Squidoo.com Takes Another Hit: This Time It's eBay

There have been a lot of changes recently over at Squidoo.com first they changed all out going links to nofollow. It seemed that they had taken a pretty big hit from Google for too much spammy content. I however remained positive knowing that Squidoo's main value is in promoting their affiliates Amazon, eBay and Adsense. Out of these by far eBay is the most valuable as it is very difficult to get a site approved for the eBay Partner Network. Squidoo though has taken another hit this time from eBay. I recieved this news in my email today:

 In the coming months eBay will be releasing revamped pricing that will favor new and infrequent buyers in their payouts. This means that if someone who is a regular eBay buyer visits your lens and makes a purchase via an eBay module, the royalty percentage will be lower. However if a new or infrequent buyer completes a sale, your royalty should be higher. This may or may not affect your overall royalties. It just depends on who your customers are. eBay will be sharing new information about this change with us.

May or may not affect royalties? My guess is it will mean lower royalties otherwise there would be no reason for eBay to implement it. Also, they added this bewildering comment:

More immediately, however - starting May 1st - eBay will be reducing payments to Squidoo and their lensmasters by up to 40%. This is a temporary move and will affect all lensmasters who drive traffic to eBay.

Ummm, why? That's a pretty steep cut with no real explanation given. I like Squidoo making lenses is easy and a good way to increase your online presence. However, lately they seem like they are fighting an uphill battle that they'll ultimately lose. Now may be the time to save any of your lenses to your hard drive for further reference down the road.