eBay Sellers Remain Loyal but Want Reduced Charges

The recent eBay annual conference brought over 10,000 eBay users together and many sellers expressed similar views on two themes – eBay’s charges and eBay’s dominance in the online auction marketplace.

Few sellers have plans to move their business away from the world’s largest online marketplace, but it seems that many would welcome a strong rival for eBay that could help to drive down the company’s present scale of charges.

eBay’s expansion has slowed in recent months, with Q105 listing growth amounting to around 30% over last year – only half of its’ growth 2 years ago. But this still represents a tremendous increase in trading volume in comparison with eBay’s online competitors and would be viewed as highly successful for any traditional business.

Many people expect Google to emerge as the main competitor to eBay when the company launches its “Google Wallet” e-payments service which, if combined with Froogle comparison shopping and classified ads, could be a formidable competitor to eBay auctions and shopping.

But most eBay UK shops and auction sellers that we’ve talked to this week seem to agree that rather than leave eBay, they would simply become members of whatever competitive services Google might decide to launch and therefore have the benefit of multiple channels to their marketplace as well as fee competition between eBay and Google.

eBay Introduces ProStores Service

In a keynote speech at the eBay conference in California, Meg Whitman, Chief Executive told 10,000 eBay users, “As your business expanded, many of you are looking for opportunities off of eBay. And why wouldn’t you? You are smart business people.”

This message seems to signal a marked change in former eBay policy, which did not actively encourage eBay sellers to promote off-eBay transactions in addition to their Auction and Buy it Now listings.

EBay Inc has now launched an online service that will enable eBay sellers to create customised web shops and stores alongside the main eBay marketplace. ProStores allows users to create a shopfront that includes their own brand identity together with customised categories and unique internet address.

Whilst ProStores offers a “stand-alone” capability, the service still provides integration with existing eBay shops and also with eBay’s secure online payments system – Paypal. This combination gives the best of both worlds – eBay’s strong brand identity and market presence, plus the unique selling points of each individual vendor.

President of eBay North America, Bill Cobb said, "EBay sellers are looking to maximize their sales online, and many are interested in doing so through more than one channel."

Well done eBay! – this new approach offers eBay shops a great way of leveraging the strength of eBay on a global basis, together with their own special skills and services.

eBay – the Place to Get Revenge?

In revenge for his flirting while on-air, the wife of Kerrang 105.2 Radio DJ has put his car up for sale on eBay for 50 pence.

It’s been reported that Tim Shaw has had an unusual career as a DJ with stunts including forcing pepper into his eyes, and allegedly breaking into his boss's Sutton Coldfield home to write obscene graffiti on the walls.

Shaw apparently claimed he was just getting his own back on his boss, Andrew Jeffries in retaliation for being told on-air his contract wouldn’t be renewed.

But he went too far when he made jokes about leaving his wife and children after an interview with model Jodie Marsh. His wife, Hayley Shaw, was listening to the broadcast and was so outraged at her husband's flirting that she decided to auction his black Lotus Esprit Turbo worth around £25,000, for 50p.

It isn’t known at the moment whether the sale will be completed, but if you fancy having a look at the auction, you can search eBay UK and maybe find a great bargain – even if it’s not a Lotus Esprit for 50p!

eBay UK Auctions - an Addictive Habit?

This week, ITN News has featured a number of stories about ebay co.uk – the UK website of eBay Inc, the world’s largest online auction.

On Wednesday, ITN focused on the dilemma of one woman who seemingly can’t bear to lose an auction. Whenever she fails to win, she immediately places a bid on something else – even if the item isn’t really something she needs.

eBay can become quite a compulsive obsession for many of us, although most people keep a level head when bidding and carefully check out the description, seller’s feedback and true value of the item for sale before committing a bid.

One of the best ways of checking out the value of an auction item is to search eBay history for completed auctions and “Buy it Now” prices of similar or identical items to the one you want to buy. Then you can compare the descriptions, quality and prices to see how much you should make your highest bid to still get you a good bargain.

