There is some concern from users about the possibility that WordBay IS affected by the recent Great RSS Change, despite my relative confidence that it was not. This includes Dennis’ report that earnings from specifically WordBay campaigns are down as compared to others scripts. Of course, if there is an issue I want to resolve it, this affects my earnings too, after all! I can confirm a definite plunge in earnings after around the 11th February 2010, and a seeming general downward trend in clicks too. However, to be honest, that is not the first time that has happened since QCP, know what I mean?
To recap the Great RSS Change, eBay (see their blog post here) have slightly changed the form of the “rover” links generated by the RSS feed from this old form:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/707-53477-19255-0/1?campid=xxxxxxxxxx&customid=&toolid=10005&
mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.de%2FElmo-Elchmeter-Bpz-Magicsport-Magic-Sport-2-2008-TOP_
W0QQitemZ220551167382QQcmdZViewItemQQssPageNameZRSS%3AB%3ASRCH%3ADE%3A102
…to this new form:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&toolid=10005&campid=xxxxxxxxxx
&customid=&icep_item=350310730839&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=238401&kwid=9020
99&mtid=824&kw=rss
We don’t need to go into the nitty-gritty of these links, you can see that the “new” form doesn’t have that garbled code on the end, but a set of parameters like icep_vectorid=238401, kwid=902099 etc. eBay have not really explained what these are for, they appear to be for some future expansion. However, you can see that the parameter campid=xxxxxxxxxx remains the same, that is the important one that tracks your sales (or should do). By the way, the difference between the two codes 707-53477-19255-0 and 711-53200-19255-0 is immaterial - the former is the code for Germany (you can also see the link cgi.ebay.de within the first link), the latter is the code for US, they were just being sloppy in their example. I mean, if you are going to show the difference between the old and new style links then use the same parameters! I will show that this is not important in my real-life example below.
But the point is this, that the only eBay RSS scripts affected by this change were those actually manipulating the old style link in order to “cloak” it. WordBay merely “base64 encodes” (a completely non-destructive form of encoding) the link exactly as received from the RSS feed, with the exception that it replaces the words “rover” and “ebay” with “buy” and “cheap” (but then changes them back again before clicking through). I will consider removing even these simple forms of cloaking if these concerns continue, particularly this latter one, where I can now see some possible situations where it might go wrong. However, again, this is not related to changes to the RSS, this feature has been present since the very first version of WordBay and would have reared its head anyway, and would only have caused the problem I am thinking of in a very few cases.
WordBay versus link generator
But I wanted to be sure, so I did a little experiment to make sure WordBay is producing its links correctly, so I created a feed within the EPN RSS Generator, and then created exactly the same feed with WordBay, and compared the uncoded links. And here are the results:
Link produced by feed from RSS Generator (UK):
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&toolid=10005&campid=xxxxxxxxxx&customid=test&icep_item=230430578964&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=238431&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=rss
and now the link produced by WordBay with the same parameters, for UK:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&toolid=10005&campid=xxxxxxxxxx&customid=test&icep_item=230430578964&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=238431&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=rss
I have pored over these but cannot see any difference…
However, some people also mentioned (and discussions on the EPN forum and blog have suggested this) that this may be a country-related issue. So just in case, I did this with US too, with two identical sets of parameters:
Link produced by feed from RSS Generator (US):
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&toolid=10005&campid=xxxxxxxxxx&customid=test&icep_item=190373520609&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=238401&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=rss
and now the link produced by WordBay with the same parameters, for US:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&toolid=10005&campid=xxxxxxxxxx&customid=test&icep_item=190373520609&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=238401&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=rss
Again, identical… Just for good measure, I made sure the encoded and decoded link, the one that actually gets followed to eBay, was OK:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&toolid=10005&campid=xxxxxxxxxx&customid=test&icep_item=190373520609&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=238401&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=rss
Once again, the link produced by the RSS Generator and by WordBay appear identical.
