In response to the question we-auctionit has put forth, we want to point to Will’s earlier post in this thread which states that we will continue to work with publishers on Trademark issues. To onelung50’s comment, we do not treat all TOS infractions the same. Thus, some cases warrant immediate expiration such as cookie stuffing, whereas others our Network Quality Team will give you the chance to bring your promotions into compliance. As we’ve said it is up to you to understand all of the rules around Trademark Policy and make an informed decision regarding the use of domain names and site design, and possibly seek legal advice, as we are not in a position to give such guidance. Thank you for your questions as we are making a concerted effort to heighten publishers’ awareness of Trademark Policy and how it relates to promotions in eBay Partner Network.

Thanks,
Casey

No, the way I understand it, even if you use a trademarked brand name that the owners themselves haven't used in years and obviously don't care about, you may still be subject to discipline by ePN for using it in your primary domain name. Unless someone from ePN decides to clarify this and correct my interpretation, you should error on the side of caution because there doesn't seem to be much consistency with the way they handle TOS infractions. You may get a notice to comply, or you may get immediately terminated.

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As long as the redirect only goes from your site to eBay and doesn't hide, alter or remove the referrer information, you're good.

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> The new policy does not require existing affiliates to validate their domains. Are you guys validating your domains anyway? Yeah, I probably will. I've only got a small handful of relevant domains, so it shouldn't be difficult. -h

[Some Handy Aggregated Reference Info for ePN Affiliates and eBay Developers]

QUESTION REGARDING KEYWORD USE IN PAID SEARCH

Ok so if I have a website and I want to direct paid search traffic to it and I have affiliate links on the site for ebay and promote the program there, although bidding on ebay.com or www.ebay.com or ebay understandably would be not allowed and it would be irrelevant and useless to use ebay in the display url,

Could I however elect to use relevant phrases such as "ebay
+ something" that is relevant to the content on the site, like if I am promoting acru's could I bid on "join ebay" or "ebay registration information"?

A good example is buy.com's affiliate program. They do not allow use of buy.com in keywords for paid search but they DO allow any combinations buy.com + something, as an example to help their publishers succeed...

Thoughts from ebay affiliate mgr would be appreciated!

Also second question, has there been any thought on bringing back the ebay stores affiliate program?

what about Twitter's users?

you can't insert long url, since twitter has 140char limit for entire message, not to mention twitter will itself would use 3rd party url wrappers such as tinyurl or bitly and make url shorter

so that's against their new rules?

> Could you have brandname.url. com or is this not acceptable now?

If I understand correctly, brandname.url is not against the rules, so long as the holder of the trademark/brand allows it. This is not ePN's jurisdiction. It is between you and the trademark holder. ePN's concern is with the use of THEIR trademarks in your domain name/URL. If you run a website with ePN ads on it under a domain name such as cheapmakitadrills. com, and Makita never asks you to stop... then your OK, but should they ever ask for a licensing agreement or for you to stop, you will be required to comply in order to continue running ePN ads on this domain... essentially, I don't think ePN wants outlaws in the affiliate program.

If a brand name is ok after the 3rd slash where do sub domains stand?

Could you have brandname.url. com or is this not acceptable now?

I know some companies pursue people with their trademark in the actual URL but I think the law on the use of sub domains is allot vaguer. Subdomains are just an extension like a directory of the actual URL.

Anyways some clarification on this would be great.

I find it interesting that eBay's affiliate program is tied to countless "third-party" sites like HubPages and yet they're now asking affiliates to remove any trace of those ads if we don't outright OWN the site. This seems extremely arbitrary to say the least confusing. We need to go to law school in order to understand the legalese here at ePN when new rules are implemented.

So what gives? Ning offers creators of networks a way to earn income by paying $24.95 a month to freely run ads associated with the content of the network Here's how NING explains their Premium Service:

Go Ad-Free ($US 24.95/month): You can opt to run your own ads, using any ad server, or remove the ads entirely. If you do run your own ads, all revenue generated goes directly to you.

Because none of us here own NING, does this mean we have to remove all associated affiliate links there as well? I would go into my HubPages and Ning site and make the changes required of me, but I hesitate because much of what ePN is asking us to do does not seem well thought out (and will possibly change again).

Additionally, not all ePN affiliates have their own eBay stores or auctions, so if I have a MySpace page or HubPage centered around a certain topic with quality content, where's the incentive to advertise eBay?!? 100% of all Squidoo lenses are affected by the new rules as well.

Clarification is desperately needed here. The following is what is stated when attaching your affiliate ID with a HubPage:

eBay Affiliate ID Help
You'll have to sign up for the eBay Partner Network at affiliates.ebay.com. They'll ask you to fill out a series of forms with your name, address and payment information, and to describe what your site is all about. It should just take a few minutes, especially if you follow these step by step instructions.

After you are signed up, you need to enter a numeric eBay Affiliates Campaign Id (usually a 10 digit number) in the space above. You can create a special campaign just for HubPages, or use the default campaign that comes with your account. Look under the campaigns tab after you've signed in to your eBay Partner Network account.

Important: eBay has a fairly stringent affiliate program approval processes. They also seem to be denying applications from certain countries. We recommend only applying for eBay if your hubs are generating a reasonable amount of traffic and you intend to place eBay products prominently in your hubs.

"can I have a banner link to my ebay store on my myspace page that goes directly to my ebay store page?" The way I understand it, if the link you place on your MySpace page goes directly to your eBay store and has affiliate codes in it, the answer is NO. But, this seems to be an ePN ruling, not an eBay rule. If I were you I would just remove the affiliate portion of the link and make it a direct (non-affiliated) link to your eBay store. You won't make any affiliate commissions from the link, but you'll still have the exposure for your store.

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Hi, I just have one stupid question, I havent read a distinct answer to it yet. can I have a banner link to my ebay store on my myspace page that goes directly to my ebay store page? Thanks

Thanks to everyone for asking good questions to help clarify how the new policies affect publishers. As there are a number of different topics, we’re going to post over the next few days with answers addressing the various common topics that have been raised.

There have been a lot of questions on the trademark policy. The issue here is that the use of brands as part of domain names for sites that engage in commercial activity may infringe the trademark rights of brand owners. As members of the eBay Partner Network we need you to keep this in mind and do what you need to abide by the intellectual property rights of third parties.

Unfortunately, we can’t give legal advice on this one and there’s no simple answer to all of the specific questions that we’ve received on this thread. What we’re really trying to avoid are cases where sites in eBay Partner Network cause consumer confusion around whether the brand owner is sponsoring, endorsing, or affiliated with the site and its operator. So basically, if you think the brand you’re promoting might not like what you’re doing (i.e., using a brand name in a URL extension then using their logo, brand, etc. on the landing page) then obviously stay away from doing it. If you don’t know or have questions on whether what you’re doing with a particular brand is acceptable from a legal perspective, then you should consult a trademark attorney.

In terms of enforcement, our plan is to be reasonable and give existing affiliates enough time to work through this specific policy (this could extend to a few months). In specific cases where we receive notice from a brand owner or see a specific issue, we will work with publishers to try to remedy the issue (as we have been doing for some time now).

We’ll continue to post on other topics throughout the week.

Will