Cookies & Cake
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Post Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2015 10:33 pm 
 

All,

I've implemented some code that will block eBay auction links & previews if your browser is not accepting cookies.  Instead you will receive this dire warning in place of the link:

** eBay auction listing blocked.  Please enable cookies in your browser for this site and for eBay! **

The reason is simple: the majority of the revenue I receive for the site now comes from eBay commissions, which are generated when you click through an eBay link here and win an auction.  eBay uses cookies to associate you with The Acaeum.  If you don't accept cookies from eBay, we don't receive a commission.  Which is fine with eBay, actually -- they get to keep their cookies and eat their cake, too (the cake being auction fees -- kept all for themselves).

I started noticing that several high-dollar items won by Acaeum members weren't generating revenue.  There's several reasons why this might happen; the biggest is that when you click through a link here, you have 24 hours to bid or buy an item in order for the commission to register (that's the reason I implemented the eBay Watchlist feature on The Acaeum, in order to encourage you to click a link here just before bidding).  Placing a bid more than 24 hours after the click won't credit The Acaeum.  There's not much more I can do about that.  But it occurred to me that those folks with cookies turned off wouldn't be crediting, either.

In any event, I can't actually tell whether you have enabled your browser to accept cookies from eBay.  I can only check if you're accepting cookies from The Acaeum.  Therefore, in order to both display auction links here, and to generate commission revenue, please enable cookies for both here and eBay.

The recent EU cookie paranoia has caused an awful lot of folks to disable cookies completely, due to security & privacy concerns.  This is unfounded.  Cookies present absolutely no security risk, and very little practical privacy risk (primarily because a website can only track its own cookies -- the only way eBay could track you is if you visited an eBay affiliate site, like PayPal used to be -- then they could tell that the same person visited eBay and PayPal).  For a great layman's explanation, see this article here: http://www.thesafemac.com/the-myth-of-t ... us-cookie/ .

The tl;dr version: please enable cookies on here and eBay in order to display auctions.  You'll help us out, and your privacy and security will be unaffected.  Appreciate your understanding!

Foul

  

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Verbose Collector

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Post Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 10:17 am 
 

Hi Foul, totally sensible.  

I've been accessing the site through the Safari browser on my iPhone and the links are blocked.  Would you have an idea how to fix that?

Thanks!


I draw the line at collecting... D&D beach towels.

Shoulda been: ".. from Pangreenia to Floratopolis, from mystical Treeonia of spectral Forests to Schruborial dimensions." - The Forests of Leng

  

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Post Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 10:42 am 
 

At the risk of the obvious... are you blocking cookies on your phone?  Safari web settings on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support .

The system here tries to set a dummy cookie on your browser.  If it can't, it assumes you have cookies blocked.

Foul

  

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Post Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 10:58 am 
 

Cool, thank you!


I draw the line at collecting... D&D beach towels.

Shoulda been: ".. from Pangreenia to Floratopolis, from mystical Treeonia of spectral Forests to Schruborial dimensions." - The Forests of Leng

  

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Post Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 12:11 pm 
 

Would hope for a decent increase in click-through credits from those who are currently not registered if that works properly, Scott. :)

Still problematic here: no great shakes but I presume I won't be the only one.
Using Firefox, have never had acaeum or eBay cookies blocked but deliberately added an "allow" just in case, wiped the slate clean and refreshed on the Class 2 & 3 Rares page. Still showing the blocked message for all auctions despite apparently picking up the cookies (or at least some of these?);

Image


"7.3 ORGANIZING THE PARTY: Always have a keg, even if it's BYOB...
7.4 TAKING THE GAME SERIOUSLY: Don't"

  

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Post Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 12:56 pm 
 

You'll need to refresh on the index page in order for the system check to run.  Let me know if you're still blocked after doing so.

Foul

  

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Post Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 1:09 pm 
 

Thought I'd gone back via the index page but insufficient explicit refreshing, I presume... F5'd there as well, foo-bar'd & working, if that's not a contradiction in terms. ;) Cheers!

Image


"7.3 ORGANIZING THE PARTY: Always have a keg, even if it's BYOB...
7.4 TAKING THE GAME SERIOUSLY: Don't"

  

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Post Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 1:53 pm 
 

I've now adjusted it so you *don't* have to visit the index page once you've enabled cookies; the forum will detect it regardless.  (I hadn't anticipated that a registered forum user would direct-link to anything other than the index page, faro!)

Foul

  

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Post Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:02 pm 
 

FoulFoot wrote in Cookies & Cake: the majority of the revenue I receive for the site now comes from eBay commissions, which are generated when you click through an eBay link here and win an auction.  eBay uses cookies to associate you with The Acaeum.


I'm sure a big part of the problem is that many bidders use auction management software to place actual bids on items, and those systems do not share cookies with the browsers we use to navigate sites like this. I'm sure people add things to their watch lists after clicking through links here, but the bidding is decoupled from that entirely.

