New price structure for US eBay affiliates

eBay are changing the way that payments are made to US affiliates who introduce new buyers. Currently, ACRUs are compensated at a fixed fee, which increases the more new members you introduce: it’s currently $25 per member if you bring in fewer than 49 people a month, up to $35 if you bring in 30,000 or more.

For new affiliates from 1st August and for everyone from 1st November, this will change:

Each publisher will be placed in a quality tier at the end of each month based on that month’s and historical traffic. The tiers will range from $0 to $50, and the higher the expected lifetime value of the customers a publisher sends, the higher the tier the publisher will receive.

(Emphasis mine.) New affiliates will be placed in the lowest, $0 tier to start with, “while the system calculates an appropriate tier”. What a great way to pull people into the program.

Existing affiliates will, in September, get access to a new report that tells them the quality of the traffic they have been sending eBay, so that they can see if they’re getting a pay cut or not. Forgive me for being cynical, but I don’t see anyone coming out of this any better off, except eBay.

But I am extremely impressed that eBay think they are able to predict a customer’s lifetime worth to them so early on in the relationship. Perhaps they would like to pick my lottery numbers this week?

4 Responses on "New price structure for US eBay affiliates"

1. 1
   ebuyerfb says:

   August 4, 2008 at 7:56 pm

   It used to be the only people eBay was nice to was the affiliates. I’m wondering if they recently discovered that the #1 reason buyers leave eBay is that they weren’t “quality” buyers to begin with.
2. 2
   ebuyerfb says:

   August 5, 2008 at 4:26 am

   Actually I think you made a mistake. Your referrals start out at $1, not $0.
3. 3
   Sue Bailey says:

   August 5, 2008 at 11:04 am

   ebuyerfb, check the the terms and conditions. $0 is what eBay say.
4. 4
   ebuyerfb says:

   August 6, 2008 at 9:27 am

   Your link (it’s actually the FAQ, not the terms and conditions) says:

   Based upon this quality rating, you will receive payment amount per ACRU of $0-$50. The higher the quality of your network traffic, the higher the payout per ACRU.

   But the link in the article says:

   The tiers will range from $1 to $50, and the higher the expected lifetime value of the customers a publisher sends, the higher the tier the publisher will receive.

   A new link: Current Pay Structure

   Combine that with your article and it just sounds like they tell you $0 until the end of the month and then they decide on your final value of $1 – $50 each. I was referring to the minimum payment tier so this may just be miscommunication or eBay changing their policies on a whim.