Have you ever wonder why eBay really can’t pick up steam or any speed from the Asian countries to get more buyers/users into their system? Is it because of competition? Or are Asians lazy to buy online and offline shopping is just so convenient in Asian countries? At least my knowledge tells me that eBay in Malaysia ain’t doing any good due to an earlier market pioneer lelong.com.my getting most of those B2C traffic and attention. Well, at least Australia’s eBay affiliate program is still well and alive.
In case you were wondering what triggered me to write the above headline, here’s the email from eBay:
We have decided to close down the Singapore and Hong Kong affiliate programs as of February 1, 2009, and make India a more limited invite-only program.
Our Singapore and Hong Kong sites are increasingly focusing their marketing efforts on bringing more sellers, rather than buyers, to their programs. Given that eBay Partner Network is today primarily a buyer-acquisition focused network, we’ve decided it was best to close these programs for now, until we can better support seller efforts.
Beginning February 1, 2009, we will begin redirecting traffic from geo-targeted affiliate links destined for eBay Hong Kong and eBay Singapore back to eBay.com. Publishers currently geo-targeting traffic to these sites will not have to do anything differently, since we will re-direct this traffic automatically. However, please note that creatives for Hong Kong and Singapore will no longer be available in the eBay Partner Network interface. Publishers not working with these programs will not be affected.
We have also decided to make India a limited invitation-only program. We want to focus in the next few months on growing the Indian program through larger affiliates that have established track records in India or in other emerging countries. Publishers currently accepted in the Indian program will not be affected and will be able to continue to promote the Indian site. New publishers joining eBay Partner Network will no longer see the Indian program as an option upon sign-in and will have to apply separately by contacting customer service if they want to promote the Indian Program.
We expect a minimum impact from these changes given the small number of affiliates currently driving traffic to these countries. If you have concerns or experience any problems during the transition please be sure to let us know by contacting customer service.
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