If you haven’t joined ebay.co.uk yet, you won’t be able to access eBay’s history of items sold previously, so take a look at Value an eBay Item which has descriptions and prices of several thousand completed eBay items listed across 30 different categories. Happy bargain hunting!

Don’t forget – you can register on eBay at no charge and get access to all the facilities of the world’s largest online auction.

eBay to Face Challenge from Google?

According to Industry sources, Google is expected to introduce electronic payment services during 2005. The service is apparently code-named “Google Wallet” and is said to be somewhat similar to eBay’s PayPal.

Google has not yet gone public with functional details of the rumoured e-payments system, but it seems probable that there could be similarities with PayPal in terms of people being able to make secure internet purchases using credit cards or bank accounts to fund their “Google Wallet” accounts.

eBay made over $200 million revenue during Q105 from PayPal, so this segment of the market would seem a sensible and attractive area for Google to move into, especially if the world’s leading Search Engine company is also moving into classified advertising, as other industry pundits expect.

Google’s existing and well-established AdWords and AdSense services are aimed primarily at the business sector, but it would seem a logical progression to add Classified Ads for the general public. If this is actually the case, then “Google Wallet” would be the ideal accompaniment to “Google Classified” and this would indeed provide competition for eBay auctions UK as well as eBay.com on a global basis.

eBay.co.uk Features on ITN News

eBay’s 10th anniversary is gaining considerable media attention for the world’s largest internet auction site. This week, ITN News is covering various aspects of the UK operation - ebay co.uk – and includes features on both the positive and cautionary aspects of doing business through eBay.

Last night, ITN’s 6 o’clock News gave a brief roundup of eBay’s history as a local US-based auction site focussing on antiques and collectables. Since 1995, eBay has grown tremendously with around 150 million registered users world-wide.

In the UK, eBay has some 10 million users and at any one time, many millions of auctions are active, with items for sale ranging from cosmetics and Doctor Who collectables costing a few pounds, through to houses and cars for many thousands of pounds.

The vast majority of transactions on ebay co.uk are completed perfectly satisfactorily for both the buyer and the seller, but like any other internet site, eBay can be a vehicle for unscrupulous dealers to promote their wares and ITN will be featuring some of the scams that have appeared in recent times.

But to keep things in context, eBay and its’ secure payment facility – PayPal – have many security procedures that protect buyers and sellers alike from misrepresentation and fraud so that eBay is one of the best and safest places to do business on the internet.

For more information about ebay co.uk and the other international eBay sites, together with advice about trading securely, take a look at eBay Shopping UK and eBay Auction UK.

eBay Mystery Auction for Cash Register

In the latest of a series of mystery auctions on eBay, Dennis Whipple from New Jersey USA is inviting bids for a cash register containing guess what? – cash.

Dennis is apparently the original creator of the “Mystery Bank Account” and is now selling another unusual mystery item on ebay.com presumably in the hope of raising more money from the auction than is actually contained in the cash register.

Bidding on a mystery auction is, of course, something of a gamble because no-one except the seller knows what to expect inside the sealed envelope, box or, in this case, cash register. But to help things along, when bidding reaches $100, Dennis will be giving clues to assist bidders in working out how much is in the cash register.

Bidding had recently reached just $39 even though it is reported that the pictures show hundreds of dollars inside the cash register. Golden Palace Casino, famous for placing the winning bids on previous mystery auctions and other “weird” eBay items, could be a bidder for this item. If that does happen, watch out for the price soaring! Apparently, Golden Palace paid over $7,000 in a previous mystery auction, but has not disclosed what was actually contained in the mystery envelope.

I haven’t seen many mystery auctions on ebay co.uk although they do appear from time to time – has anyone bought one? If you’d like to have a look at Dennis’ auction, you can enter the item ID 5590151250 in search ebay uk or the description - Mystery Cash Register – should probably find the item too.

eBay Auctions can be Voice-Enabled

With millions of items for sale on ebay.co.uk, one of the most difficult things to do is capture potential buyers’ attention so you get a sale. Now, SellersVoice.com is launching a new service in the US that may be available in the UK soon. SellersVoice enables eBay sellers to easily add audio to their auctions, helping to increase bids and profits.

