[seibelj]

eBay is not forwarding you to third-party websites in order to purchase products. They are listing products directly. The company the author was creating forwarded you to someone else. In return the store paid a monthly fee. Essentially this company was targeted lead-gen, and stores paid a fee for them to do the work and drive traffic.

[w1ntermute]

My bad, I didn't realize the OP's company was forwarding traffic to a 3rd party. That's indeed a bad idea.