I really wish I didn’t see this one. I have people waiting for me to deliver code today and I don’t need another distraction.

This listing on the most watched list has the eBay affiliate trick in it. They added the HTML code (below) to the listing description. It does 2 things. When you click on this listing, turnkeywebsite gets eBay affiliate credit for any eBay purchase you make within 7 days. Extra bonus: you become a watcher because of the “MakeTrack” trick. Just check your watched items list.

“<embed src=
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-1751-2978-71/1?AID=5463217&PID=2658338&
SID=turnkeywebsites4u.com&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi1.ebay.com%2Fws%
2FeBayISAPI.dll%3FMakeTrack%26item%3D230044368945″ height=0 width=0>”

What’s wrong with it?

1. You are not supposed to add a cookie unless a user takes positive action on your site.  From the eBay affiliate Terms & Conditions dated June 2007:

(1) Compensation.  To qualify as a payable transaction, a user must take an affirmative action, clicking on your properly-coded link in a browser or browser environment.

(4) Tracking Tags. You will not deliver any eBay-related cookies or other tracking tags to the computers of users that are merely viewing Your advertisements or while Your applications are merely active or open.

2. You can’t place eBay affiliate links on eBay.  From Ts & Cs:

(5) Affiliate Links.  You may not include affiliate links on any ebay.com page or eBay-owned page, such as an eBay listing or eBay Store.

3. You’re not supposed to tamper with the eBay system by adding listings to my watch list.

Why do I care?  I don’t really care too much, I just like to reveal information.  It does wipe out my affiliate cookies that I acquire by directing traffic to eBay. Sure, I could do the same thing – for a short while until I was busted and kicked out of the program. 

I resent people using me without my consent for their financial gain. If you create value and sell it – great. If you don’t create value but leech off an established system to use me – not great.

The top eBay affiliates earn over $1M a month. Now that’s a worthy prize but you have to be squeaky clean because CJ/eBay looks at you with a microscope when you hit $10,000 a month.