Affiliate Rant!

Here is an example of using the core Affiliate Success: eBay calls in a blog posting. This call is a custom search for “ipod mini green 4gb”. I chose not to search in the auction description to reduce the false hits. People selling 4GB minis will title the auction thusly. Also, I set the auctionAge to short and I set the cache to 30 seconds to illustrate the change rate. In reality the change rate of this search often approaches hours…

iPod Mini 2nd Generation 4GB Green Broken For Parts  Apple iPod mini First Gen. Green (4 GB, M9434LL/A) M…  Apple iPod Mini 4GB Green MP3 Player + USB Cable   View all items on eBay Disclaimer

Now this next auction uses all the same settings but the custom search is for “ipod mini” instead. This will better illustrate the caching and the rate of change on eBay. While the auction above may remain static across the 30 second cache boundary, this auction generally shows some change in the listings unless it is very early in the morning.

Apple iPod Mini 6GB MP3 6 GB Player M9803LL/A - BLUE  Apple iPod mini Second Gen. Pink (4 GB, M9804LL/A) M…  Blue Apple iPod mini 4 GB - Fast Shipping! Broken AS IS   View all items on eBay Disclaimer

Finally, I am using a rather minimal information display since I have just a smidgen over 500 pixels horizontally to display the auction data. Also, remember that the data will definitely not change unless you wait at least 30 seconds to refresh the page.

Here is the code I used:

include_once ‘/path to ASE API/ASE-api.php’;

echo GetSearchResults($query=’ipod mini’, $template=’fst-001.php’, $isAlternating=1, $numResults=5, $searchDescription=0, $duration=1, $cache=30, $isEmpty=0, $auctionAge=’short’, $XML='’);

Keep in mind that some simple error checking is definitely required but I have omitted it here. I provide examples that include error checking in the Affiliate Success: eBay documentation. Also, I did not customize the AS:e template used here for click-throughs and blending. Common sense dictates that the presentation should blend somewhat into the website and the border should be removed for best results. Remember, this is just a quick demo, if this had been an actual attempt to generate revenue…