Ebay affiliate question

Hey,
I have a question. i am an ebay affiliate and i have items importing to my blog with the phpbay script, and i also use flexible destination tool to link from posts. I get a good amount of clicks on my ebay stuff but i have not actually made any money from it yet. What is peoples experience on their ebay CTR vs. their actual commish?

I figure the more clicks i get the better b/c i am still planting cookies so i'll get paid if they buy in the near future. your thoughts??

 

My experience is the earnings come in spikes. I get quite a few clicks and a decent CTR but make only a few small sales on average per day. But now and then there are some large sales. Like yesterday somebody bought a Mac notebook. Unrelated to any of my links so no doubt the result of a cookie I planted and the visitor went back later and made the purchase.

But traffic to my site is not very targeted. If your traffic is targeted to visitors looking to buy you should get steadier and higher daily earnings.

Q: Are you using the phpBay lite script or the pro?

 

Signups help a lot, it's a nice $25 instant boost.

Personally I think it's a numbers game, the more people you send to ebay the greater your chance to make money in the next 7 days or 30 days if they signup. They may not care about the item you send them to, but they might buy something else in the next 7 days and you get commission.

 

it's PHPbay pro, but it's the WP plugin version so it's beta. but a great script none the less

 

I just started dabbling with the phpBay Lite free script. Very simple to use, but of course not full featured like the pro version. Does this script have to be used as a WP plugin or can it be used to display ads on a non-WP site? Or is there similar script that will do that?

 

Hi geomark,

The lite version is only available as a Wordpress plugin. The Pro version, as you mentioned, has more features. It also comes with a stand alone version that can be used with non-Wordpress sites.

Ross, my CTR shows N/A (as of today). I'm not very familiar with the numbers CJ reports in that column. I do have a commission for a $25 signup today. I always enjoy those

I'm wonder if you are using a correct PID? It's a bit confusing and you may already be aware, but just in case...

For each site you have, in CJ, you add that site under:

Account -> Web site settings -> Add a new website

(this is very important for those with an existing CJ account, but have a new ebay site they are using)

Next, go to: Get Links
Type in: ebay
Find the link that shows "eBay » View Links" (there are many links here, this is the one you need)

Click the "view links" link.
Click "advanced link"
This will bring a popup window up with details. At the bottom is a "Get HTML" button. Click this button.

A new window will appear. This is very important here. Select the Web site you are setting up (currently) for Ebay, so you can get the proper PID. Each web site you have, will have a different PID. You must use the proper PID associated with your individual web site.

In the drop down menu, select the web site you have, that you need your PID for. Once selected, the PID for *that* site will appear.

Remember, each site has a unique Ebay PID. There may be a faster/better way to get the PID for a web site, but this is how I do it.

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks Gtech,
I assume i have the right PID b/c i am getting stats on my clicks for for ebay under my "guitar resource" website. So i assume if it's pulling stats for click i have the right PID. The easiest way to get the PID is under my account->my websites and select the website you want and it should show it...

 

It's been more than 3 weeks, 187 clicks, no commissions at all from eBay showing in CJ. Site is very targeted and point users straight to the list of items they are looking for.

I guess I'm dropping eBay. I think everybody and their mother have an eBay account already.

 

I make many ebay signups a month

here is this months stats so far...

Quick Stats Edit, Hide

Web Site All web sites
Period This Month
Commission earned $496.02 USD Sales 108
Leads 14
Clicks 7,798
Impressions 36,546
CTR 21.34%
EPM $13.57 USD
EPC $6.36 USD

 

these programs are great if you can attract a demographic that will buy ebay stuff. I have tons of traffic but none who will buy. I made a bunch more money with those freebie offers.

I guess you have to tailor your marketing to the visitor.

 

I believe the key here is to target less popular niches. Diving straight in to something like ipods or other electronics that are very competitive niches are going to yield fewer sales. The competition is too tough, people spend time looking for the best deal and the keywords are very hard to rank for.

The key is:

1) Find less popular niches where search engine competition isn't so high

2) Find something where the average cost is $5 - $200 max. People are willing to spend that. Whereas, if all you list are cars for sale, you'll be waiting a LONG time for a sale. Think about it! Not many people will buy a car over the internet, but they will buy parts for their car.

3. Find something unique and not as easy to find at your average retailer. If you are trying to compete for something everyone else is competing for, it's going to be tough. Try using "used" prefaced with your keywords.

Skim through the categories. It doesn't matter if you like the product or not, but find something unique that doesn't have "so much" competition.

Examples: salsa kits, persian rugs (or other types of rugs), used klipsch speakers, Yugo parts, dehumidifiers. The list can go on and on.

I honestly don't think it's going to work, to just start out trying for "cell phones" and "ipods" and "mp3 players" If you have these on your blog, great, might get a sale or two here and there. But try to find less popular items that are within a reasonable price, not as easy to find, etc. Remember, the goal is to make money!

 

Good advice GTech. I've had disappointing results with Ebay so far but I think I may have been targetting the wrong people and products.

 

The ebay affiliate program is no different than any other monetization arrangement: no traffic = no money.

It is a great income generator for sites that have already attained authority status via the usual route (great content, frequent updates, years of toil, etc.)

In fact, cars do sell on ebay....tons of them every day. The commission for a car sale is around 50 bucks, not bad.

Hang around any gearhead message board, like this one (shameless plug): Second Generation Camaros Ebay is constant source of chatter. Some members love it, some hate it....but it is always discussed. I would go so far as to say that ebay has fundamentally altered the hot rod car landscape. Back in the day swap meets were great places to find great deals on used performance parts. Not anymore.....anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together sells the best stuff on ebay.

What amazes me is the number of authority sites that do not use the ebay affiliate program. I have been preaching to my fellow automotive webmasters about this for years. To date, nobody has listened. Why? Beats me....they must have something in common with my wife.

 

Mike is absolutely correct and he also taught me a valueable lesson...

he bought a car domain that I had and then fixed it up in a jiffy to make money. when i saw what he did I replicated that same concept onto just one of my websites and now 6 months later that site is making a solid 400 - 500 a month for the past 6 months and almost $800 IN THE LAST 30 DAYS. and the good news, i don't spend a dime to make that profit..... dang!

thanks mike!

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It's a really cool wp plugin, I have used it myself with good results. Ebay affiliate is excellent if you can target the shoppers and what they are looking for of course