Although most people know eBay as the online marketplace for buying and selling all kinds of goods, eBay also provides a backdoor income opportunity for website owners ready to monetize their site traffic.

Even if you don't have an item or sources of products of your own to sell on eBay, you can earn money through eBay's affiliate program by serving pages with auction listings specifically organized around any eBay category, according to James Dillehay, author of Sell Your Crafts on eBay.

An affiliate is an independent contractor who agrees to send traffic to a merchant who sells a product or service and pays the affiliate a commission of each sale.

eBay developed a sophisticated affiliate tool called the eBay Editor Kit that allows you to build highly targeted interactive graphic banners which list specific types or categories of items for sale.

Which Categories to Target

Let's say you have a family oriented web site with an article page(s) on wedding-related topics. As an eBay affiliate, you can insert code they provide through an easy- to-use toolkit online that allows you to serve up current auctions on wedding dresses, wedding favors, wedding supplies, or any other category you choose.

Another example would be a site providing visitors with facts of interest on actor, John Wayne. At the bottom of a page about John Wayne's movies, the site owner/eBay affiliate can place code which serves up all current eBay listings for John Wayne movie DVDs or video tapes.

If this sounds too complex, relax. You don't have to be a programmer or a geek to get this to work. The eBay Editor Kit is an interactive form available to affiliates which allows for quickly entering in your affiliate ID code, product category(s) you want to serve listings for, and a few other details. Using the affiliate interface, I've created code to generate targeted eBay listings and placed it on my web pages, all in less than two minutes.

How Much Does It Pay

The program pays affiliates between 40% and 70% of eBay's revenue (not item sale price) on all winning bids or Buy-It- Nows within 7 days of an affiliate action and up to $20 for each new active registered user who arrives from your affiliate links. These rates may change at any time but were current as of this writing.

Why Would Anyone Click

The more targeted your site traffic, the more likely people will click-through to specific auctions. Studies show ads related to your page content get higher response rates.

Since using the eBay Editor Kit and placing graphics displaying targeted auctions, my recorded click-through rate has averaged between 50% and 70%. This compares to a typical click-through rate on my other affiliate links of between 2% to 15%.

The Ultimate Market Research Tool

The beauty and ease of the above system is you can serve your customers great deals on items they are specifically searching for and earn money in the process. But that could just be the beginning of profits for you.

With the sophisticated tracking statistics available to you as an affiliate, you can track which types of eBay listings get higher click-throughs, higher closing bids, and learn about items that sell best throughout the year.

You can then pick and choose best-selling items for your site's traffic, find inventory at wholesale or closeout sources, and then list your own eBay auctions which you already have evidence of sales history. You'll earn lots more than you would have just as an affiliate.

You should note that it is against eBay's affiliate policies for you to use eBay Editor Kit to link to your own eBay auctions.

To become an affiliate for eBay, your web site must be approved. Your site must get steady traffic, look good and all the links should function. Typically, eBay is interested in well designed, high traffic sites to partner with. To apply, go to www.cj.com, Commission Junction and search for eBay.

About the author:

James Dillehay is author of eight books including Sell Your Crafts on eBay, Over 200 Tactics, Tips and Tricks to Profit with Your Arts and Crafts Items from eBay's Millions of Buyers. His books have been recommended in The Chicago Tribune, Family Circle, Better Homes & Gardens, Country Almanac, Working Mothers, The Crafts Report, Sunshine Artist, and many other magazines and on HGTV. For more information, see http://www.craftmarketer.com.