Using Ebay to attract referrals

bedmountain · Joined: 15 Dec 2008 Posts: 4 Feedback Score: 0

Hi All

I use an Ebay advert to attract referrals

The text of my advert is made up of graphical images that are hosted through my ISP so that Ebay cannot scan the text.

In 2 weeks of listing this advert I have attracted 42 yellows and 7 pending greens. I run the advert in 3 categories once a day which costs me 30p/day.

My advert explains how to complete a referral and has a link to a BBC news video that explains more about referral sites.

Hope this helps....

killorna100 · Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 531 Feedback Score: 6

o dear tht is nice how exactly do u manage 2 host the images nd text thru ur isp so ebay do not realise??
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killorna100 · Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 531 Feedback Score: 6

And also y exactly r there sum people biddin on 1 of ur auctions. lol
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bedmountain · Joined: 15 Dec 2008 Posts: 4 Feedback Score: 0

not sure what you mean about the hosting - ebay allows you to post html so hosting your own images is not a problem. Ebay use spiders to crawl all text looking for keywords like 'free', 'information only' etc. They can't crawl a gif.

People bid on the item because people are generally very thick and don't bother to read before they bid. I either cancel the auction early if it's gone over a couple of pence or just refund the paypal payment.

killorna100 · Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 531 Feedback Score: 6

lol k i fout it was a bit odd bidding £32 for a 100% free PS3 lol.

thnx i mite have 2 try this on gumtree aswell is a gd idea
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killorna100 · Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 531 Feedback Score: 6

PS how did u make the .gif u use paint or something like tht nd how did u get the links into the .gif
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bedmountain · Joined: 15 Dec 2008 Posts: 4 Feedback Score: 0

Hi

I use Fireworks which is part of the Dreamweaver suite (I'm a web designer) you could use Paint and then manually put the coordinates of the link (hotspot) into the html but it would be tricky - something like:

href="http://NextGen.Giveaway.co.uk/index.php?referral=??????" target="_blank" alt="" >
</map>
<map name="hotspot">
<area shape="rect" coords="35,269,575,294"

you could spend quite a bit of time trying to work out those pixel coordinates though...

MOD EDIT: REMOVED REF LINK

killorna100 · Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 531 Feedback Score: 6

I tried a similar idea 2 u but wen i made the image file the writing was in such bad qualtiy by the time i uploded it 2 ebay and fitted it to the screen it was unreadable.

any ideas??
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bedmountain · Joined: 15 Dec 2008 Posts: 4 Feedback Score: 0

I suspect you need a higher resolution image - what size is your .gif?
my ad is split into 2 .gifs for the text and each is about 40kb in size....

'fitting it to the screen' sounds a bit dodgy

you should be specifying the image sizes in your html so they don't get streched or squashed.

FurbtasticM · Joined: 04 Mar 2008 Posts: 27 Feedback Score: 0

The majority of eBay listings that get pulled are as a result of other users reporting them, not spiders/bots.
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mak · Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 8 Feedback Score: 0

Hey Furb! Nice victory on another freebie forum btw Wink

I agree totally with regards to the removal of the ads.
This is down to the ebay users that are either very sad and or have nothing else to do! The ads only seem to get removed when someone has reported you!
If you have your bid cancellation option already open then it's best to cancel their bids within the last 10 mins of the 1 day auction. This way your ad has a great success of reaching the end Smile

I also cancel a bid but not before I have added that user to my 'block bidders list' - this stops re-bidding Wink

Mak
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odotlg · Joined: 19 Oct 2008 Posts: 30 Feedback Score: 0

Isn't this against the rules on some networks anyway?
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MOD EDIT : NO REF LINKS

carter1983 · Joined: 17 Jan 2009 Posts: 6 Feedback Score: 0

that sounds like a good idea ,, but confused on how to set it up ...could you explain pleese

deanstipic · Joined: 08 Sep 2009 Posts: 5 Feedback Score: 0

Exactly how does this work? Will you be able to private message me regarding how to do this!!

Jakkuden · Joined: 25 Dec 2009 Posts: 5 Feedback Score: 0

Yeah, I done about the same thing on gumtree, though I wasn't as successful. I posted an ad up and upon doing so I recieved 11 reds/yellows and only one green....At the moment I'm sitting upon 2 pending, 6 green and 19 reds! Sigh* I need a new angle Very Happy