eBay Drops Bomb on eBook Sellers - No eBook Auctions Allowed

[Linda Buquet]

eBay just dropped a bomb on thousands of eBook sellers and info marketers who sell products through eBay auctions. Starting immediately, you can no longer sell eBooks on eBay. Ebooks and digitally downloaded info products are no longer allowed in ANY eBay auctions.

Yesterday info marketers that tried to re-list their eBook auctions got this message:
<blockquote>"Starting March 31st, listings that contain content that can be digitally downloaded or transferred must be listed in the Classified Ad Format in the Everything Else>Information Products category only. All listings for digital items outside of that category will be considered a policy violation."</blockquote>
Info marketers can still market with using the relatively new eBay Classified Ads, but it's a different animal. It's not an auction and no selling or transactions take place through eBay. It's just an ad - like Craigslist classifieds, so you need advertise to try to capture a lead in order to sell them your product on your own site. The good news is there are no auction fees and it's a flat $9.95 a month.

Everyone knows I don't work on the ebook side of the biz and if you read this blog you know my stance on "<a href="http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/index.php?s=crappy+ebooks">crappy ebooks</a>" so I won't get on my soap box. Lots of affiliates do sell info products though, so if you haven't heard the news, below is a link to the official word from eBay.

<strong><a href="http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803241300132.html">New Policy Update: Digital Downloadable Goods in Classified Ads Format Only</a></strong>

 

[Daniel McGonagle]

Happy about this bit of news

I am ecstatic to hear about this since I sell the Master Resell rights to one of my products to buyers, and once in a while I get a Google alert that someone is selling my $7.00 product for a dollar!

So, instead of trying to chase down the digital thieves, I'm glad to see them being phased out (hopefully), and that ebay may go back to its roots of selling physical goods from now on..

Thanks,

Dan

 

[Larwee]

There is some speculation that this might go beyond just ebooks. It is only speculation since eBay hasn't yet given complete details of what is included.

However there is some thought it might cover everything delivered through Internet downloads or by e-mail. If true, in addition to ebooks it would include graphics and digital photos, software, domain names, Web site templates, Web hosting and numerous other types of goods which are sold on eBay in digital format.

Here is a 2 page article that provides a lot of interesting information about this. It also has some examples and thoughts from some eBay sellers. The pages aren't long. You might need to scoll down a little to read the article eBay Boots Digital Goods Off Auction Block

 

[Linda Buquet]

Good info Larry. I knew it was digital download products, but didn't think about maybe even domain names and stuff. Looks like a good article. The Warrior forum also has several discussion about it, since most of the people over there are info product marketers.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Stuart just blogged the following but I'm not certain where he got the info and if it's accurate or just speculation as he didn't quote the source of this info.

This change will include:

* eBooks
* MP3?s
* Digital Videos
* Websites
* Domain Names
* Graphic Design Services
* Photo Services
* And any other service that can be delivered electronically

 

[James Spinosa]

I wasn't very pleased when I heard this news, I have been planning to write a rather long affiliate marketing guide sometime in June and I had planned a 3 part marketing campaign on ClickBank, eBay, and a handful of popular webmaster forums via PP.

There are a lot of horrible products sold this way though, and they get tons of complaints about delivery and people stopping pay using paypal so it makes sense.