As usual I’ve been experimenting! WordBay WordPress plugin 0.4BETA has just been released and is free! Some features are:
1. You can write a post (page) for every auction listing, just like a normal WP page, which means you can add additional unique content easily!
2. Dynamic listing heading which reflects your country locale, which can help with SEO
3. Automatic eBay signup link for your specified locale, which means more potential sign-up commission!
4. TWO panels, fully configurable, so you can simultaneously display listings from TWO eBay locales and potentially increase earnings! (note:not available in this version - coming soon!)
5. Dynamically-generated full-search link, so if the visitor doesn’t find the item they are looking for they can be redirected straight to an eBay search page, with your affiliate code, of course!
Also:
- built in link obfuscation, to get rid of “rover.ebay” links and help prevent the “footprint” problem!
- insertion of “nofollow” into product links, to prevent link-juice leakage - eugh! - and potentially stop robots nosing around to see what you are linking to.
It was extremenly easy to set up and supports eBay’s in different countries. To set up a page of listings make a new page, insert the code [wordbay]grand piano[/wordbay] where grand piano (in this case) is your search term and you’re done!
You can refine the searches to exclude certain items e.g. [wordbay]”piano” –(stool,seat,music)[/wordbay] – this will search on “piano” BUT will exclude “stool” and/or “seat” and/or “music”.
I’ve set up a test site at Cordless Tool Batteries. I did run across one problem which has been reported to the Wordbay author. Text on pages and posts doesn’t show when the plugin is activated. Hopefully this will be fixed soon. This is a beta version so use accordingly!
I’m still undecided which is the best method to use, BANS, PhpBay, WordPress plus RSS feeds or WordBay. All of the methods have advantages and disadvantages and it’s difficult to eliminate other differences in performance e.g. the niche, the no of backlinks, age of the site, Google being Google 
even the time of year, to decide on the most effective method. I’ll continue to monitor the sites and see if there’s a clear winner over the long term!
update: I’m having a problem with Wordbay and my theme in Internet Explorer. It’s causing text on my sidebar to be enormous! It’s fine in firefox. I’m working on it.
Its great to here about the New WordBay WordPress plugin.
built in link obfuscation to prevent previous “footprint” problem!
is Great!!
Thanks For the Good Info!!
Did you notice on your wordbay site it is only showing the cents and not the dollars of the bids? mine is doing the same thing and when I click on an auction my site just refreshes. I hope the plugin is fixed, I would really like it if it worked. I notice the author’s site is down, maybe he is fixing it and does not want anyone else to download the buggy one.
I am an affiliate of ebay through cj.com. I have my ebay link code on several of my pages offering sign-up and the option to bid on backlinks. I’ve been promoting them for about a month and I have yet to get commission from them.
Have you ever bought links from ebay? It is worth the effort, but be sure and read the item description before buying.
Hi guys, thanks for the write-up about WordBay Janet. Just to let you know that I have fixed the bug you mentioned about text not being displayed, so you can download the new 0.5BETA version.
As for the CSS for your sidebar getting screwed up, keep me posted about that - maybe I have left a tag open somewhere, or something. The styling aspect of WordBay does still need some work, it looks a bit scrappy. I am not a designer unfortunately, but I will at least try to make sure the CSS follows the style of the template.
Shawn, have a look at the install page (http://www.itsgottabered.com/wordbay/installing-and-configuring-wordbay/) - I haven’t got a solution for your problem yet, but will try and figure it out if you can give me some more clues. BTW, not sure when my site was down, but it must have just been a glitch.
As for earnings from eBay - it may sounds strange being as I am creating an eBay affiliate solution, but I don’t have any spectacular results from eBay still. I think volume is the key - you need lots of sites, lots of niches, lots of pages (some people are toting hundreds of sites!) And by the way, you need to move from CJ.COM asap WebSmall - you probably know, but eBay are pulling out of CJ soon.
Came across your blog and found it to be very interesting.. Fantastic article covering some points I really needed some good usability info for. The great part is WordBay WordPress plugin 0.4BETA is free. I’ll surely try this on exrerimental basis. Thanks.
Just to let you know I fixed some of these bugs, like the cents not displaying.
The site refreshing one I am not sure about - no-one else has reported that. Anyway, thanks for all your feedback, and hope you find WordBay useful.
it looks a bit scrappy. I am not a designer unfortunately, but I will at least try to make sure the CSS follows the style of the template.
I really needed some good usability info for. The great part is WordBay WordPress plugin 0.4BETA is free.
Hey, Janet, you seem to be getting some comment spam there (the last 4 comments, not including my previous one). I think the captcha you’re using was a great idea but has been “owned” by the hackers a long time ago. Akismet ought to solve your problems.
By the way, WordBay continues to develop, got a pretty stable version now (0.85BETA, see my link above).
Thanks for the info. This is very helpful!