Proper Use of eBay Logos for Trading Assistants

One of the first things a new Trading Assistant should do is create marketing materials to promote their eBay business. It is very tempting to just start downloading logos everywhere and use them on all your literature. The problem is you could be breaking the law by using registered trademarks without permission. So here is the lowdown on the proper use of eBay logos.

First off, the main ebaY logo is completely off limits to everyone without eBay's written permission (and don't hold your breath for that one). Of course you can use the word eBay in your materials as long as it doesn't follow the logo color scheme (as shown before) and is should be all lowercase with the exception of the letter B as follows: eBay

There is one main TA logo (shown above) that can be used for some printed materials like flyers & ads (but not on business cards) and websites. The eBay staff told us in the discussion boards that this logo cannot be used on business cards because it would be too easily construed as TA were employees of eBay. But I guess their legal staff thought it was okay for flyers...go figure!


This logo has been nicely integrated with some TA marketing materials already created by the staff at eBay. These can be accessed via the eBay Trading Assistant Toolkit (of course you must be a registered TA and sign in to see the marketing materials).

The blue logo above is also another eBay Trading Assistant logo that can be integrated with your listings and on websites. It should be linked to your TA profile. Click Here for my tutorial on how to utilize this logo for your listings.

Another useful logo that you may be able to use is the eBay PowerSeller logo. Although, you must be a Powerseller to use this logo. Powersellers have been given permission by eBay to use this logo on all printed materials including business cards and online websites.

One final note about the use of business cards: eBay requires TAs to include a disclaimer stating something to the effect of:

"Trading Assistants operate independently as eBay sellers, and are not employees, agents or partners of eBay"

eBay Store Referral Credits is like Free Money!

Any eBay seller who has an eBay store should be incorporating a little used incentive that eBay offers known as Store Referral Credits. Basically, you use a special link to send people to your eBay Store pages or items and you can receive a credit of 75% of the final value fee if they bid and win an item. This could easily pay for the cost of having an eBay store to begin with.

Don't have an eBay Store? Open one up by clicking the banner below:

Getting setup to be eligible for this credit is very easy to do and you don't have to join their affiliate program to get paid. Although, there are some prerequisites to receive a referral credit.

• You need to be an eBay seller with a Basic, Featured or Anchor Store. This should be obvious since the program is called "eBay Store Referral Credits".
  
• You referrals must visit your store from a link "outside" of eBay. This means they need to click a link to your store from any other website (not eBay) or from an email.
  
• You need a special code (see further down in this post) at the end of your hyperlink that notifies eBay that you want a store referral credit.
  
• The person who clicks on the link needs to purchase an item from your store and their computer must accept cookies (not the ones you eat! :-).

Now...the big question is:

How do I create a Store Referral Credit link?

It is very simple. First you need to know you main URL to your eBay store. The URL is formatted as follows http://stores.ebay.com/[your store name] You can also find it quickly by clicking on the little store icon (Red Door) next to your seller id. My main store URL is:

http://stores.ebay.com/Selling-4-U-Consignment-Store

Next you need to append the Referral credit code to this URL. The code is: ?refid=store

So the correct URL that gives me eligibility for a Store Referral Credit is:

http://stores.ebay.com/Selling-4-U-Consignment-Store?refid=store

So go ahead and click this link and buy something from my store...I would greatly appreciate it! ;-) You should be adding these links to every email you send to buyers, friends, etc. Also make sure to add it to your blogs, myspace pages, websites, forum signatures and more.

There are also a few other variations to creating referral links that would take too long to cover in this post. I recommend that you visit eBay's Help Pages on this topic. Happy selling!