Paypal - Ebay Mobile Promotion

Paypal and Ebay are offering a chance to win $10,000 or one of five $100 a day prizes to Ebay buyers who purchase through Ebay Mobile and pay with Paypal. The promotion is open October 15, 2007 through November 30, 2007. Buyers meeting the requirements are automatically entered up to once a day.

http://pages.ebay.com/mobile/giveaway/

FedEx and DHL Disadvantaged on Some eBay Searches

Ina Steiner
Auctionbytes.com

eBay has replaced the feature that allows shoppers to sort by price with one that sorts by "price plus shipping." But eBay only supports UPS and USPS in its shipping calculator (and not every service from these providers). For sellers who use FedEx, DHL and other carriers and don't specify flat-rate shipping, their items will show up at the bottom of search results when sorted by price.

You can test it yourself by doing a search on eBay (try to be specific with your search terms so you only get a page or two of search results). The default sort is still Time Ending Soonest, which as of this writing appears to put all core listings on a level playing field. But if you choose to sort your results by Price + Shipping: Lowest First or Price + Shipping: Highest First, you'll see that the items in which the seller has failed to specify a shipping rate appear at the very bottom of the results, even if they put the shipping rate in the listing description.

source article

Ebay Announces Listing Fee Sale

Ebay has announced a listing fee sale on auction style and fixed price listings from October 18 through November 5, 2007. Insertion fees will be cut by 33% for any auction-style or fixed price listings, and listings under $1.00 will be discounted 50%.

The promotional rate applies to all listings on eBay.com, eBay Motors (Vehicles and Parts & Accessories) and eBay Canada.

Exclusions include International, Live Auction, Professional Services, Motors Local Market, Real Estate, Ad Format and Store Inventory listings. The following business and industrial categories are excluded from the Insertion Fee Sale: tractors & farm machinery (91952), heavy equipment (25249), concession trailers, carts (67145), imaging and aesthetics equipment (92035), forklifts and other lifts (97185), manufacturing equipment (92080), metalworking equipment (92082) and commercial printing presses (26247).

http://pages.ebay.com/promo/33offinsertions/

Ebay Testing Longer "Buy it Now" Auctions

Ebay has been in the process of testing a longer lasting buy it now option period. Currently the buy it now option disappears when the first bid is made on an item. Testing is being done in several categories to keep the BIN option open for a period of time even after bidding has begun.

According to Sohil Gilani of Ebays Buyer Experience, they are looking to find the optimum length of time to leave the BIN option open that will offer maximum benefits to both buyers and sellers.

This feature has been tested in Parts & Accessories category on eBay Motors and the Tickets category on eBay.com since June. Testing is due to expand into Clothing, Shoes & Accessories, and Cell Phones & PDAs within the next few days.

EBay Inc. casts bid for lapsed shoppers

EBay Inc. is trying hard to win back people like Dawnn Eikenberry. An avid online shopper, Eikenberry hasn't bought anything on the auction Web site since she snagged a pair of Miu Miu boots in 1999. She has often returned to eBay since then, but, overwhelmed by cluttered pages filled with countless choices, she hasn't bothered to bid.

"It's too much work at the end of the day," said the Portland resident. Besides, she said, she is nervous that she could end up with a counterfeit item. For her, she said, "they're not a trusted retailer."

source article

eBay to Use Controversial DSR Ratings in Sorting Search Results

By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com

eBay will use Detailed Seller Ratings, which are feedback ratings left for sellers anonymously by buyers, to influence search results beginning next year. eBay introduced Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR) as the cornerstone of its Feedback 2.0 system earlier this year. Currently eBay's default-sort is by time ending soonest, and seller performance is not factored into search results. According to eBay's announcement on Wednesday, this will change in 2008.

complete article at Auctionbytes.com

EBay launches "Neighborhoods" Social Networking Feature

Ebay has announced the launching of their new "Neighborhoods" feature, which appears to be the Ebay version of a social networking service. According to Nathan Sacco of Ebay, users should think of Neighborhoods as a "gathering place for fans of a certain product, team, artist, and more. They've been created around popular items and searches and are designed for members with a very specific interest in mind".

Users are encouraged to post to discussion boards, upload and share photos, and post product reviews and tips.

This feature appears to be a part of the broad reorganization strategy launched by Ebay in 2006 and designed to counter Ebays slowing growth. What effect this may have remains to be seen, however from the sellers perspective participation in Neighborhoods may have some positive value in developing brand recognition.

Ebay Warns Buyers, Sellers about Recalls

Ebay has indicated that they are sending notices to sellers of recalled items with the warning that they could lose their Ebay selling privileges.

This notice comes in the wake of the massive recall of over 21 million toys by Mattel and other smaller toy makers over the past few months. Ebay is providing a tip sheet with links to their recall policy and links to recall databases in several areas of their website.