eBay Partner Network – Domain Validation Change
Posted Under: eBay Business Information
eBay Partner Network officially removed the domain validation requirements for their users on February 21st of this year.
- eBay Partner Network
Prior to this date, only validated websites were allowed to participate in their program and third party sites like Blogger, WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, etc. were not allowed to participate in eBay promotionals.
As part of their program, eBay Partner Network required publishers to show proof of domain ownership by validating their websites by inserting a bit of html code into the body of the site.
That meant that hosted sites on Blogger and WordPress.com platforms were ineligible for participation in their program.
Their initial announcement last month stated that from February 20th, the restrictioin would be lifted and third party platforms could be used to host content and promote eBay however, it was vague as to whether or not third party social media sites would be included in their domain validation change.
Starting on February 21st., eBay Partner Network’s pilot launch allows partners to promote eBay on any site, as long as the promotions remain in accordance with their code of conduct.
As of right now, sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. are acceptable platforms for promoting eBay however, eBay Partner Network reserves the right to filter and withhold compensation for traffic that they believe does not comply with their terms.
This means that as long as the spirit of their Code of Conduct is adhered to, compensations will be made.
“Spirit” means that you can promote eBay on your own Facebook Wall.
It does not mean that you can promote eBay by spamming the Facebook Walls of all your friends with links to eBay. Spirit also means that you can’t promote eBay on gambling sites, adult content sites, etc.
As long as eBay’s brand is kept “clean” and the promotions are kept ethical; third party promoters should have no problem with eBay Partner Network’s eagerly awaited domain validation change.
EBay Partner Network will be closely monitoring traffic and link placement to ensure that their partners continue to send only quality traffic to eBay.
If you have a question about your eligibility or the quality of traffic you plan to generate, contact them before you start placing links all over Facebook or Twitter.
Because URL shorteners have become such an integral part of social networking, eBay Partner Network is allowing their users to shorten URLs through the use of three authorized sites:
Shortened URLs from other sites are not acceptable and will not be recognized.
The domain validation change has been long waited for by WordPress and Blogger users as a welcome income addition to their existing AdSense revenues.
EBay Partner Network program is excited about the change as a significant improvement to their existing program, as they should be.
We hope the pilot is successful.
