One of the ways eBay drives traffic to the site is through its affiliate marketing program, and on September 1, eBay increased the rates it pays to members of the eBay Partner Network (ePN) program.
This sounds like good news for sellers (and affiliates), but there is a catch. The new rates are only available for certain program members. And more importantly for sellers, the higher rates only apply to certain types of items – so affiliates may not have an incentive to drive traffic and sales to your Advertisement.
As we reported last month, eBay introduced the concept of “Priority Listings†in June, which are “particularly valuable items for eBay sellers to sellâ€. EPN Director Michael Lill had indicated that eBay hoped to offer bonus prizes over time to reward partners who generated priority ad conversions.
The rate card has not changed since August 2020, which you can access on the eBay Partner Network website. The new rates for Priority Ads are explained on the eBay Partner Network website, where it is explained: “Priority ad transactions earn 1.5 times the standard commission for this transaction.”
This means that a transaction that would normally have paid $ 10 in affiliate commission would pay $ 15 if it was a priority item. (This is the example used by eBay, but an affiliate fee of $ 10 would be for a high value item; for example, the ePN rate for collectibles is 3%, so an attributable sale of 333 $ of a collectible would earn an affiliate $ 9.99.)
Unfortunately, the ePN website does not explain what types of items are eligible for Priority Lists, but it should be noted that eBay has invested in its Certified Refurbishment program and in some categories including sneakers, collectible cards, luxury watches and designer handbags.
Ina Steiner