In a recent press release, SellersVoice said, ‘Until now, eBay sellers have relied on written copy and pictures to motivate their bidders. SellersVoice now makes it easy to add the human voice—the most powerful selling tool—to their auctions.’

‘Voice grabs bidders' attention, communicates information more efficiently, reaches more visitors, adds emotion, and builds relationships. In the hyper-competitive auction space, adding audio is the best way to supercharge listings,’ the company said.

SellersVoice has developed a very easy-to-use record-by-phone system. Sellers simply call a toll-free number [in the USA] and record a sales message to be played on their auction. Sellers then go to their SellersVoice account and click on the appropriate eBay listing.

Seconds later, a “silent auction” has been converted to a ”talking auction” There is no software to install, no impact on site performance, and no special media player needed. Using SellersVoice, audio can be added to auctions in less than one minute.

You can contact SellersVoice in the US on 415-332-5050, but remember you will need to register with ebay first for your local country before you can use this new service.

eBay Partnership to Boost China Operations

In a recent press release, Global Sources Ltd announced it is teaming with eBay to help create online distribution services aimed specifically at manufacturers in China.

The deal will allow Global Source’s clients to promote their products through the eBay EachNet Web site in China and further expansion is expected to give traders access to eBay’s global community. The initiative is primarily designed for business-to-business transactions and will be launched later in 2005.

The teaming deal follows announcements earlier this year by eBay president Meg Whitman in Beijing who said, 'China could be eBay's largest local market in a five to ten year period' - provided the current growth strategy comes to fruition.

Industry sources believe eBay's problem in China is that a local player called Taobao.com is experiencing much faster growth than eBay so this deal with Global Sources seems to make good sense in helping to address the business procurement sector in China as well as consumers.

One of the other keys to eBay’s future success in China is PayPal, eBay’s online payments system. The PayPal system is a major factor in helping to remove the financial risk for both buyers and sellers in online auctions, particularly for international transactions.

This further move in the globalisation of eBay will allow sellers in low-cost countries including China to sell their goods to the US and Western European countries. But that development could be bad news for eBay shops and stores on ebay.co.uk and ebay.com since they will face more competition.

Joining an externally promoted directory of ebay shops is one way to gain additional publicity and differentiation from the emerging global competition.

eBay Drop-Off Stores Gain Momentum

An ever-increasing trend within the eBay community seems to be the opening of local drop-off stores that act as agents for sellers and make their money by taking a commission in exchange for their services.

The first eBay drop-off store franchise in Canada was opened earlier this year by Imagine This Sold, which provides online auction services through eBay. Now
Orbit Drop Inc. has announced it has started to franchise its retail eBay drop-off stores in Colorado. Apparently, the first two franchise stores will soon be open for business in Denver and Aurora, with more to follow.

A recent press release stated that “Orbit Drop, Inc. is a franchiser of retail eBay drop-off stores. The Orbit Drop franchise locations offer an easy and convenient way to sell items online. It is most definitely an amazing concept; a store where people come to make money, not spend it.”

Cain McKnight, CEO of Orbit Drop is reported as saying, "We are moving right along in a fast paced market. Our franchise model, financing capabilities and excellent management team allow us to position ourselves as a leader and innovator in the eBay drop-off sector."

Many long-established eBay shops are now examining a variety of new ways to do business and to attract potential buyers in the increasingly competitive eBay marketplace. Some shops and stores are joining externally promoted directories so they gain not only from overall eBay brand recognition, but are also able to get a lead over their competitors.

eBay provides a very good environment to trade both locally and on a global basis, but as the number of international sellers in low-cost countries such as China and India increases and eBay’s globalisation continues, evolution of new methods will be necessary for eBay shops and stores in the US and Europe who want to stay in front.

eBay Website Launched in Ireland

eBay already has around 200,000 members in Ireland and employs some 800 staff at its European Customer Support HQ in Blanchardstown. Now, the world’s largest online auction company has launched a dedicated Irish website.

To promote this new initiative, eBay is sponsoring a major charity event with celebrities including Radio DJ Dusty Rhodes, Dane Guiden of D-Side and Big Brother star Ray Shah taking part in bungee jumping from a dockside crane in Dublin. Fundraising is in aid of DEBRA Ireland – a charity that provides support for children and adults with Epidermolysis Bullosa.

