Build A Niche Store – RIP

Build A Niche Store or as it is more commonly known, BANS is dead. This has been said time and time again but I truly believe it is now true.

Build A Niche Store, for the people who haven’t heard of it, is a script which allows you to fill in the blanks and create websites which use the Ebay RSS feed to create content, that is you can pull auction listings onto your web pages and if a visitor buys you get a payment.

The BANS program has been a hugely successful venture for the guys that brought it out and for its time it was revolutionary in allowing the newbie affiliate marketer to get sites up and running with very little experience or know-how.

Build A Niche Store is now dead in the water for several reasons and I know that there will be a flurry of counter arguments that will say “Oh, its another BANS is dead story that is not right”

Okay, lets take the major Unique Selling Point (USP) of BANS. You need no knowledge other than what is contained in the well written and helpful manual and Ebay has the best affiliate program available.

The manual is well thought out and does provide all the information that is required to get a site up, no argument but what most newbies do is follow the instructions, put up a site with little or no unique content and are then surprised and unhappy when it does not make them a fortune.

This used to work but now it will not. Period. Google wants fresh, new content not merely clones of Ebay. The early days were great but Google soon caught on to the fact that most BANS sites were just that.

The Bans script leaves a huge footprint and so it was easy for Google to identify and de-index them leaving the ‘webmaster’ with no rankings, no visitors and no earnings.

You can get round this by ‘hacking’ the script, basically re-writing it, but if you bought it because you do not know how to write code this is not an option for you.

This brings us to point two, Ebay have made changes to their affiliate program over the last few months and where you would earn a percentage of the Ebay charges for each sale you brought them plus a bonus payment for each person you introduced who signed up for an account you now don’t.

Ebay has introduced the Quality Click Price system which is an algorithm which determines how much each visitor is worth, they then determine how much they will pay you for each click. There seems to be very sense in how these values are determined and many affiliates are reporting huge decreases in their earnings.

Furthermore, the Build A Niche Store program is no longer supported by its authors and so there will be no upgrades or revisions in the future and so any problems you will come across will be your problem not theirs.

Build A Niche Store does get you into the private forum and this was a major plus point but I’m sorry but that is no longer true. What was once a vibrant, lively area for debate, help and ideas has basically distilled down to a few enthusiasts who have the necessary skills to keep the dying horse alive for a while longer.

If you have recently bought the BANS script I would advise getting your money back if you are still within the refund period and if you are not, then you can only expect the product to be a learning experience.

Related posts:

1. Build A Niche Store Alternatives
2. Bans Cloaking Problem | Fix Your Bans Store
3. Site Building-The Number 1 Way
4. JV Giveaways Update May 2011 | Build A Mailing List | Free Stuff!