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?
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[bbrez1]

So, how much do you guys earn using BANS and how many sites do you have, if not secret? Sorry for bumping this 1 month thread up

Thanks

 

[Zona]

What has happened to all of the BANS talk? 6 months ago this was one of the most active threads on NamePros (17 pages worth of posts) and then it all stopped late last year.

Are the days of BAN's done? Is anyone still using this product? What about the Affomatic product?

 

[Seabass]

I was doing fine with it but never followed through in making more sites. I kept getting distracted. I was making money with it though......more than in parking.

I wish I had more time to do more. Maybe as things slow down even more as the year wears on I'll have more time to do more.

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[Zona]

Thank you for the update Seabass.

I was just looking around the BANS site and a number of the "User Built Stores" they are showcasing are no longer resolving. Might be an indication of BANS losing it's appeal.

 

[Steven]

It's also now seemingly hard to get approved for EPN.

 

[ripley]

It's also now seemingly hard to get approved for EPN.

I can testify to this. I had a nice BANS site built around air hockey tables, which should be a decent moneymaker for ebay considering the prices, used it to apply for the EPN and got denied. Not sure how you'd even go about getting approved nowadays.

ripley.

 

[Seabass]

I can testify to this. I had a nice BANS site built around air hockey tables, which should be a decent moneymaker for ebay considering the prices, used it to apply for the EPN and got denied. Not sure how you'd even go about getting approved nowadays.

ripley.

I actually applied stating I wanted to create a bunch of BANS pages and they let me in.

I did however show them some really nice domains to make sure they had a hard time saying no. This was last June when I joined.

I have heard that some folks have had a hard time joining since then, but others get in no problem. I'm not sure what the formula is to get in ; maybe be sure to show your peacock feathers so as to give the something to say "wow". Just my advice.
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[Steven]

Thank you for sharing seabass

If approved, would the inactive EPN users get kicked out of the program like CJ?

 

[Seabass]

Thank you for sharing seabass

If approved, would the inactive EPN users get kicked out of the program like CJ?

Not sure of the question. Do you mean if EPN accepted you that CJ would close your account totally?

I don't think they would do that, but if CJ closed your account would you even care?

I don't know about you but payouts have always been abysmal and suspect at CJ ......IMO.

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[DubDubDubDot]

I didn't read all 17 pages, so maybe this has been talked about.... But I've heard that some eBay affiliates are being terminated for using BANS (and other scripts) where the only intent of the site was to list eBay auctions. Kind of like how Google doesn't want you building sites just for AdSense. So apparently it's not a safe parking alternative anymore in terms of monetizing domains with no real content development.

 

[Steven]

Not sure of the question. Do you mean if EPN accepted you that CJ would close your account totally?

I don't think they would do that, but if CJ closed your account would you even care?

I don't know about you but payouts have always been abysmal and suspect at CJ ......IMO.

.

Yep
let's say that I don't make any sales from my BANS site using EPN, will EBAY terminate my account for having an "inactive" account that makes no money?

I remember that CJ closes account if you cannot make any sales.

 

[Zona]

Has anyone actually had their ebay account closed for using BANS? I've read posts that they may close your account but no one has confirmed this.

 

[rodash]

What has happened to all of the BANS talk? 6 months ago this was one of the most active threads on NamePros (17 pages worth of posts) and then it all stopped late last year.

Are the days of BAN's done? Is anyone still using this product? What about the Affomatic product?

If you go to the BANs members forums you will see that's there's also hardly any new posts in those forums. That's because BANs has largely run its race and there's no longer any money in it, and that's because of a lot of reasons. Saturation of the marketplace, eBay cracking down, all niche areas taken up a hundred times over, uncertainty over whether partners with get the chop by eBay. Also, to make these sites return anything you have to do a lot of work on building links and developing fresh, unique content. And then when you do all that work, and put all that time and effort in, you have cold sweats at night wondering whether eBay is going to pull the rug out from under you.

It's not an alternative to parking.

 

[NewYorkBum]

last year I have submitted a "vacation and cruise " related domain name with out any website at all, and got accepted right away. After that i set up some cheesy website which is till online to today's date and the EPN account is still on. I would guess they are looking for more unique and niche domains, not "factory" printed ones.

I actually applied stating I wanted to create a bunch of BANS pages and they let me in.

I did however show them some really nice domains to make sure they had a hard time saying no. This was last June when I joined.

I have heard that some folks have had a hard time joining since then, but others get in no problem. I'm not sure what the formula is to get in ; maybe be sure to show your peacock feathers so as to give the something to say "wow". Just my advice.
.

 

[cdboard]

i set up some cheesy website which is till online to today's date and the EPN account is still on.

is it making any (epn) money?

 

[NewYorkBum]

is it making any (epn) money?

Nope. It has about 10 visitors a month

 

[cdboard]

any BANS news?

here is something I saw linked on another forum:

Site for Sale: BANS, N1WAY Plus Big Bag Of Goodies In Niche Site Building Market — Flippa

 

[Billy!]

any BANS news?

here is something I saw linked on another forum:

Site for Sale: BANS, N1WAY Plus Big Bag Of Goodies In Niche Site Building Market — Flippa

Wonder why they are selling up?

 

[Timewarp]

They know their tools are just about played out, now they want to sell based on past revenues before the whole thing crashes. That $200K-$500K price is a joke!