[amysolovay]

I've been thinking a lot lately about blogging and ebay, especially since I am going to be changing out ebay links because of ebay's switch from CJ to the ebay partner network. Some questions have come to mind, and I thought I'd touch base and see how other people are handling things.

When I first started promoting ebay on my blogs, I would post about various ebay items for sale. Then after the ebay auction had ended, I would delete the blog post. It wasn't till later that I realized what a huge mistake that was. I'd check stats to find that the post had been indexed, and that as a result people were clicking in only to find a big fat 404 error. And then they'd hit the back button, never to return. So I decided that deleting blog posts was a bad idea.

On the other hand, when people find the blog for the first time, doesn't it look like a mess when a significant amount of the blog's posts are all about ebay items that have ended? So leaving the blog posts up really bothers me.

My next idea was to edit the blog posts and re-write them, putting in new items or links to other pages on the site. This doesn't seem to be the ideal solution either. The more posts I make, the more work it is to edit them all over and over.

Another idea I had at one point, was to attempt to coordinate with various ebay sellers whose items I wanted to promote. I'd email them asking for permission to use their photos so that I had a picture to include in the blog post. I quickly scrapped that idea. Too time consuming, and too many clueless ebay sellers who didn't understand what I was trying to do and viewed it with suspicion. (There were a few who were GREAT to work with though.) The ones I did manage to work with, their items' posts still look great on the blog even though some of the links go to ended items now.

Which brings me to another point. Ebay does a fantastic job of using the real estate on ended auction pages to advertise the seller's other items plus other similar items. But, eventually ebay will take down those pages and the links will be useless.

So...I am now wondering what to do with all these links to ended items. Especially since I am going to have to change them out. What would you do? What are you doing with yours? Am I nuts to even try to promote specific ebay items via blogs?

[Boom or Bust]

Hi Amy,

Sounds like you're going to micromanage yourself into a hole. How about using the Link Generator (Flexible Destination Tool) to bring up a new window(target=newwin) with an eBay search rather than a specific listing. That way the link will always find current eBay items.

[amysolovay]

Originally Posted by Boomers

Hi Amy,

Sounds like you're going to micromanage yourself into a hole. How about using the Link Generator (Flexible Destination Tool) to bring up a new window(target=newwin) with an eBay search rather than a specific listing. That way the link will always find current eBay items.

Thanks for the response Boomers.

I do that. Sometimes. Not all the times. It isn't always appropriate for the items I focus on, though. Some of the sites I own are focused on topics where the item(s) in question tend to be antiques, or collectibles that are rare and hard to find. So, if I see a hard to find first edition for a certain book, I'll blog about it (for example.) Linking to search results for the first edition of a specific book might be useless if first editions only come up for sale every once in a blue moon. Likewise, an author signed copy, or an item that otherwise is hard to find.

Even in the cases where it would make sense to link to search results, I hesitate to do so in the case where search results are likely to be 0 or 1 or 2 things. I do it, but search results on ebay are full of leaks. ESPECIALLY if there are no items found! Because in those cases ebay will almost always suggest a "sponsored link" that leads right off their site.

Safer, in that case, to promote individual items...and individual sellers.

[amysolovay]

Also, I think my main opportunity, as an affiliate, is in doing a better job of selling items than the ebay sellers themselves are doing. In some cases I am more knowledgeable about the item being sold than the seller is. Those are the items that I focus on promoting. People don't need to go to my site if all I am giving them is links to ebay search results. They can go directly to ebay for that. This is my way of adding value. But yes, it has its drawbacks- it is certainly w*rk.

[Boom or Bust]

Gotcha! How about a tricky script(asp, php, javascript) based on time. ie; if currentdate > 4/3/2008 + 7 (days) then display link A else display link B end if. (Not real syntax, just block flow.) You could create a page A that states that the specific item has ended and then include an eBay search for similar items.

[amysolovay]

Originally Posted by Boomers

Gotcha! How about a tricky script(asp, php, javascript) based on time. ie; if currentdate > 4/3/2008 + 7 (days) then display link A else display link B end if. Not real syntax, just block flow. You could create a page A that states that the specific item has ended and then include an eBay search for similar items.

This is a useful suggestion! Something like this never even occurred to me. I will keep this in mind as a definite possibility. Thanks for the suggestion! I really appreciate it.

[bettylou]

Originally Posted by Boomers

Gotcha! How about a tricky script(asp, php, javascript) based on time. ie; if currentdate > 4/3/2008 + 7 (days) then display link A else display link B end if. (Not real syntax, just block flow.) You could create a page A that states that the specific item has ended and then include an eBay search for similar items.

Dang Boomers! I don't know much about blogs and I don't sell items listed on eBay, and I still think that is an awesome suggestion!

[writerguy]

I have a question about blogging and using eBay that just came to me. Amy, you and I have been swapping some PMs regarding the phpBay plugin for WordPress, and my question sort of relates to that and to the information in this thread.

Isn't the auction information displayed by the phpBay plugin dynamic, i.e., when auctions expire then other auctions from the same category and/or keywords replace them?

Are we saying here that when the auctions displayed on my blog using phpBay expire -- they won't show continued, newer "live" or "real-time" auctions?

I guess I was under the impression that setting up a blog post and using phpBay to display, say 10 auctions for the key words "St. Louis Cardinals baseball" would keep refreshing "real-time" auctions in that post.

Have I misunderstood that?