[PLEASE READ] What Next for Soccer Cards Rock
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As you have probably seen, I’ve had quite a bit on this week regarding the newsletter, and what it’ll look like going forward.
This is a long, rambling, but important email.
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IMPOTANT EDIT: eBay Partner Program Re-Installed
Okay, so I got lazy towards the end of writing this article and decided to write the conclusion this morning and send it out - an I’m glad I did, overnight eBay Partner Network re-installed my account with this email…
As you can see - the email was pretty straight to the point and didn’t say why I was banned in the first place.
They also didn’t say why they re-instated my account. But I’d like to think it’s because of the people in the hobby. You’re all brilliant individuals.
I did ask, but I’ll have to wait for a response.
However, the fact that they could just turn it all off without warning or reason is pretty concerning - and definitely something that everyone in the hobby should be concerned about.
So I think a lot from this article is still very useful, especially for those who look to balance the business and fun side of the hobby.
The TL;DR Version
The short version of what happened.
I earned revenue for this newsletter and my main website using eBay affiliate links - basically, I’d link to eBay and if people purchased, I earned a few percent of any sale. No extra cost to readers. The group running this was the eBay Partner Network (EPN)
About a month ago EPN sent out a request for two audits about my emails and promotion methods. All seemed pretty good with that…. I sent everything they asked, and they approved my way of using their links via email.
A few days ago, I received this email from EPN:
EPN instantly cancelled my account as an affiliate, and kept thousands of dollars in unpaid commissions over a few months.
EDIT: After help from the hobby, eBay re-installed my partner account. However, they didn’t let me know why it was cancelled in the first place - I’ve put in a request to find out why for future reference as to avoid this happening again in the future.
Why is it Bad?
Now, I obviously did something wrong. I can’t imagine getting my account terminated if everything was above board.
However, I wasn’t told what violation/s I was guilty of, and I wasn’t given any time to fix them.
Don’t get me wrong, a “you’re doing xyz, and you have 24-hours to fix it or we shut you down” would have been stressful, but nothing that a lot of coffee, a sick day at work, and a sleepless night wouldn’t have fixed.
But at least I would have had a chance to fix it.
Now, I was fortunate that I am in a position where I could re-invested every cent either into the business or into the wider hobby - I would be a lot more stressed if I was taking a wage from this or needed it to live.
Why Should You Care….
Honestly, I don’t really expect you to care about my personal situation, but this is important for a few reasons:
There are a lot of people reading this that use the eBay partner network and it’s really concerning that they can basically delete your entire account without warning or reason
It was fortunate that I went to the effort to stamp my feet and complain - I wonder how many people don’t
Good content shouldn’t be taken for granted - creators spend tens of hours every week doing this out of love for the hobby. A lot don’t want to pay a monthly fee (and that’s totally fine - I don’t really want to charge a monthly fee), but complain that the quality isn’t there or isn’t as frequent as it should be…. Can’t have the cake and eat it too - tools like the eBay partner network is helpful to keep content free for users and if that is hindered, quality content will drop off or be behind a paywall.
Lessons Learned For Anyone in the “Business” Side of the Hobby
The biggest lesson that I learned from this is to really do all you can to diversify your revenue generation as much as possible.
If you’re in the business side of the hobby and your key revenue earner was instantly taken away, how would that impact your business?
The funny thing is - I was diversifying. I don’t just have this newsletter, but I also run the website Sports Cards Rock (which has been going longer than this newsletter and generates the vast majority of the revenue), and that was the main money maker.
So between the site, this newsletter, and the pod - I’d have said I was quite diverse.
However, all three were kind of relying on the same revenue generation method - eBay.
If you’re juggling the business and fun side of the hobby - imagine if your main method of monetization went away overnight. Would you survive?
Where to From Here?
From here, there’s really a few things I can do.
Now that I have re-gained entry into the eBay Partner Network, I’ll start using it again - which will mean that the newsletter will remain free as is (yay)
I will still look to diversify a little to try and make this as cool as possible for everyone.
A Magazine?
One thing part that seemed to get a lot of traction via a few Instagram messages and polls is a physical magazine on soccer cards, stickers, tickets, and history.
I think it could be really cool but it’s a bloody massive job.
To further look into it, and see if it’s a viable show, I’ve put together a short survey.
It’ll only take 2-3 minutes.
Cheers.