I'm sure there's a few of us who have received this from the eBay Partner Network, but what does it actually mean?:
"Today, we have officially removed the requirement for validating your domains with eBay Partner Network..... and that prompted questions from our partners, such as: Is there a list of specific third-party sites we're allowed to use? What about Social Media?
Starting today, we're launching a pilot of sorts that will allow partners to promote eBay on any site in a manner that fits within the spirit of our Code of Conduct. Specifically, we want to call out the following sections:
Third Party Terms.
You are responsible for complying with all terms of use applicable to third party sites should you place Links or Promotional Content on such sites.
Reservation of Rights.
eBay Partner Network reserves the right to filter, and/or withhold compensation for, traffic that we believe does not comply with any of the terms above.
That means that sites like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr are all acceptable platforms for promoting eBay. So, when we say "spirit" in the above paragraph, what do we mean? Well, promoting eBay on your own Facebook Wall would fall within the spirit of our Code, while spamming the Walls of your Facebook friends with eBay links, would not. Additionally, adult content and gambling websites would also fall outside of our agreement. In short, we're asking you to think ethically and always keep eBay's brand in mind when deciding on promotional placement.
From our side, this means that we have to be incredibly vigilant about network quality. Our team will be closely monitoring traffic and placement to make sure our partners continue to send quality traffic to eBay. If you have any doubt about the quality of your traffic, don't hesitate to get in touch with us.
Finally, URL shorteners have become an integral part of social networking and we want you to be able to use them. Starting on February 20th, you will have approval to use only the following three popular tools to shorten URLs: Twitter, Google and Bitly.
We hope you're excited about this change. As we've mentioned a few times already, we're committed to winning your V.O.T.E.S. this year, and we believe this moves the needle in a significant way toward that end. We thank you in advance for your cooperation in making this pilot successful and sustainable for the long term.
Thank you for your partnership in our program.
Sincerely,
eBay Partner Network Team"
One confusing bit for me is: "...promoting eBay on your own Facebook Wall would fall within the spirit of our Code, while spamming the Walls of your Facebook friends with eBay links, would not." And what about the fact that your Wall posts feed into other people's FB Newsfeeds? Is that spamming someone else?
Has anyone else received this email or has had thoughts about it yet?
Paul
