eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has announced the launch of their own affiliate linking infrastructure called Project Rover, according to blogger Scott Jangro.

The eBay affiliate program has been powered by Commission Junction since March 2001.

According to an e-mail from eBay published on Jangro's blog, "Project Rover has been designed to work seamlessly with the Commission Junction interface, increase the effectiveness of our affiliate’s marketing campaigns, and will be rolled out to all countries."

eBay touts the following benefits of the new linking structure:

• Reduced Ad / Cookie Blocking: Rover decreases the potential for Ad / Cookie Blocking by utilizing an eBay hosted domain.
• Limited Redirects: Rover will use fewer redirects reducing the risk of user drop off and improving speed and performance.
• Global Infrastructure Improvements: Rover will enable eBay and Commission Junction to develop increased global tracking capabilities, allowing for more seamless international affiliate promotions.

Jeff Molander also weighs in on the move by eBay at ThoughtShapers.com.

There is lots of speculation over the impetus of this move by eBay from Commission Junction.

My guess is that eBay wants a more enhanced, robust system for their affiliate program, while still tapping into the CJ affiliate base.

Since Project Rover is necessitating the eBay affiliates to change out their existing Commission Junction affiliate links for links at the http://rover.ebay.com domain, could a full secession from CJ be in the works?