Anyone tried Build A Niche Store (BANS) for eBay instead of Parking ?

[Seabass]

http://www.buildanichestore.com/

I like the concept b/c it is not dependent on Google or Yahoo for success, otherwise I would probably heap it in with all the other MFA programs out there now. This is based mainly on ebay

Has anyone tried this yet? It builds a store for eBay, plus you can add content and adsense, etc... It seems it would be a good solution on carefully chosen domains. On some domains, I can't see it working at all since they don't fit in tightly with any eBay auctions, but others are a perfect match. Many sites look good and surprisingly seem to give some real value to the surfer unlike the millions of crappy automated MFA sites.

Here are some examples I found:

http://www.turboguides.com/
http://www.usgoldcoinauctions.com/
http://www.homegrownsushi.com/

And, after doing a little research it appears many folks are making money doing this. How much? It is hard to say since the info. out there seems limited since not everyone wants to disclose their income, but a few have showed their earnings on various sites and blogs. I could see this working, but all of the working sites I have seen are based on really lame domains.

I just wonder if anyone has tried it on a great generic domain yet, or an expired domain with big traffic, and what were the results - especially compared to parking?
.

 

[bondjpf]

You can put your files in any domain

 

[bondjpf]

Hi Seabass, to know items sold you need to go to Transaction Download and dowbload the txt or excel file .
Then you just copy the number after the Date Hour (12 digits) and insert it on the search box at ebay. It will tell you the item sold.
This is important so that you can identify which items are being bought and to plan for new stores based on those items. Some times a guy comes to my auto store and ends up buying a diamond...
I'm really glad you're making money. Keep it going

As for the links, you just need to go to the ADS section and insert the links where you choose fit.

 

[bondjpf]

Just a quick question, these ebay buyers that you refer, is there a cookie or are they your commission customer for life, once they go through your BANS or whatever site to make a purchase on ebay... so if ebay makes $1000 commission, and they offer me a 75% revenue share, ebay will pay me $750 because someone came ot my bans site, and made a winning bid for a car or something?

Cookie last 7 days for auctions and 30 days for ACRUS(sign ups)

We get at least 50% of ebay commission.
That $1000 item would mean about $80 to ebay, so we get at least $40(50%).
As you get more sales the commission will increase to 60, 65%, etc.
For cars theres a maximum amount that they pay you , I think it's $45-$50, don't recall.

Just sold two more items on same site:

$115 collectors knife and a surf rod.

This is definitely turning out to be 100% increase over when the domain was parked. I had a slow period there but in the last days it has been hot.

BTW, how are you guys measuring traffic - third party, in-house server? I have not tackled that yet. I want to see if I am getting SE traffic.

Thanks.

Great!!
I normaly use google analytics and my stats at hostgator.
Remember to check those long tail keywords that user use to arrive to your site. Use them to optimize your site.

Here's the ebay US payment structure:

Total winning bid revenue generated % of Revenue
$0.00 - $99.99 50.00%
$100.00 - $4,999.99 55.00%
$5,000.00 - $199,999.99 60.00%
$200,000.00 - $699,999.99 65.00%
$700,000.00 - $2,999,999.99 70.00%
$3,000,000.00+ 75.00%


Total ACRUs recruited Compensation per ACRU
0 - 49 $25.00
50 - 1,999 $28.00
2,000 - 29,999 $31.00
30,000+ $35.00

 

[Seabass]

A bit of logic applied....

I think if eBay had suddenly 1000,000 sites running their affiliate program.....as it seems now, can any good come out of this? All of them were formerly parked domains.

I'm not surprised by the dropping income, and with this being in-house, how can anyone argue it now?

I don't have a good feeling about this, cos it seems like flooding the net with BANS sites (in addition to good ole MFA sites)....but if it makes you some money now, well enjoy it...that's all I can say....

Been reading and following this whole BANS thing.... there's indications that Google is deindexing BANS sites .....and a few other side effects are appearing already.

I personally think that the BANS sites or other eBay sites are much nicer and relevant to the surfer than MFA sites. Don't you think so? Especially if they are really on target. I'd rather see products related to my product search then a half page of garble-de-gook writing that nobody can understand. 1,000,000 product domains going to the exact corresponding product sounds pretty cool to me. It would seem that the customer would find what they want in a hurry, which is a good thing.

