The much-criticised eBay Partner Network is not only a tough affiliate program to join, even for eBay high-level PowerSellers, it also shifts policy more frequently than ebay core marketplaces.  It is no surprise then that they have announced they are cleaning house as the first anniversary of their opening approaches.

An announcement on the ePN program blog warns that they are closing out accounts that have shown no activity for an extended period of time because -

many of these old dormant accounts were created before the new application screening procedures were in place and while the vast majority of them have remained dormant, on the occasions when we see these accounts activate, by and large we see fraudulent behaviour.

It appears a black market has arisen for trading affiliate accounts in order that publishers who have been refused entry, can get around the block by simply buying a pre-approved account.

If you have an account that you have forgotten to use, or for which you are still building your sites, don’t worry, ePN believe 72 hours notice of closure is sufficient for you to get your act together, they state -

I’m sure there are a number of folks who may have created accounts and forgotten about them or never gotten around to building their businesses, which is why we’re posting in addition to sending 3 day expiration emails to each dormant account that is being closed.

That’s all right then.

None of us have lives to lead or additional priorities that demand our working time … you know, like shipping products yesterday to demanding eBay buyers, or fighting fraudulent PayPal chargebacks, and trying to get payment from NPBs, or appealing extortionist feedback that has just got us suspended from selling on eBay … we can just drop everything and build a new website to show activity on our ePN “rainy day income” account.

This announcement comes hot on the heels of Affiliate Marketing consolidator group MediaWhizz also cleaning house.

Unlike ePN who are closing accounts with zero activity, MediaWhizz’s ShoppingAds program (formerly AuctionAds) are simply shutting down accounts with low activity, and telling the account holders after the fact.  That makes ePN’s actions look positively philanthropic.  It also makes me wonder if MediaWhizz have been getting slapped by the ePN “pinks”?

Post your thoughts in a comment, or discuss it in our forums – ePN forum & MediaWhizz forum (login required).

Ed