Conclusion
People, I spent an hour or two more on this and I don’t know what more I can do - I hear your concerns, but if this is a problem with WordBay and RSS then I haven’t found it this way either. Quite simply, WordBay is sending your visitors where they are supposed be going, using the exact same link that eBay’s own RSS generator is producing. Could it be that the fall in WordBay-specific earnings is a fluke? Or else Google slapping those sites (which it is very good at doing)? Or else it’s eBay bugs under the mysterious QCP once again depriving us of earnings.
If you have ANY report of this problem, please let me know in the comments. If we can build up a picture of when this might be happening, perhaps we can narrow down the problem and solve it, if indeed it can be solved from the WordBay end. Thanks for your continued input.
Posted on February 21st, 2010 by markowe
Filed under: Uncategorized
Mark, thanks so much for spending the time to look into this. Yes, from the way its looks WordBay seems be doing its job. That is to say the links are generated correctly and do send the visitors to where they should go. But I have the impression that somewhere in the reporting something gets lost - and that may very well lie on EPNs end? Here’s why I’m concluding that:
a) I have done steadily well with QCP since its inception. Sure, the EPC fluctuates sometimes but not the actual click numbers, at least not by the amount of about 100. But that is the discrepancy Im talking about since Feb 11.
b) I have not been whacked by Google. As a matter of fact I’m doing better than ever and according to my visitor stats my daily organic traffic has increased over the past couple of weeks. Yet my EPN clicks dont parallel this growth from Feb 11 on so I have to conclude it has to do with the RSS update. And seeing that my transaction report clearly shows less WordBay clicks from that date on while my generated links from EPN itself are being reported just like they should be, I have to conclude the problem lies with WordBay (either at WordBay’s end or EPN’s).
c) I generally dont subscribe to the idea that a dive in earnings can be explained away by some arbitrary EPN goof-ups. Sure, they made the update on very short notice and apparently there was this UK mapping error but by the same token, these types of errors are quickly recognized and acknowledged by EPN and hence a makegood is issued. My reporting anomalies are still current however.
I think it would be really helpful if other WordBay users would take a hard look at their EPN earnings and their transaction reports from the time of around Feb 11 and report back here. That way we have corroborating information and if it turns out that I’m the only one having this type of situation then so be it. I doubt it though! I guess what I also could do is to contact EPN and have them find out what is going on. If my click stats and transaction reports stay the way they are I definitely need to keep on the ball with this.
Once again thanks and any input from others is greatly appreciated!
I’m not able to see any noticeable dips in clicks on or around Feb 11th. (unlike my McJiffy sites that flat lined at the start of the month).
But to be honest ever since QCP was launched I’ve given up trying to analyse it in any depth, all I know is I’ve made more this year so far as I did the first three quarters of last year. I’ll leave further investigation with folks like yourself Dennis
Overall I’m comfortable that WordBay is doing it’s job as advertised. Personally if I wasn’t I would write my own interface for eBay (which I have done for some of my sites on which I had specific need e.g. output formatting, script automation).
I have been trying for days to fix my wordbay. All of my listing show under posts. However, when testing the ebay listings I am brought to a page saying “Oops, The Page You Are Looking For Cannot Be Located.”
Please help - very frustrated!
Thanks.
cal
Hi Cal, eek, that’s another new one on me. When you get that message can you tell me what address is shown in the browser bar, i.e. what page it is TRYING to open?
P.S. Cal, the first thing I would make sure is that the buy.php file is located where it’s supposed to be - in the wp-content/plugins/wordbay directory, and that the full path to it is correctly set in the admin panel (though the default setting should point to that directory anyway).