I would love to have G and Y traffic, but I don't count on it and I never have. That is why I don't pay much attention to it. I purchased my domains for type-in traffic and not expired traffic - so I control the traffic and I don't really have to have any G or Y traffic.

I have limited experience but initial tests are showing me that much more can be earned when you combine the eBay auction sales commission, Google Adsense commission, and eBay's new customer signups at $25 a pop (called ACRU's).

Also, can someone explain how or why the income is dropping at eBay? Are they paying less now per lower commission, shorter cookie duration, or something else? Or is it just the economy causing less purchases?
.

 

[bondjpf]

Just a quick question, the stats portion of the EPN when do they update the part where this person clicked on this and bid and won this etc... like I hear people saying they know what people bought, where would I see this, and is it done once daily?


Thank You

For that you need to go to Transaction Download.
This is updated once a day

 

[Slick Domains]

Hmmm... didn't think of poker as a good physical product type of thing. What could be selling on ebay that makes that category so great? Cards and chips? Must be selling a lot of them I guess.

Like I said, you got to think small. Card guards do well, chip sets (which can go for 3 figures regularly), specialty decks of cards, poker visors, etc. People don't think to check eBay for this kind of stuff, so you get a lot of signups as well, which are $25.00 each.

 

[yandig]

I need a little help with some BANS code changes.

I would like to REMOVE that little eBay box that says "Right Now On eBay".

Can anybody help me with clear instructions on Where and What needs to be removed?

Secondly, I would like to EDIT the lower link that says "View more items on eBay".

As above, instructions on where and what needs to be adjusted.

Also, if anybody is a BANS master, hit me up I'd like to get some more done, but just do not have the time currently. Let me know your "charge" for setting categories, header img, some unique content etc. Feel free to PM me.

Log into your BANS site. Under the Setup tab (or whichever page you want to edit), goto the right sidebar --- Section 5 (product tools) --- uncheck box #3 (It should say 'Display EBAY logo'). That gets rid of the EBAY logo.

I don't know that you can EDIT the "View more items" link, but you can remove it by unchecking box 4 (It should say 'Display View More Items Link') in the same section, and then insert your desired hyperlink as content below your EBAY items, or as an ad below your EBAY items.

Pm me if you'd like more help with this...

Also, I am using v 3.0 so your version may be different.

 

[Zona]

Has anyone used this ebay WordPress plugin from Affomatic?

http://www.affomatic.com/ebayfree/

I've seen some good reviews but I have tried it myself. Thought I would see if anyone's taken it for a "spin."

 

[mhdoc]

I bought BANS but chose not to install it because I dislike running sites I think might have an easily identifiable "footprint" for Google to key on.

However, I have been running Ebay ads on many sites and it worked well for almost a year (for the right kind of sites).

However, April 1 Ebay moved their affiliate program in-house and my income from these sites fell by 75%. Ebay maintains there are no problems but the volume of trouble reports on their discussion board would suggest otherwise.

You will need to do some customization and add unique content to get traffic to your BANS sites.

 

[equity78]

I know westblock has Seabass he has told me non traffic $0 revenue domains have made $20 to $30 a month. I am thinking about trying it.

 

[buckshotdots]

I make ok rev from shoppingads (use to be auction ads). It displays targeted auction/ebay ads on your site.

g-

 

[Seabass]

I bought BANS but chose not to install it because I dislike running sites I think might have an easily identifiable "footprint" for Google to key on.

However, I have been running Ebay ads on many sites and it worked well for almost a year (for the right kind of sites).

However, April 1 Ebay moved their affiliate program in-house and my income from these sites fell by 75%. Ebay maintains there are no problems but the volume of trouble reports on their discussion board would suggest otherwise.

You will need to do some customization and add unique content to get traffic to your BANS sites.

Thanks mhdoc - I had read a few complaints about that from others that were using it about the footprint.

I was not aware of the revenue drop from the transition from CJ to eBay. That is good info. to know. I guess it would be easier for them to pay out less when it is inhouse as opposed to a third party like CJ which they can't control. Just speculating.

I know westblock has Seabass he has told me non traffic $0 revenue domains have made $20 to $30 a month. I am thinking about trying it.

Thanks equity78, if that is possible, then I have some candidates - about 1,500 domains.

1,500 unprofitables X $20 = $30,000 a month (less hosting fees, etc... ) Not too bad. They claim once you are familiar it will take about ten minutes a piece to develop. So, 10 x 1,500 = 15,000 divided by 60 minutes in an hour = 250 hours. 250 hours divided by 12 hour workdays = 20.83 days of work to accomplish. Obviously, like everything, it will take longer than that - probably double or triple the time. But for an extra $30,000 a month it would be worth it.
.