David Jesse is managing director of eBay Ireland and is reported as saying, “With 10 years of experience, eBay is excited to enter the Irish market and plans to deliver to Irish eBayers a marketplace that’s as vibrant, fun and trusted as every other eBay marketplace around the world.

It’s good to see that eBay is continuing to use its position as a major internet auction site to help charities in many parts of the world. For some time now ebay.co.uk has had a special category just for charity auctions and over 100 charities have raised funds through celebrity auctions as well as selling donated items from the general public.

eBay Acts to Stop Sale of Live8 Tickets

People hoping to win tickets for the Live8 concert in Hyde Park, London, sent more than two million text messages costing £1.50 each in an attempt to win 150,000 tickets that were randomly selected by computer.

Now, some of those tickets have been offered for sale on ebay.co.uk and this has led to a furious response from the organiser of Live8 - Bob Geldorf, who is reported as saying that winners of the ticket lottery were profiteering by selling them for prices of up to £500 each.

Culture minister, James Purnell, is also reported as saying "I wholeheartedly share the concert organisers' deep annoyance that some of these tickets appear to be changing hands for many thousands of pounds."

eBay has now responded by banning the sale of these tickets and in a press release, an eBay spokesperson said, "We have listened to eBay's community of users and the message has been clear. They do not want the tickets to be resold on the site. Once we are made aware of any Live8 tickets being resold, they will be taken down."

But if some people are apparently prepared to pay such large amounts for the tickets, maybe it would be a good idea if some were sold on eBay charity auctions provided that all the proceeds were donated in aid of the Live8 fundraising programme?

eBay Moving Towards a Monopoly Position?

Without doubt, eBay is the world’s largest online auction company with around 135m registered users across the globe trading goods worth more than $40 billion a year across 100 countries.

eBay was founded 10 years ago in Silicon Valley as a local auction site specialising in collectable items. Since then, the company has grown to massive proportions both by organic growth and through selected acquisitions.

There are direct competitors to eBay in the online auction marketplace, but most are relatively tiny in comparison and some online buyers and sellers are becoming increasingly concerned that eBay’s dominance in the marketplace will eventually place them in a monopoly position.

But the commercial opportunities presented by a continually expanding global web are almost limitless - the pace of change is extremely rapid and barriers to entry for new players are low compared with traditional “bricks and mortar” businesses. So it seems quite possible that new companies will arise to challenge eBay’s supremacy in the internet auction sector.

One of the main threats to eBay could come from established mega sites such as Google and Amazon. While both of these companies have origins in different internet areas from eBay, they have recently moved into service segments that overlap with eBay. Amazon now has auctions and Google, already the leader in pay-per-click business advertising, is said to be moving towards classified ads for the general public.

So, with strong competition coming from established internet players as well as new start-ups, it seems unlikely that eBay will ever achieve a true monopoly position. Going shopping on ebay auction UK or any of the other eBay country sites would still appear to offer the widest selection of bargains for the immediate future.

eBay Auction for Superstars’ Breath

In one of the more unusual eBay auctions, an enterprising seller is inviting bids for a jar filled with nothing more than air.

But this air is possibly quite special since it was “captured” on June 7th when top filmstars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie appeared at the premiere of “Mr & Mrs Smith” in Los Angeles.

The seller isn’t offering any guarantees that the jar does actually contain the breath of Brad and Angelina but he does state that, "The item I'm selling is a jar, a jar that was open prior to the arrival of all of the celebrities at the 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' premiere, and was sealed after the arrival of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The jar has remained sealed since that time and will remain so."

With a starting price of just $9.99, bidding rose quickly to over $100 although the seller has apparently also been plagued with false bids which he has quickly rejected.

I haven’t been able to track down anything similar on ebay.co.uk but if you’d like to search eBay UK for bargains that might be a bit more substantial than thin air, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

eBay Moves into Company Sales

Over here in the UK, eBay is well known as the largest internet auction site and probably the best place to sell your collectables as well as all sorts of other items. But until very recently, ebay auctions UK was not the place that you would typically look if you wanted to buy an Internet Business.