Chuck, there, that sums up all that’s irritating about QCP - Dennis and I, and a number of others would swear blind something is wrong, whereas others are smiling like the proverbial Cheshire cats and doing consistently well (good on you, I say!), but there is no way to really find out if there is a problem or not as the system is so opaque…
http://StockGravity.com/currency/helicopter-ben-to-continue-trashing-the-us-dollar/
http://StockGravity.com/wp-content/plugins/wordbay/buy.php?buyurl=aHR0cDovL2J1eS5jaGVhcC5jb20vYnV5LzEvNzExLTUzMjAwLTE5MjU1LTAvMT9pY2VwX2ZmMz0yJnRvb2xpZD0xMDAwNSZjYW1waWQ9NTMzNjQ2MTg5OCZjdXN0b21pZD1odHRwJTNBJTJGJTJGU3RvY2tHcmF2aXR5LmNvbSUyRmN1cnJlbmN5JTJGaGVsaWNvcHRlci1iZW4tdG8tY29udGludWUtdHJhc2hpbmctdGhlLXVzLWRvbGxhciUyRiZpY2VwX2l0ZW09MTMwMzY3NjUwNzk4Jmlwbj1wc21haW4maWNlcF92ZWN0b3JpZD0yMzg0MDEma3dpZD05MDIwOTkmbXRpZD04MjQma3c9cnNz&buy=buy&cheap=cheap
the first page eBay link turns into the second link
it is better explained testing it yourself.
This is frustrating beyong belief! I have tried everything.
The most interesting part about this thing is that I have the same settings for wordbay on multiple websites….all the other sites work. Could be a conflicting plugin problem? Adsense conflict? help
“Hi Cal, eek, that’s another new one on me. When you get that message can you tell me what address is shown in the browser bar, i.e. what page it is TRYING to open?”
This is the link it tries to open:
http://stockgravity.com/wp-content/plugins/wordbay/buy.php?buyurl=aHR0cDovL2J1eS5jaGVhcC5jb20vYnV5LzEvNzExLTUzMjAwLTE5MjU1LTAvMT9pY2VwX2ZmMz0yJnRvb2xpZD0xMDAwNSZjYW1waWQ9NTMzNjQ2MTg5OCZjdXN0b21pZD1odHRwJTNBJTJGJTJGU3RvY2tHcmF2aXR5LmNvbSUyRmJvb2tzJTJGY3Jhc2gtcHJvb2YtMi0wLWhvdy10by1wcm9maXQtZnJvbS10aGUtZWNvbm9taWMtY29sbGFwc2UlMkYmaWNlcF9pdGVtPTE2MDQwNTI5MjI2NCZpcG49cHNtYWluJmljZXBfdmVjdG9yaWQ9MjM4NDAxJmt3aWQ9OTAyMDk5Jm10aWQ9ODI0Jmt3PXJzcw==&buy=buy&cheap=cheap
“P.S. Cal, the first thing I would make sure is that the buy.php file is located where it’s supposed to be - in the wp-content/plugins/wordbay directory, and that the full path to it is correctly set in the admin panel (though the default setting should point to that directory anyway).”
The locate buy.php: setting in wordbay settings is blank. I am assuming that leaving it blank means it goes to the default :”http://www.stockgravity.com/wp-content/plugins/wordbay/buy.php”
I have tried putting that into it also with no success.
(sorry for butting in guys)
Cal, your server (or wordpress security configuration) is returning 404 errors for any and all valid .php files that are accessed directly.
e.g. http://stockgravity.com/wp-content/themes/default/images/header-img.php is a valid file (I can see it listed in http://stockgravity.com/wp-content/themes/default/images/ ) but accessing it directly gives a 404, that is incorrect of the server to do that.
Likewise I can see buy.php listed here: http://stockgravity.com/wp-content/plugins/wordbay/ but trying to click on WordBay.php or buy.php directly gives a 404, also incorrect.
Likewise #2 http://stockgravity.com/wp-content/plugins/akismet/akismet.php gives 404 but I can see it listed by going a level above but clicking on it gives the same 404.
So it looks like there is a server (or wordpress security setting) is returning a 404 error for any .php file that is not accessed by the web user, that would explain why the wordpess install can ‘access’ all the .php files but us the public can’t. (a quick fix would be to change permission on the buy.php file to 777 but you are likly to hit this problem again with other plugins and when you upgrade wordbay)
To fix it properly I would start with disabling all your site’s plugins and retesting wordbay by itself, if that doesn’t sort it, have a look at your .htaccess file for any security settings related to .php files, lastly head for your web host admin control panel/support site to see if that has any answers.