 WWW  

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Post Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:17 pm 
 

Very true!

Foul

  

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Post Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 11:26 pm 
 

do you get anything for just the clicks on the links? Or is it only if the link is clicked and then the auction is won?

I can't say for certain, but I assume many of the high dollar items were won using sniping services

  

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Post Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 1:07 am 
 

Just for items clicked and then won.  And yes, sniping does take a bite.  However, should a user click a link in the 24 hours before the snipe (it doesn't even have to be that item; any click through to eBay will do), we'll get credit for the win.

Foul

  

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Post Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 10:46 am 
 

got it. Does that go for all links including the ones any of us post in "interesting items on ebay"? or do we need to post in a certain way to make sure it could be credited

  


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Post Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:04 am 
 

Scott,

I really love the Cookies & Cake idea and am glad to hear the site is receiving revenue via the click throughs.  At the moment, the feature works for the Rares in the Classifieds section, but what would it take to do the same for user-submitted eBay links for some of the more common items?

Here is my cunning plan. ;)

1) A validated/qualified Acaeum member would post an eBay link to an anonymous Classifieds thread called something like 'Acaeum Wish List'.  (User ID and post would be hidden.)
2) The site would process the URL and generate a viewable, eBay click through link in another thread called 'Acaeum Bids & Buys'.
3) The user would then be able to click through the Acaeum link to purchase the BIN or bid on an auction.
4) The Acaeum could then receive the revenue on the purchased BIN or completed auction assuming all the conditions are met.  (**)
5) We could then start an 'Acaeum Bids & Buys - Silliest purchases thread!'.  (I'm sure I would be called out several times. :)

(**) I do not know how long the click through post must be visible on the Acaeum for the payment to be made, 1 minute, 1 hour, 24 hours, or more.  Also, I do not know if this user-submitted feature violates any eBay terms and conditions.

I think the process should be fairly anonymous and obviously it is not for everyone if certain purchases are to be kept private; however, I thought I would mention it as another possible source of revenue.  Perhaps the feature should be limited to the 'Toys & Hobbies' and/or 'Books' categories since the purchases should be generally relevant to our hobby.  

Thanks again, Scott!  We do appreciate everything you have done for this community!


Hello Mrs. Cleaver, Theodore.

Gee, Mrs. Cleaver ... That certainly is a lovely dress.

  

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Post Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 12:02 pm 
 

Oh, the magic is quite pervasive.  All eBay links on the site are converted to give us credit; you don't have to do anything special.  In fact, if you click through (any) eBay link here, and then wander off to some other part of eBay and place a winning bid on a car or a Beanie Baby, we still get credit.  The auction end time doesn't matter, just that you place a bid (or Buy it Now) within 24 hours of the click.  When you land on the eBay website initially, after clicking through, eBay puts a tracking cookie on your computer that associates you with arriving from The Acaeum, for 24 hours.

So thanks for the suggestions, but it's all covered!  (Other than the sniping thing.  The eBay affiliate program prohibits affiliates (us) from automatically placing a bid on a user's behalf.  The sniping web sites get their revenue from charging you a commission directly; they aren't in the eBay affiliate program, and eBay doesn't pay them a commission.  Theoretically).

Foul

  


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Post Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 12:30 pm 
 

FoulFoot wrote in Cookies & Cake:Oh, the magic is quite pervasive.  All eBay links on the site are converted to give us credit; you don't have to do anything special.  In fact, if you click through (any) eBay link here, and then wander off to some other part of eBay and place a winning bid on a car or a Beanie Baby, we still get credit.  The auction end time doesn't matter, just that you place a bid (or Buy it Now) within 24 hours of the click.  When you land on the eBay website initially, after clicking through, eBay puts a tracking cookie on your computer that associates you with arriving from The Acaeum, for 24 hours.


AWESOME!  I will make sure to always come back, click through, and get some fresh cookies before I purchase anything on eBay!  (No one wants stale cookies even at a Beanie Baby tea party. :))


Hello Mrs. Cleaver, Theodore.

Gee, Mrs. Cleaver ... That certainly is a lovely dress.

  

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Post Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 3:15 pm 
 

It is appreciated!

Foul

  

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Post Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:52 am 
 

One followup question on the cookies, and one technical issue I just came across.

Cookie question: Do we need to be logged on in order for this cookie-saving click thru program to work?

Technical question: So initially I was not logged in when I viewed this topic

Late 2015 Whitebox prices.

I saw Faro's post, but it had this message in place of the link.

Attachment:
ebay auction blocked please enable cookies message.jpg


I definitely had the cookies previously enabled in my browser preferences since I've always had them enabled (never toggled this on and off). Yet when I was replying to Faro's comment, I looked below in the "Topic Review" and could then see in his post the actual link to the auction.

Attachment:
ebay link shows in topic review when replying.jpg


I switched to a different browser and was actually able to see Faro's link (without being logged in) so I'm guessing there was some issue with Firefox's cookie-saving and not being logged in.

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