Another productive eBay Trust and Safety Dept. "links policy" team meeting...

UPDATE ALERT!

eBay has canceled ALL links policy updates and rolled the clock back to basically be exactly what they used to be.

Let's start at the beginning.

What is the "links policy" on eBay?

Simply stated the "links policy" is the rules established by eBay in regards to what you can and can't link to from within their site. eBay gets a TON of traffic and as creative eBay sellers we like to take advantage of all that traffic in any way we can...and eBay allows some of it and doesn't allow some of it.

So let's recap the recent history of eBay links policy:
o In 2008 ebay came out with a confusing revamped links policy that was replacing the already confusing links policy that had been in place for a long time.
o To put an end to it all they announced a MAJOR pending shift away from pretty much all links in auctions and on "about me pages". NO LINKS PERIOD.
o They calmed down a bit a few months later and gave us back a few friendly exceptions to the still unofficial "pending policies".
o They threw in the towel and said "never mind" we are going back to where we started.
o Apparently they laid off a bunch of enforcement people and stopped putting out new links policies in early 2009...nothing has changed since then and many people are getting away with all sorts of policy violations.

Yes, the picture above is an actual eBay corporate Trust and Safety "links policy" team meeting. I used black and white film.

Latest official announcement from eBay: http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200807.shtml#2008-07-31132029

To stay super current always refer to the eBay help site...not my articles!

Here's the forum post where the discussion first started. You can follow the sordid history that way or join in the conversation (MySilentTeam.com members only):

http://www.mysilentteam.com/members/forum/openthread.cfm?forum=7&ThreadID=2275

This is GREAT news...but this is comical to say the least.

Bottom line. eBay is back to 100% the same way it was a couple years ago on links policies.

Specifically:

NOTE about EMAIL IN AUCTIONS: As of now you CAN include a link to your email address in your auctions, but you CAN'T link to your website directly unless the sole purpose is to give more information about the product being sold in the auction.

NOTE about CLASSIFIED ADS: Who has ANY idea what this means for classified ads? As of now there are thousands of eBay Classified ads running with links to every imaginable website, squeeze page, affiliate offer etc. After three years and counting there still isn't a policy on this issue and it seems eBay is letting the links policy run wild when it comes to classified ads. My official position is GO FOR IT. Put links in your ads until they ask you to stop. Affiliate links in classified ads are back on the table as far as I'm concerned. How could they blame us for being confused!

Unfamiliar eBay classified ads and how they differ from traditional auction and 'buy it now' ads on eBay? Watch this video to get the scoop.