Sold on eBay, Shipped by Amazon.com

Amazon.com is expanding a program to allow independent sellers — even vendors who sell through eBay — to use its shipping services.

Your next eBay purchase could arrive at your door in a brown Amazon.com box.

Amazon.com, the online retailer, is expanding a program designed to allow independent sellers to use its network of distribution centers to store and ship their products, according to Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive.

Since last fall, the program, Fulfillment by Amazon, has allowed independent sellers who list their goods on Amazon.com to use its network of more than 20 distribution centers around the world to fill orders. Now Amazon, which is based in Seattle, is opening the program to vendors who list their items elsewhere on the Web — on their own site, through Google, or even on Amazon’s e-commerce rival, eBay.

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Ebay Preparing for Postal Rate Increase

Ebay has been busy preparing for the May 14, 2007 U.S.Postal Service rate increases. To assist both sellers and buyers with the transition they are taking the following steps::

- Rate changes will be updated in the Ebay Shipping Center.

- Beginning early May the Sell Your Item form will include a link to research the new rates in the Research Rates tool.

- Functionality in both Turbo Lister and Mass Listing Editor will be enhanced to allow addition of the new rates in bulk.

- Ebay Shipping Calculator will be updated in early May to reflect new rates.

- Paypal shipping labels will calculate new rates for all prepaid labels printed after May 14th.

Average U.S. Household Has Over 50 Unused Items Worth $3100 According to eBay/Nielsen Survey

SAN JOSE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Many Americans think spring cleaning is a way to get rid of clutter and get organized, however it's also the perfect opportunity to earn some money and reduce the impact on the environment at the same time. A new eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY) survey conducted by Nielsen Customized Research reveals that the average American household spent over $3,100 for the 50 unused items around their home, and that selling these items secondhand is widely considered a way of recycling.

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Shipping Sidekick Free Trial Offer

Shipping Sidekick offers a service which allows sellers to quickly compare rates and delivery times for all of the major shipping companies on one screen. Service supports rates from FedEx, UPS, USPS, and DHL rates.

For a limited time they are offering a free 14 day trial for their service. Beyond that, per month rates are relatively inexpensive. They also are offering a free shipping scale with gold and platinum memberships. The company is a member of the Ebay Developers program.

My initial impression was why pay for something that I can do myself. What I had not realized was the incredible savings in time by having to enter information one time on one website and getting rate and delivery comparisions for all four companies.

Highly recommended for anyone shipping more than a few parcels a week.

Website link is here Shipping Sidekick

Ebay Discount Listing Day on April 24

Ebay has announced a discount listing day for Tuesday, April 24. Auction style insertion fees will be reduced to 20 cents for one day only. Listing upgrades will be charged at regular prices.

This promotion will not apply to the following types of listings: all eBay Motors listings (including Parts & Accessories, Passenger Vehicles, Motorcycles, Power Sports, and Other Vehicles), as well as International, Live Auction, Professional Services, Real Estate, Ad Format, and Store Inventory listings and certain Business & Industrial categories.


http://pages.ebay.com/promo/20auctions/?ssPageName=CMDV:AB

Tech gunman bought ammo clips on eBay

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech killer went to eBay to buy ammunition clips for one of the types of guns he used in the rampage, a spokesman for the auction site confirmed Saturday.

Using the handle Blazers5505, Seung-Hui Cho bought two 10-round magazines for the Walther P22 — one of two handguns used in the massacre of 32 people. The clips were bought March 22 from a gun shop in Idaho

"It's apparent that he purchased the empty magazine clips," eBay spokesman Hani Durzy said. "They're similar to what could be purchased in any sporting goods store around the country."

On eBay and affiliated sites, Cho also sold several books with violent themes, tickets to Hokies football games, and a graphics calculator that contained several games.


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Days numbered for tax-free Net sales

Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache Staff Writer
CNET News.com

A powerful alliance of politicians, including key U.S. senators and the National Governors Association, is arguing that out-of-state retailers must be required to. At the moment, for instance, companies like Seattle-based Amazon.com are not required to collect sales taxes on shipments to millions of its customers in California.

This is hardly a new debate: officials from the governors' association have been to enact such a law for at least six years. They invoke arguments, which have been unsuccessful so far, like saying that reduced sales tax revenue threatens budgets for schools and police.

What has changed, however, is the political dynamic. While its precise contours are difficult to map, a Democrat-controlled Congress is seen as more likely to agree to the idea than one controlled by Republicans.

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Firefox Looking for Ebay Buyers and Sellers

Firefox has announced their launch of the Firefox Companion for Ebay. The new plug-in which is currently in Alpha stage is designed to provide Mozilla and Ebay customers a faster and safer online auction experience. They are looking for experienced Ebay members (who use Firefox) to provide quality feedback during the testing phase.

Firefox sign up page is here.