(side note: while it’s great for troubleshooting being able to browse directory listings like above is kinda bad…I’ve done it tones of times to work out what plugins/themes sites are using. Anyhow Cal once you get sorted with wordbay drop Options -Indexes into your site’s root .htaccess file to stop directories being listed)
Chuck, thanks for butting in, feel most free! Definitely access should be allowed to the buy.php file - I also had a peek in the directory (hmm, must double-check my sites too to make sure that’s blocked!) and I can directly access all the other file types, but none of the .php files, so it does sound like an .htaccess issue as described by Chuck.
“(hmm, must double-check my sites too to make sure that’s blocked!)”
Yup
, there’s one other issue with your hosting permissions that looks ‘undesirable’ that I discovered while poking about. If you have access to your server logs for the last day do a search for ‘?leftright’ and you will find the file I’m talking about, or drop me an email to the address I use here.
I have tried making the necessary changes. I logged into filezilla and changed “buy.php” and “wordbay.php” to 777 without success.
The weird part is the fact that I run 4 other websites on the same server/hosting account with the exact same settings/file permissions as my other sites.
You guessed it - my other 4 websites work 100% correctly with wordbay.
This has to be some type of plugin conflict or something. Do you know of any plugins in particular that would cause wordbay to function poorly?
THanks!
That is odd… Yes, plugin conflicts spring most readily to mind, though check .htaccess setting too, I think that’s an important possibility. I have not had any plugin conflicts reported up till now, I am not even sure when they happen, but I guess when plugins try to carry out a similar operation on the same content, or when they have the same PHP variable or function names. Doubt there’s any other plugin out there that tacks WB on the beginning of all its resource names, but not impossible I suppose. Is there any chance you can narrow down which plugins you might be using here that you are not using on other blogs? Then maybe I could have a look at those plugins and see if there is any potential for a clash.
Uhm, when I type /wp-content/plugins/wordbay/WordBay.php in my browser tab for my domain I get the following:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function get_option() in /home/valor88/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wordbay/WordBay.php on line 434
What is on line 434? Is this a problem? I have the new version installed.
Dennis, that is normal. because wordbay.php is called from within wordbay and is not designed to access directly. (unlike bay.php for example)
@Mark and @Dennis
Guys, sorry to be coming in late on this but just had a random thought hit me round the back of the head.
In Dennis’s report, the critical factor is the date - here’s what occurred to me.
Everyone posting on itsgottabered on this topic is coming in at it from an affiliate marketing / ePN / RSS / WordBay angle. However, although I’ve been affiliate marketing part time for years and heavily for the last three years, I was an eBay PowerSeller since 2004.
I remember particularly in 2006 and 2007 that there was a huge drop in page hits across all listings (auction / BIN / Shop) for all PowerSellers in mid-February of those years, and a huge flame war erupted on the PowerSeller discussion board on eBay UK, when the Pinks tried to blame Google for it.
Something similar but less dramatic also happened in 2008, but that time we were all too busy wailing about John Donahoe’s changes to feedback and other stuff.
I’d have to check stats, but I think there was something also happened at the same date in 2009, but as I’d just moved house a few weeks before, I wasn’t watching closely.
I completely gave up selling on eBay after Christmas 2009 so I’ve no idea for 2010, but my ePN stats show that around 20 Feb to 5 March was an earning flatliner (zero) for me, despite 18-19 Feb being the peak click-spike of the year so far. In my opinion there was certainly a glitch at ePN those weeks.
Since then, although the graph isn’t showing the high earning spikes of late January, the overall earnings have been steadier with a higher daily average leading to better monthly average than before the flat line spell, despite overall weekly average clicks being down a little.
My summary would be that something drastic happens in mid-February annually with regard to eBay traffic - whether it’s search engine related or just everyone skint when the Christmas credit card bills arrive, or whatever, I couldn’t say. 2007 was the only year this happened when there was any possibility it was a global phenomenon related directly to the ongoing tiffs between eBay and Google - I think that was due to eBay slashing their adwords budget massively if I remember rightly.
Gaz