Keeping track of every Jaguar E-Type, with your help.
xkedata > blog > 2008 > 05 > 21 > site-funding

Though these sites don’t take a lot to run from a hosting-cost standpoint, the little bit that comes in from the eBay affiliate program does help considerably with that, and I hope you’ll consider continuing to use the eBay listings we show on this site as a launching point for your adventures bidding online.

If you’re curious on how it works: when you go to an eBay auction from this site, our affiliate code is stored in a cookie in your browser. If you place a bid and win an auction in the first few days after clicking any link to eBay from the data sites, we get credited with a portion of eBay’s fee to the seller–so instead of eBay keeping all of it, they split it with us in varying proportions, depending on how many referrals we’ve sent per month. No extra is added to the seller’s fee, eBay simply kicks us back a bit of what they normally take.

On a part for $50, we make perhaps $.50. On a car for $50,000 we might make about $40, which is always pleasant (doesn’t happen often!).

The awesome/terrible part of the eBay affiliate program is that it’s absolutely cutthroat. If you visit Bob’s Acres of eBay Affiliate Auctions and click on an auction from his site, the affiliate cookie is set to credit him for the next few days, no matter what you bid on…unless you visit a different affiliate site in the meantime and click on an auction link, in which case Bob is knocked out and the new affiliate is champion.

With the many thousands of affiliate sites out there, whoever is last in line before you bid will end up with the credit, which makes it pretty interesting (it would be nerve-wracking if I depended on this money). There are people who make their living from eBay affiliate sales–they typically have hundreds of sites, focusing on niches and banking on search-engine traffic sending them (eventual) eBay bidders. From what I can see, it’s a full-time job running a web of sites like that, and not a very secure one at that, as eBay is notorious for changing terms and can cut you off without recourse if they decide you’re not playing by the rules.

In any case, I’ve been pleased that our hosting costs are usually covered each month, if nothing else. I’ve had brief-lived dreams that there might be a bit more to cover my time for site upgrades, etc. but the data sites just don’t get enough traffic to generate “real” money…which is why things seem to take forever around here–I (alas!) still have to work for a living. Between work and the million other things which nibble away at my time, there just isn’t much time left for data site work.

Many thanks to those who do use the eBay links on this site, it’s very helpful when you do! It has certainly kept me from having to do “begathons” or take on more obnoxious forms of advertising. Incidentally, you can donate directly to the site using paypal if you wish, either directly to “donations@xkedata.com” or by using the button at the top of the about page.