eBay Kills EPN Affiliate FVF Incentive For Sellers In Major Change To eBay Partner Network Program
eBay is killing off the EPN affiliate incentive for sellers, making major change to eBay Partner Network program terms with only 2 days notice.
For many years, eBay sellers have been able to make commission free sales by enrolling in the eBay Partner Network affiliate program and receiving incentive payments which offset Final Value Fees when one of their items was sold through an EPN affiliate link.
Here's what the previous EPN policy said about the US Seller Incentive:
U.S. Seller Incentive
Commencing on June 15, 2020 and subject to the terms contained herein, any Affiliate who is also a seller registered on eBay.com with a U.S. address shall earn an incentive payment for all Qualifying Transactions that are both attributed to the Affiliate and result in the sale of the Affiliate’s inventory listed on eBay.com (the “U.S. Seller Incentive”).
Only Qualifying Transactions associated with a U.S seller’s eBay.com account that was used to register with EPN shall be eligible for the U.S. Seller Incentive.
The U.S. Seller Incentive shall equal the Final Value Fee (as defined on the seller’s applicable selling fees page) less the compensation earned pursuant to the EPN Global Rate Card, exclusive of this U.S. Seller Incentive.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, no Affiliate shall be eligible for this U.S. Seller Incentive if (1) the Affiliate’s seller level is Below Standard, as determined in the sole discretion of EPN (or an applicable Advertiser) at the time of the Qualifying Transaction, or (2) the EPN compensation earned is greater than the Final Value Fee on the Qualifying Transaction.
All calculations of the U.S. Seller Incentive shall be made by EPN based on EPN's tracking data and information received from Advertisers. EPN tracking data and information received from Advertisers (e.g., seller standards classification and Final Value Fee) is definitive and shall control in the event of any dispute.
Exclusions:
The following exclusions apply to the U.S. Seller Incentive:
- Qualifying Transactions in Vehicles and Real Estate categories are excluded
- Additional Final Value Fees incurred by Partners pursuant to the Service metrics policy are excluded
But sellers say they were notified today that the EPN Seller Incentive is going away, effective August 1st - giving just 2 days notice of the change.
Seller enrolled in the program received an email with the following information:
We recently updated the eBay Partner Network Agreement (“Network Agreement”), which will be effective as of August 1st, 2025.
This update removed the incentives to U.S. based sellers. This means that affiliates who are also U.S.-based eBay sellers will no longer receive incentive payments for qualifying transactions involving their own inventory.
And sure enough, the EPN Network Agreement page has been updated to remove the entire section about the US Seller Incentive.
Some sellers may still be eligible to earn affiliate commissions through the standard EPN network or the newly introduced Ambassador program.
Liz Morton
But those commissions are often far less than the full amount of Final Value Fees on an item, making this a major blow for those who have enjoyed the benefits of the Seller Incentive in the past.
Stay tuned for updates in this developing story and let us know in the comments below how this eBay Partner Network change will impact your eBay business!
