Steve Hartman From ePN (eBay) Will Destroy U-Store-It

ePN sucks a little less, now that Steve Hartman is leaving the eBay arena.

For those familiar with EPN, eBay, and affiliate marketing, you most likely know the name, Steve Hartman. He has been given the credit for destroying the best affiliate program offered to those who promote companies and products in order to earn a commission.

At one time, being an eBay affiliate was enjoyable and profitable for both eBay and the affiliate. Steve Hartman, through arrogance and ignorance succeeded in not only losing the trust of affiliates, but can almost assuredly be credited with losing eBay many millions in sales that affiliates would have generated for eBay.

Those of us who have been in the business of affiliate marketing for years saw the writing on the wall when eBay first took their affiliate program inhouse and away from Commission Junction, which once handled their account. Obviously it was an attempt to create a better bottom line by cutting costs. Normally, there would be no problem with such a move, but it was done in haste and numerous problems in proper reporting of earnings to affiliates were apparent from day one. It took months before it even approached acceptability and still has problems to this day.

Then, Steve Hartman changed the awards structure for new eBay members that affiliates sent to eBay. Once earning an affiliate $35 if they had a new member join eBay, that was changed to some type of system that allowed eBay to determine what a new sign up was worth. After the change, often an affiliate was awarded only one dollar for sending them a new member. Though the bonus system, as it was originally created was flawed, as many unscrupulous affiliates took advantage of it, a better system could have been devised - such as the affiliate being awarded the $35 bonus after the new member generated $35 worth of earnings for eBay. This would have stopped the bogus sign ups in their tracks and kept the legitimate affiliates happy. Steve Hartman again, drove many good affiliates from the eBay ranks by screwing everyone for the shame of a few.

Next came the indiscriminate terminations of affiliates who had been with the eBay affiliate program (now ePN) for years. Initially it was done without warning. Thousands of letters were sent out notifying affiliates that they were "expired", which is a term ePN still uses when terminating people. The first round of notifications was retracted (most believe due to a possible class action lawsuit that may have been possible) only to be followed shortly thereafter by the terminations that continued in full force after proper notification of "reviews" to be conducted.

Finally, a new payout structure for commissions was devised. New member sign ups earn $0. Commissions on eBay sales are paid on a "per click" basis using a formula that even ePN doesn't seem to understand. It seems to change daily and payouts are determined the day following sales. So secret is this method of calculation that you are more likely to get nuclear launch codes. More than likely, the entire process is so screwed up that those at ePN couldn't explain it if they wanted to. Those affiliates who earned hundreds of dollars in commissions each month suddenly started earning only pennies on the dollar because the amount of clicks from visitors diluted the sales that were made.

Did all this "Steve Hartman Genius" make the affiliates happy, or even feel as though it was fair?

Of course not. Even those of us who are not expired, quickly changed to other companies in order to keep our standard of income at the same levels we once enjoyed with eBay. We diversified. We adapted. We changed our loyalty to programs that reciprocated loyalty. We sent visitors to other companies, such as Amazon (which is now making record sales since ePN started down the Steve Hartman path) and others from whom we know exactly what we will earn for a sale.

Where eBay was once the main source of income for many affiliates, it has now become a little add-on link. A "by the way" type of addition to our websites that says to people, "We don't really want you going there, but in case you do, here is our cookie so we might earn ten cents should you buy something." Complete websites once solely devoted to eBay have been revised to promote the products sold by other companies.

Which brings me back to Steve Hartman.

Obviously, his move from ePN to U-Store-it is an indication that his entire program has been a disaster for ePN and eBay. No doubt he thought that affiliates were an unneeded commodity for eBay. Why pay affiliates for people who would have bought from eBay anyway? - not that this is true, but it had to have been his thought process. He mistakenly believed affiliates weren't needed. If he had believed differently, he would have treated them better.

If his new programs had been successful he would not be jumping the ePN ship and ePN would certainly not be allowing him to leave. They would have offered him money, stock options, anything to keep his sorry ass where it was.

For those of us who spent time in the corporate world, this is known as gift wrapping a garbage employee. ePN was probably glad to see him go without a fuss and no doubt gave him rave reviews to any prospective employer foolish enough to take him off their hands. Steve Hartman saw the writing on the wall. His policies were dead wrong, they have hurt eBay and he was getting full credit for it. His time was limited. ePN hardly wanted to admit that they have taken a beating because of Steve Hartman, nor did eBay want to explain to stockholders that it is the affiliate that has been driving their success and it is the affiliate they pissed off, which resulted in their lackluster performance over the last year or more.

Now, Steve Hartman has joined U-Store-It. In the usual positive spin from a company, they must have quoted his resume:

"In his most recent role at eBay, Hartman was responsible for successfully leading one of the world's largest global online affiliate marketing programs through a challenging transformation of its strategy, organization, pricing, and technology, dramatically improving its ROI and strategic alignment with eBay's marketing objectives. During his nine years with the company he held numerous impactful marketing and technology leadership roles in online advertising, reporting and analytics, and data-driven applications. Prior to eBay, Hartman served as a technology consultant with Accenture, consulting with Fortune 500 clients across the insurance and automotive industries. Hartman earned a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA through the University of California-Berkeley and Columbia University."

If so successful, why is he leaving? Look at eBay's bottom line since Mr. Hartman took control and you will see his antics were textbook stupidity.

I'll have to check my stock portfolio. I'm going to short that company. If Steve Hartman does for U-Store-It, what he did for eBay, I'll make a fortune when he drives them out of business.

Mr. Steve Hartman's talents would be better suited in the employ an organization like this one, since it is more suited to his lack of intelligence, inability to answer questions posed, and his creation of an affiliate program that falls far below the standard expected.