I make ok rev from shoppingads (use to be auction ads). It displays targeted auction/ebay ads on your site.

g-

Thanks buckhotdots, I'll have to check that out too. It's always great to have recommendations.

 

[mhdoc]

I guess it would be easier for them to pay out less when it is inhouse as opposed to a third party like CJ which they can't control. Just speculating.

There is an old quote that goes "Never assign to malice what can be attributed to ignorance." I have a feeling Eay's back end systems are a nightmare of legacy code held together with duct tape. I doubt that anyone really understands how it all works. It may take them a long time to figure out where they have issues and how to solve them. I'm going to let my sites sit until things change.

 

[equity78]

MHDOC what do you mean by a "footprint" ? Novice in this area Thank you

 

[buyauthority]

I find BANS to be a gold mine if you can set it right like TurboGuides especially now that eBay took control and no more CJ.com as middleman.

I'm still looking for a hummer banner for headline like TG if anyone knows of one.

 

[mhdoc]

MHDOC what do you mean by a "footprint" ? Novice in this area Thank you

Would it be easy for Google to write a query that identifies all BANS sites? If it is, then it would be equally easy for them to take some action for/against all such sites.

especially now that eBay took control and no more CJ.com as middleman.

Now that Ebay is in control, my income from sites promoting their links is down 75%. I think they are having some serious issues with the transition, although they won't admit that,.

 

[cdboard]

if someone had a popular forum or info website, one of these BANS sites could be placed on a subdomain for extra $$ without changing the primary website.

I'd like to know if it would work from a directory.

Now that Ebay is in control, my income from sites promoting their links is down 75%.

just to be sure.....did you update the ad-code on all those sites?

 

[mhdoc]

just to be sure.....did you update the ad-code on all those sites?

Yes.

 

[Seabass]

I find BANS to be a gold mine if you can set it right like TurboGuides especially now that eBay took control and no more CJ.com as middleman.

I'm still looking for a hummer banner for headline like TG if anyone knows of one.

Goldmine compared to parking? How are you faring comparison-wise, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[lzy]

Hmm, looks good. I should give it a shot. Thank you.

 

[Seabass]

I did a little more research on this and here are some sites that report earnings. It would be nice if someone could give a comparison to parking income, but so far nobody has come forward.

Anyhow, here are some sites that are reporting income using this software:

http://banstoday.net/2008/04/22/build-a-niche-store-earnings-update
http://dayjobnuker.com/2007/07/01/june-stats-for-build-a-niche/
http://www.affiliateconfession.com/2008/05/14/the-earning-potential-of-a-build-a-niche-store-site/
http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2008/02/29/build-a-niche-store-review-it-is-a-must-have/

Gen. BANS Info. Site

http://www.squidoo.com/bans_too
.

 

[lzy]

I did a little more research on this and here are some sites that report earnings. It would be nice if someone could give a comparison to parking income, but so far nobody has come forward.

Anyhow, here are some sites that are reporting income using this software:

http://banstoday.net/2008/04/22/build-a-niche-store-earnings-update
http://dayjobnuker.com/2007/07/01/june-stats-for-build-a-niche/
http://www.affiliateconfession.com/2008/05/14/the-earning-potential-of-a-build-a-niche-store-site/
http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2008/02/29/build-a-niche-store-review-it-is-a-must-have/

Gen. BANS Info. Site

http://www.squidoo.com/bans_too
.

Just pointing out, these are probably bias reviews as BANS do have an affiliate program and I read one of the links and the author is using his affiliate links while promoting this program.

:gl:

 

[onewordonly]

Anyone tried Build A Niche Store (BANS) for eBay instead of Parking ?

No but I build my own systems and occasionaly implement Ebay auctions using XML similar to how bans do. I also noticed sales have dropped since they started their own program.

 

[bondjpf]

I have BANS and I can tell you that you'll make money with BANS if you put a little effort in each store you setup.
A little SEO and some content is enough to get you started.
As for footprint you just need to remove any associations with BANS like in the footer where it says "Powered by a Build a Niche Store".
I'm getting clicks and sales everyday that I wouldn't get if i just put my domains parked.
I've got days that I've made up to $86.
If you want to give it a try, check the link on my sig.