DBA
Well-known member
The thing is I never could understand why a company (Ebay) would pay for traffic already coming to them.
For example a user posts an Ebay link on your forum (which isn't monetized via Viglinks/Skimlinks), other users click this link and are taken to Ebay.
In the other scenario; a user posts an Ebay link on your forum (which is then monetised by Viglinks/Skimlinks), other users click this link and are taken to Ebay. Ebay pays you for this click.
In both those scenarios Ebay got the traffic, but they only had to pay for the one.
One thing I could see being a benefit to Ebay though is the Skimwords feature where non-linked phrases/words are turned into links that direct traffic to Ebay.
For example a user posts an Ebay link on your forum (which isn't monetized via Viglinks/Skimlinks), other users click this link and are taken to Ebay.
In the other scenario; a user posts an Ebay link on your forum (which is then monetised by Viglinks/Skimlinks), other users click this link and are taken to Ebay. Ebay pays you for this click.
In both those scenarios Ebay got the traffic, but they only had to pay for the one.
One thing I could see being a benefit to Ebay though is the Skimwords feature where non-linked phrases/words are turned into links that direct traffic to Ebay.