In the USA, that situation has now changed, with increasing numbers of Businesses, both Internet as well as traditional, being sold through eBay. I noticed the following press release today which gives details of what one enterprising young businessman is doing:-

“…….young CEO Ryan K Schmidt has turned to eBay, “The World’s Online Marketplace”, to commence the sale of GigaPal.com, a discount software website. Schmidt founded GigaPal.com when he was 18 years old, and in less than 8 months he grew the company’s profits by 3,439% to more than $49,496.42. On June 12, 2005, Schmidt will use the popularity of eBay to bring thousands of potential investors to GigaPal’s “winning bidder takes all” auction. Schmidt is not alone in his strategy. A growing number of business owners are turning to eBay to sell their businesses, and they are finding measurable success. Within the past month on eBay, a U.S. Patent sold for $35,000, an online website for car dealerships sold for $43,988.89, and a network of highly trafficked sites sold for $326,100.00.

The winning bidder of GigaPal’s 7 day eBay auction, which begins today, June 12th, will receive complete ownership of gigapal.com, including all of its assets, an exclusive list of over 200 software suppliers and vendors, innovative marketing ads and campaigns, and much more. Schmidt is also going to give the winning bidder ElectronicBytes.com for free. ElectronicBytes.com is a second discount software website which was built in May to expand GigaPal’s success. Schmidt added that “Selling a business offline is too complicated these days. Before eBay, most business owners were forced to sell their business locally through a small newspaper ad. For individuals like me who have managed to build successful companies, eBay offers a new opportunity.”For more information contact:http://www.gigapal.com/Ryan K Schmidt2336 East Carson StreetPittsburgh, PA 15203724-991-1874

Good luck with the sale Ryan! If anyone would like to have a look at the auction details, you can search ebay here.

eBay Tip – Comparison Shopping

Sometimes it can be difficult to decide which one out of several similar items listed on eBay is the best bargain. Comparison Shopping is an eBay feature that provides an easy way for you to choose the best item.

Comparison Shopping is available on the eBay site at Shop listings, Sellers Other Items, search listings and also on “My eBay”. To the left of all the items displayed, you will find a small check box. Just click on the check boxes for items that you want to compare. At the bottom of the results page you will find a “Compare" button that will take you through to the Compare Item page.

The Compare Item page displays a Gallery image, seller ID, price, payment method, postage cost and item details for each of the items you selected for comparison. You can now save all of these items to your watch list by clicking the “Watch All" button in the top left of the page. Or you can save individual items using the "Watch this item" link next to each one.

It’s also sometimes useful to be able to compare prices for items that have previously been listed, so we’ve built an archive of finished listings with searchable descriptions and prices at “Value an eBay Item” that we hope will be useful for those of you who are not yet registered with eBay and therefore can't access the eBay archive of completed listings.

eBay and Google Move into Classifieds?

At first sight, eBay and Google are in completely different segments of the Internet marketplace. eBay is, of course, well recognised as the world’s largest online auction community whilst Google is best known for its’ services as a search engine.

But many Internet companies have realised that classified advert listings can be a good route to a expanding their existing user base and there are rumours that Google may soon launch services in this area.

According to Industry estimates, online and traditional print classifieds generate annual revenues of almost $100 billion and this is a market which major internet companies such as eBay and Google can easily exploit.

Google already provides fee paid advertising for businesses through its Adwords and Adsense features, so moving into classified listings for small businesses and the general public would seem a natural progression.

eBay has already made the move towards local community-based advertising through its’ recent investment in the locally-focused listings site, Craiglist.org and also through its “Want it Now” facility that allows eBay users to post want-ads.

ebay.co.uk to Offer Guarantees on Capital Goods?

ebay.co.uk to Offer Guarantees on Capital Goods?

The US parent company of global auction site eBay – ebay.com - is launching a purchase protection program which offers guarantees to purchasers of up to $20,000 for certain types of capital goods that are bought through its auction site.

This new approach seems to be a strategic move by eBay to expand its market appeal beyond home consumers and small retailers and into the commercial business procurement sector.

