On July 17th Ebay Partner Network (EPN) announced some policy changes. They also mentioned that they are now requiring new applicants to verify at least one domain with their submission. It also states that existing applicants are not required, but is suggested they also submit their domains.
Here is the exact verbiage from their blog post
Domain Validation
In order to ensure the quality of traffic in our network, we’re going to continue to work with our partners to get greater transparency into where your traffic is being sent from. Beginning July 20th, all new applicants to the eBay Partner Network will be required to validate at least one domain during the registration process (this is standard practice in other large international networks like affilinet and Tradedoubler).To validate a domain, you will have to upload a text file with a unique identifier we give you to the base directory of the domain. You can find more detailed instructions on how to do this in the e-mail you will receive when you register or in the help documentation.
Although existing publishers are not required to validate their domains, doing so is a good idea, as it will help us know which domains you are sending traffic from and serve as additional information helpful in conversations with customer service or confirming your identity if your account has been compromised, etc.
To verify your domain, log into EPN and click on Account then Domains. You can submit domains individually or by bulk upload. Here are the exact instructions for domain submission:
- Create a plain text file in a text editor and in the contents put only your unique identifier (provided on the ‘Domains’ page or in the initial email we sent).
- Save the file as ‘epndomain.txt’.
- Upload the file to the base directory of each of your domains that you would like to validate.
Example: If your website is www.ebay.com, your file would be located at http://www.ebay.com/epndomain.txt. - Visit the Domain Confirmation Page when your domains are ready to be validated and click on the ‘Confirm Domains’ button.
It has been suggested by other EPNers to submit all of your domains. It seems to be a matter of time before they require it. Another question is do we leave the epndomain.txt file permanently on the server? Love to hear your opinions about this.
Related posts:
In regards of how long this needs to be on the server:
You need to leave the file on your server until ownership of your domain has been confirmed. You can see the confirmation status on the Domain Management page.
It was nice to use the bulk domain tool, and it was also nice that the auth code was a single value for all of my domains. After adding the file to all the domains, I simply denied access to it using <Files> match on it:
<Files ~ “^epndomain.txt$”>
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
</Files>
I am waiting for the google affiliate network approval. It’s difficult to be approved I think.
Benjamin Cip´s last blog ..What Are The Plugins You Are Using On Your Blog?
Does validating the main domain cover all subdomains too? I sure hope so…
@Benjamin Cip
I’ve used a few merchants in GAN (integrated with PopShops) but not much commissions with the. I was member when it was Performics?? I think? Before Google purchased them.
@Kerosene
Hello there! How’s things? I think you’re okay, if you own the ‘root’ domain. I see information regarding subdomain validation if you don’t own the root.
How long does it take to be confirmed? I’ve been waiting since Aug. 14th…
Hello Kat
You should be able to click ‘validate domains’ and it should happen within seconds. Did you place the epndomain.txt on your domains?
hanji
Thanks for responding. Yes I have epndomain.txt on my host in 2 locations as one is a subdomain. None can be confirmed. Maybe its because I removed “Unique Identifier: ” from the text file? I’m not sure. Is it supposed to be “Unique Identifier: EDITED==” ?
I’m sure that’s the problem. You need that value in the text file.
hanji
Yes, I tried it with the “Unique Identifier:” and it remained unconfirmed. Then I thought perhaps it was supposed to be removed because it only has that listed in the email, not the confirm page. I just reuploaded the files so it reads “Unique Identifier: EDITED==” clicked confirm, and still nothing.
Kat, you should have a text file named ‘epndomain.txt’ in the root, in that file you should only have the validation code only
It should simple say:
EDITED==
hanji
Yup, its in the root folder and subdomain folder for two domains. Actually its 3 domains total, 2 point to one page, 1 point to another. All have ‘epndomain.txt’ in their main folders, with now only the code – without the ‘unique identifier’ txt. I can enter the www.***.com/epndomain.txt and clearly see the code. Yet, I still cannot get confirmed. In fact now it says I have to wait 24hrs before trying again.
Kat, this is extremely odd? Have you seen any mention of this on the EPN forum? You might have to contact EPN support to see what the issue is?
I’m also wondering if it could be server configuration (mod_security) or some other type of handling that is preventing the EPN bot to access that file. Do you have access to the logs? Can you verify that EPN is even requesting the file when you click confirm?
Thanks!
hanji
I have no idea how to do what you are asking. I have HostGator. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps I didn’t upload specifcally in ASCII mode, instead it was in binary. I reuploaded. I also posted an email to Ebay, as well as writing in the box on the confirm page stating that it wouldn’t confirm with links to each txt file. Now I can’t try again for 24hrs, so I’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see. Thanks for all your help. I’ll let you know how it goes.
i use craigslist. How do I validate the domain? plez reply!!!!
ruvim. I believe posting eBay listings on Craigslist has been a violation of their ToS for a while. You cannot do this, so validating domain for this is a non-issue.
hanji
bonjour j’ai un petit probleme je ne sais pas comment charger le fichier ?
merci d’une reponse
ludivine – are you asking how to change the epndomain.txt file? Sorry, my translation from French to English.. is not good.
Hi, iam having problems with trying to confirm my url. I know you supposed to upload the base but how in the world you do that!!!!! thanks
Hello Trock
All you need to do is grab the ‘code’ from EPN and paste it to a text file. Rename the text file to epndomain.txt. Next, use your FTP client to upload the txt file to the root of your site… So it would be here http://yourdomain.com/epndomain.txt
HTH
hanji