Odd linking to web site
I'm not sure which forum to post this in, so I thought I'd start here.
I noticed this odd referrer URL (ebay.com)on my website statistics the other day and when I looked back in the statistics a few months ago, I found out it has been going on for a few months. I was curious as to why ebay.com was linking to my site.
I thought that someone was hotlinking to the an image on the site but got this back from the company.
I have contacted the host company for the site, and received this reply
Quote: We don't believe there is any hotlinking going on, it's just a bit curious as to what exactly is going on. basically, someone is requesting the file "http://www.ebay.com"; when connecting to your account. your default page is being returned to them.
so essentially, it's no different than someone requesting "file.html" on your account (ie, browsing that page) but as to why they're doing it i'm not sure, i haven't heard of any sort of scam or similar which uses this technique, so it does seem quite harmless,
Has anyone heard of this? Any idea why this is happening? I'm not sure it is "harmless" and have concerns someone is bouncing an illegal spam or scam off my site in attempts to make it appear as if an email or something is coming from my site when it's not.
Can anyone help?
Thanks
CptAwesome posted this at 16:15 — 14th March 2005.
He has: 370 posts
Joined: Dec 2004
Sounds like a poorly written link thats your problem, do a google search for "http://www.youdomain.tld/http://www.ebay.com" see if anything jumps out.
Busy posted this at 21:07 — 14th March 2005.
He has: 6,151 posts
Joined: May 2001
Don't suppose you use a .htaccess file to ban user agents etc and redirect to ebay, some of the scripts found (free) on the web use ebay, msn, hotmail, or porn sites as redirects
baldrick posted this at 18:44 — 18th April 2005.
He has: 388 posts
Joined: Apr 2005
hey man ebay link to you thats gotta increese your search position
JeevesBond posted this at 19:54 — 18th April 2005.
He has: 3,956 posts
Joined: Jun 2002
Or maybe someone's just messed-up when writing a link to your site, it could be as simple as copying and pasting two things instead of one! I personally make copy and paste mistakes all the time, and the link works because it redirects to your home page so chances are they haven't even noticed there is a mistake in their coding (especially if using a WYSIWYG editor).
a Padded Cell our articles site!
andy206uk posted this at 10:58 — 19th April 2005.
He has: 1,758 posts
Joined: Jul 2002
Have you ever linked to ebay on your site? It could be that they have seen you in their referer stats and then clicked the link in the stats to see your site.
Andy
Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.