidding on the phrase eBay auction?
If the ad shows up when you search ebay auction than He could either be bidding on the term "Auction" with broad match or the term "Ebay Auction"
Hmmm, would the ad show up when bidding for auction then though? No eh? Hmm is there a way to find out what he is bidding on?
If his ad doesn't show up for blahblah auction, then he's not using broad match and is bidding on ebay auction.
not necessarily. He could be using the word "bay" and auction.. which is a little underhanded, but not against terms of service (cant be- because he could be bidding on [bay] -area "auctions". Which technically would be for the San Fransisco Bay area, but you know what he is actually doing. (Im assuming he is actually cheating, after reading that, but now Ive given him a good excuse.. lol)