eBay is eliminating accounts of inactive affiliates. The eBay Partner Network said the main reason for taking action was because many of the old dormant accounts were created before its new application screening procedures was put in place, and eBay sees fraudulent behavior when the old accounts are activated. Apparently there is a "growing black market" for eBay affiliate accounts, according to the company.

Moving forward, eBay will close accounts if there is no activity for an extended period. "Along with the application vetting that we introduced last year, this is another step in actively maintaining eBay Partner Network so that we can better focus our efforts on our best affiliates rather than policing accounts that carry a greater risk of fraud."

eBay launched the affiliate marketing program in 2001 using Commission Junction as administrator. It eBay brought the program in-house last year with the creation of the eBay Partner Network and moved to a "Value Based Pricing" system. Some affiliates were upset when eBay terminated their accounts last year.