Using ebay as an example- lets say I have a large number of items whose URLs' look like this: cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1981-VW-Vanagon-manual-seats-seven-/250953153841

I want to give my client the ability to put links to these items on their website EASILY, without knowing or checking my URL. So I created a redirect service that will map their identifier with my URL: ebay.com/fake_redirect_service/shared_identifier9918 would redirect to the link above.

This works great- my clients can easily setup these links with information they already have, and the user will see the page as usual. So on to the problem...

I'm concerned that this redirecting service will have a negative impact on my SEO ranking. Having a landing page redirect you immediately to a different URL seems like something a typical spam site would do.

Will this hurt me? Any better solutions?