The capital items covered under the scheme include agricultural and construction machinery such as earth movers, excavators and tractors. Also included in the guarantee program are items for the manufacturing and metalworking industries such as lathes and milling machines.

Purchases of $1,000 or more are covered by the scheme, which is designed to provide protection to buyers against possible fraud, misrepresentation or lack of merchantable quality of the items. The program is also intended to provide protection for purchasers in the event of non-delivery, damages or un-discharged financing.

General manager - eBay Business, Patrick Jabal, is reported as saying, "We're striving to make buying on eBay a standard practice for the millions of small business owners in America. We're helping buyers understand that they can buy with confidence on eBay, even when it comes to major capital equipment purchases….."

This scheme is currently limited to ebay.com in the US, but if the trial proves successful, it seems likely that business and commercial shopping on ebay.co.uk and the other eBay country sites will move quickly to adopt the same approach.

eBay.in Embraces Small Entrepreneurs

Out of a world-wide total of over 135 million users, eBay India has just 1 million registers users, most of which are in the large cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

But now eBay.in is looking to massively increase its’ user base through a number of initiatives - some local, some global. These expansion programmes have begun to pay off for eBay with Bollywood designer costumes, consumer electronics together with Indian-produced art and craft items being the most popular categories for entrepreneurial sellers.

At a recent press conference, Samarjeet Singh, Head of eBay Academy in India, is reported as saying that the company intends to popularise the concept of trading online in India and that he recognised the importance of making the payment process as rapid, safe and convenient as possible.

It seems likely though, that if eBay.in continues to use its’ local PaisaPay system rather than the international eBay standard – PayPal – that Indian sellers will not be able to fully address the opportunity to sell low-cost items to the global eBay community.

Since the integration of BaaZee and eBay, there has been an upturn in the number of Indian sellers looking to address the global marketplace. But there is a catch. Unless you do an eBay international search for specific descriptions, items on eBay.in don’t automatically show up if you’re registered in another country.

So to get their items more readily visible across the world, what many India-based entrepreneurs are starting to do is register directly on eBay.com eBay.uk etc. and also for Paypal so that their cost-competitive items can be made available in the USA and Europe.

Of course the downside of this eBay globalisation is for sellers in the high cost countries who are seeing an increased level of competition for their items and are starting to form their own local groups to promote their eBay Shops with advertising campaigns and other promotional activities.

What eBay Could Learn from Craigslist

Craiglist is a privately held company running a community-based website specialising in local news and events. The company has been profitable since 1999, has no debts and is growing at a triple digit rate.

Founded at around the same time as eBay in 1995, Craiglist has grown from it’s origins as a local community service provider in the San Francisco Bay Area to now cover 120 cities across 25 countries and serving 2.4 billion pages every month.

Both eBay and Craiglist started with a similar community-based approach but the companies’ strategies have since diverged, with Craiglist still emphasising the “local community” aspects of its services, while eBay on the other hand has emphasised the “global community” aspect by offering integrated auctions across countries and continents.

Both approaches have their strengths, but perhaps eBay could learn one or two lessons from the Craiglist “local community” strategy. Why? – well one of the major concerns of eBay shops and sellers these days is that the increasing globalisation of eBay will introduce strong price competition from the low-cost countries in which eBay is now aggressively active, including India and China.

One of the ways that local eBay communities can help themselves is by joining country or regionally-based eBay Shops and sellers directories which benefit from local promotional activities in addition to the overall “brand awareness” brought by eBay.

Giant eBay French Fry a Record?

At a price of almost $200 and with a length of 8 inches, a French fry found at a bar and restaurant in the USA seems likely to make it into the record books.

One of the bartenders, Mindy Marland at the Checkered Flag Bar and Grill near Walcott in Iowa apparently saw the giant French fry on a plate that was about to be delivered to one of the restaurant’s customers by a waitress.

Mindy decided this unusual item might be an ideal candidate to sell in the “weird” category on eBay auctions and “liberated” the fry from the customer’s plate before it could be eaten. With a starting bid of just one dollar, the giant fry quickly rose in price to finish the sale with a winning bid of almost $200.

