eBay shifts away from third-party advertising

4/3/2019
eBay is making changes to its advertising strategy.

As of May 1, eBay will discontinue its eBay Commerce Network third-party ad platform. A post announcing the move on the corporate website states, “For the health of the core marketplace, eBay is making a concerted effort to shift its reliance from third-party advertising to first-party advertising.”

eBay Commerce Network allows retailers and other third-party sellers who participate on eBay to promote their products on non-eBay sites. Visitors to sites on the eBay Commerce Network who browse content are shown ads of correlating items from participating merchants. If they click on the ads, they are brought directly to the merchant’s own site. The network grew from eBay’s 2005 acquisition of the Shopping.com comparison shopping site.

As a result, after May 1, eBay Commerce Network merchants will no longer receive traffic and sales from network sites, and network sites will not receive any inventory or referral revenue from merchants. Traffic will automatically stop after May 1.

eBay is encouraging eBay Commerce Network merchants to participate in its first-party core advertising solutions, such as Promoted Listings. The e-tailer is also suggesting that third-party websites which directed traffic to merchants join its eBay Partner Network affiliate marketing program.

“We are committed to enhancing our advertising portfolio throughout 2019 and hope you consider exploring our advanced core advertising and affiliate marketing opportunities,” eBay said in the announcement.
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