eBay Store Referral Credit
What is it and how do I get it?
By: Lissa McGrath,
Author of Twenty Questions to Ask Before Selling on eBay
Many eBay sellers believe that you get the store referral credit
automatically, but that isn’t the case. Heaven forbid eBay give you something
for free without a bunch of steps to claim it.
What is the Store Referral Credit?
If a buyer links to your eBay Store from somewhere off eBayand then purchases
an item in your store, you will receive a 75% credit on your Final Value Fees
for that item. On your monthly statement you will see both the full price being
debited, and then the 75% fee credit.
What are the requirements?
As always, eBay has a bunch of fine print associated with any fee credits.
The purchase must meet ALL of the following criteria:
- The buyer must come from off eBay (i.e. ebay.com does not feature in the
URL of the page they linked from).
- The buyer must go directly to your Store, About Me page, internal search
page, a specific category page within your store, a search results page within
your store, or a custom page you have set up within your store.
- The buyer must access your store by:
- Clicking on a link to one of the accepted pages listed above or through
an email link.
- Typing the URL to your store into their web browser.
- Clicking on a bookmarked link in their Internet favorites taking them
directly to your eBay Store.
- The buyer’s browser must accept cookies.
- The purchase must be made during that same web session. If the browser
window is closed and the buyer comes back later from a non-qualifying source
(such as searching through eBay for your store, or for your item) and then
makes a purchase, you do not get the credit.
- Purchase must be from Store Inventory. Although fixed price and online
auction listings display in your store, neither of these formats qualify for
the referral credit.
- The referral code must be included in the link URL.
Referral Codes
The page within your store that you send buyers to will determine the
referral code format you need to use. In the link examples I am using my eBay
Store, The-Auction-Sellers-Resource.
Main eBay Store Page
Add ?refid=store to the link to your eBay store:
http://stores.ebay.com/The-Auction-Sellers-Resource?refid=store
Specific Store Inventory Item
Copy paste the link for the item and add ?refid=store to the end of
it:
http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-COMPLETE-eBay-MARKETING-SYSTEM-BY-SKIP-MCGRATH
-FS_W0QQitemZ190025062361QQihZ009QQcategoryZ378QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem?refid=store
About Me Page
Copy paste the link for your About Me page and add &refid=store to the
end of it:
http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=mcgrrrrr&refid=store
Store Category Page Within Your Store
Copy paste the link to the specific page you want the buyer to enter on and
add ?refid=store to the end of it:
http://stores.ebay.com/The-Auction-Sellers-Resource_EZ-Cube-Photo-
Studio_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ5QQftidZ2QQtZkm?refid=store
Note: If any of the URLs you are using already has a ? in it, then the
referral code should be &refid=store.
Remember: if you don’t use the correct referral ID on your links, you
will not get the fee credit even on otherwise qualifying purchases.
Printed Materials
If you are promoting your store in printed materials (an insert with a
shipped item, etc.) should only include the link to your main page without the
referral id code. If the buyer has to type it into the browser directly, then
the referral id code is not necessary. Note: you do not get the referral fee
credit if they type in any other URL other than your MAIN eBay Store page:
http://stores.ebay.com/The-Auction-Sellers-Resource
(So don’t direct them to store category pages, or about me pages.)
Bookmarking
Here’s an interesting point – If the buyer bookmarks your store in their
Internet favorites and returns to your store to purchase items from that
bookmark, you receive the referral credit EACH TIME they purchase something.
So it is worth promoting buyers to bookmark your store as well as add you to
their eBay Favorite Sellers.
You can do this with the following html code:
<a href="#" onclick="window.external.AddFavorite('http://http://stores.ebay.com/The-Auction-Sellers-Resource',
'The-Auction-Sellers-Resource eBay Store');">Bookmark The Auction Seller's
Resource in your Internet Favorites</a>
If this is too much typing for you, go to:
http://www.scriptomizers.com/javascript/add_to_favorites
It is a free service which will create the link for you (as I did above) and
gives you separate boxes to input each piece of information.
I know it is a bit of a hassle to set up your promotions to get the referral
fee credit, but in the wake of eBay’s store fee increases it’s worth it for 75%
of your final value fees.
Lissa McGrath
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