Mindy is reported to be planning a summer trip to an amusement park with her two children on proceeds from the eBay auction and may also be in touch with the Guinness Book of Records to let them know about the potentially world record-breaking French fry.

Take a look at eBay Auctions UK – you probably won’t find a record breaking chip, but you will find great bargains on just about everything else you can think of.

eBay to Acquire Shopping.com for Over $600m

In its’ largest acquisition for more than 2 years, eBay, the world’s largest internet auction site, has agreed to purchase the comparison-shopping site - Shopping.com - for around $620 million.

In a recent press release, the companies announced that eBay will pay $21 per share, which represents a 20 percent premium over current price, for Shopping .com and which is expected to reduce eBay’s earnings per share in 2005.

eBay’s growth has been slowing in recent months and the acquisition is a strategic move to open new channels for the company by integrating Shopping.com’s services that allow online shoppers to compare prices and features on products from multiple retailers which are not currently represented on eBay auction sites.

When the integration is completed, listing on Shopping.com should prove very attractive to eBay sellers offering items at fixed prices (Buy it Now), although it is unclear what benefits will accrue for eBay Shops and sellers using the traditional auction format, since more competition will be introduced through Shoppoing.com’s comparison services.

Whatever the detailed outcome of the acquisition and services integration, eBay seems intent on maximising growth and that should mean more and better bargains for local consumers at eBay auctions and shopping in the UK.

eBay.com Introduces new Search Facilities

It can be quite frustrating when your search for an item on eBay gives either nil or a very low number of results. In the near future, eBay is planning to implement a variety of new ways to help refine searches.

Key features of the enhanced search facility include automatic running of a spell checker if zero results are found. So if the original search words didn't produce any results, a spell check will be run automatically on the search words and if a spell check correction is available, the alternative spelling search words will be used to display resulting listings.

Sometimes the use of too many keywords or filters in a search can overly limit a search with the result that nil or a low number of search results are produced. By displaying counts which indicate the number of listings that would be produced if specific keywords were removed, you can get a good indication of listings that could be of interest and would otherwise have been missed.

eBay expects that these new search facilities will help buyers to make more informed choices by refining or extending their searches and sellers also should benefit since they will help direct more buyers to views of appropriate items.

You can use search eBay UK facilities or visit eBay.com and other global eBay auction and shopping sites by clicking on these links.

eBay Auction Celebrates 10 Years Live

On June 23-25 in San Jose this year’s annual “eBay Live!” conference will host around 10,000 eBay buyers and sellers in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the world’s largest online marketplace.

Over the last 10 years, eBay has grown from an auction site primarily connected with collectables to be a complete online marketplace in its’ own right, with thousands of retailers looking to increase sales through their eBay shops.

The conference is for employees and users of eBay and PayPal from around the globe and features a live concert by the B52s and other social attractions as well as classes, workshops and other business activities.

eBay’s first-quarter 2005 net income was 28 percent up compared to the same quarter of 2004. The company says this earnings growth is due to a record increase in new visitors along with a 36 percent rise in sales.

Pro-forma profit of $0.20 per share was posted, beating analysts’ expectations of EPS totalling $0.18. The company reported its net income including expenses as $0.19 per share ($256.3 million total). This was a significant increase compared to $0.15, ($200.1 million) a year ago. Net revenue was $1.03 billion for Q105, compared with $756.2 million for the same period last year.

eBay was reported to be the number 1 online retailer in March 2005 with purchase transactions reaching 21.3 million items which is equivalent to almost 45 percent of total online purchases. eBay exceeded Wall Street forecasts, although the Company had previously missed Q405 expectations.

The continued growth in eBay’s market dominance in the auction sector on a global basis is leading many internet shops that were previously operating on a standalone basis to join eBay where they benefit from the collective internet presence.

But some eBay shops are now starting to form their own off eBay Shops Directory groups to promote their eBay sites. As more independent online retailers join eBay, especially from the low-cost countries such as India and China, this trend towards externalised promotion will probably gather pace as the thousands of competing eBay shops struggle for differentiation and market share.