IRS to Actively Go After Ebay Sellers

By Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Americans who sell items through Internet auction sites could be in for an unpleasant surprise at tax time next year, thanks to an IRS proposal designed to identify taxpayers who don't report income from those sales.

The U.S. Treasury Department wants Congress to force auction sites like eBay, Amazon.com and uBid.com to turn over the identities and Social Security numbers of a large portion of their users to the IRS--so tax collectors know how much each person made through online selling.

The effort is part of a larger plan, which enjoys enthusiastic support from both Democrats and Republicans, to close what's known as the "tax gap." It's a broad term that covers Americans who don't file tax returns or those who underreport their income, and the IRS believes it to total around $345 billion for the 2001 tax year.

But the proposal is likely to encounter stiff opposition from Internet auction aficionados, free-market advocates and the auction Web sites themselves, not all of which are large enough to be able to comply with the rules without financial hardship.

"It's a total nightmare," said Matt Stinchcomb, vice president of marketing for Etsy.com, which allows people to sell handmade goods. "Our goal as a company is to allow people to make a living making things, and this is just another impediment to that."

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iSold It Suspends Franchise Sales of eBay Drop-Off Stores

By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com

iSold It has stopped accepting applications for its franchise eBay drop-off stores as it focuses on helping existing franchisees, according to the company's president and CEO Ken Sully. iSold It is focusing on what makes some franchisees do well and makes others say it's too hard and too much work. The model is complicated, Sully said, and "everyone is trying to figure out what works best."

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Ebay Adds Proactive Fraud Protection

Ebay, in their ongoing bid to stifle auction fraud, has taken yet another step with what they are referring to as proactive fraud protection.

According to Rob Chestnut, Ebay Senior V.P. in charge of Global Trust and Safety, they are taking the following actions:

For safety reasons, items reportedly most favored by fraudsters may not be viewable for several hours before the listings are indexed into Search results. These new listings are still viewable on the site through My eBay or if you search for the specific item number; however, they are not immediately visible through a keyword search or Browse.

To maximize exposure for these listings and ensure that buyers who browse by category see these items, we've made an important change. Any listings impacted by this review process will appear in the "Newly Listed" sort based on when they are made visible in Search (as opposed to when they are listed.) This ensures they will appear at the top of default Browse results - as well as within the "Newly Listed" sort option for Search - where they belong.

(huh??)

For obvious reasons they are not elaborating on the types of listings that are affected by these changes.......

9 Common Hurdles to Ebay Success

Entrepreneur.com

Believe it or not, most of today's Titanium and Platinum-level eBay Power-Sellers were once small-time operators. Although they generate hundreds of thousands--even millions--of dollars in sales each year now, many of them started as one-person businesses, often listing individual items from their attics or basements.

Why are some eBay sellers able to achieve PowerSeller status while others struggle to be profitable? The difference is in how they tackle the obstacles every eBay seller faces. Those who face the challenges head-on ultimately create high-volume ventures, while those who don't generally hit a sales plateau beyond which they simply can't move.

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Ebay to Cease Oxygen Device Sales

BUFFALO, NY

In what stakeholders call a victory for the entire respiratory industry and the patients it serves, AirSep Corp executives said that giant Internet marketer eBay will cease selling prescription oxygen devices

The issue of what happens to concentrators and other oxygen delivery devices after an oxygen patient dies has long been a concern to industry stakeholders, according to AirSep and others, with many risks for consumers who assume ownership of used equipment via garage and Internet sales There is, for example, no assurance that the level of oxygen is appropriate for the user, and the absence of clinical oversight can lead to dangerous outcomes.

In the fight to eliminate sales of prescription respiratory equipment on eBay, the industry has finally won, said AirSep's Joe Priest, president and CEO.

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New Ebay Research Tool

As Was Inc. has developed an Ebay research tool that will track visitors to your listings or store and provided detailed reports on variety of buyer parameters. The tool, known as Everyseller Research, costs a flat-fee of $27 per month for unlimited usage for each eBay account and includes 3-month archiving. Everyseller Research is an eBay Compatible Application (reviewed and approved for use by Ebay)

Vendors Website

eBay, Mozilla, Collaborate on Firefox Auction Solution

San Jose, California - (Cheap Web Hosting Directory) - March 29, 2007

E-commerce company, eBay International AG, along with Mozilla, will be working together to improve the online auction experience for people in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Mozilla and eBay will collaborate on new technology and approaches, in order to enable eBay users to stay current with auctions from within Firefox, regardless of their Internet or physical locations.

Christopher Beard, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management at Mozilla। “We are excited to work with eBay to improve the online auction experience with Firefox,” said “Firefox provides a robust platform for integration with leading Web services, which we’re pleased to extend through our partnership with eBay।”

Harald Eisenächer, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, eBay in Germany added, “We are thrilled to be working with Mozilla and to explore a great opportunity that benefits both communities of Our work together will help the great community of Firefox users more easily use eBay and stay up to date with their auctions.”


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