eBay India Continues to Grow

eBay.in invited “Bengalis to become entrepreneurs” with opportunities to sell their wares to millions of buyers across the globe at almost no cost.

The Indian subsidiary of eBay Inc, the world’s largest online marketplace hosted an eBay Academy to help spread awareness among potential eBay sellers and traders in Calcutta.

Samarjeet Singh is the head of eBay Academy in India and is reported as saying, “Since March 2004, we have organised around 18 such seminars which have been attended by at least 14,000 people.”

Existing eBay sellers and shops in India seem to feel that the mental block of Indian shoppers regarding online transactions is slowly improving, due perhaps largely to PayPal offering higher levels of security for buyers and sellers alike.

No doubt, as the online auction and sales market develops in India, there will be an expansion of low-cost items being offered to eBay buyers across the globe and eBay is certainly putting enhanced technical processes in place to help facilitate this.

There is some concern from sellers in western countries about increasing competition from overseas. But we live in a global trading community and eBay is certainly in the vanguard of organisations helping to effect this massive change in access to markets on a world-wide basis.

Paper Plane Bids Rise to £100 on eBay

Always on the lookout for odd or funny things for sale on eBay, we recently noticed that the most viewed item today is a hand-made paper plane with over 7,000 viewings to date and a high bid of £100.

What’s it all about? Well here’s what the seller says. “PASS THE PLANE! Here's a bit of fun for all you ebayers out there. The aim of the game is to get the paper aeroplane to travel the world!”

“The winning bidder will be sent the paper aeroplane in the post. Once they receive it, they then re-list it stating on the listing all the places it's been to so far by copying and pasting this description onto the listing and adding their area to the list. Don't forget to add this item to your watch list!”

And here’s some of the 50+ questions and answers about the item…

Q: Hey who is steering this thing by the way? and what happens if it flies into a hurricane? 28-Jul-05
A: It's made from a flexible brand of A4 paper and designed especially so it won't get damaged in a hurricane.

Q: Are you hoping to get enough money for a stay in the Priory? 28-Jul-05
A: I'm not sure where the Priory is but 100 quid for an A4 sheet of paper ain't bad going though you must agree!

Q: What is the wingspan of this amazing item. Also is it remote controlled? If so what batteries does it take? 28-Jul-05
A: Wing span measures 30cm. Sorry it's not remote controlled but it is hand powered. Top speed is approx 10 mph.

Q: I was just wondering if the plane had a valid serial number? How do we know, when the plane goes back on auction from the next place, that it is the exact. same one? 28-Jul-05
A: No it hasn't got a serial number at the moment. I'm leaving it up to the winning bidder to decide what marks he/she wants on it before its sent.

Great fun eh? Let’s all help the seller beat the record for most watched item – you can search eBay for item number 5988736532 to get more details.

eBay Stays on Top with 53% Earnings Increase

eBay's second-quarter profit has far exceeded analysts expectations as the world’s largest online auction brushed aside comments that it could be losing some of its competitive edge.

eBay reported that it earned over $291 million for the three months ended June 2005 representing a 53 per cent increase on the same quarter last year. Revenue grew to almost $1.1 billion, showing a 40 per cent increase on last year.

Said eBay chief executive Meg Whitman in a recent conference call, "Our results underscore the power of our community of users and the potential of what we can achieve together."

Online auction rivals such as uBid.com and Overstock.com have been trying to capitalise on earlier criticism about eBay’s performance in an attempt to lure away shops, sellers and buyers. But this strategy doesn’t seem to have had a significant impact yet on eBay, which still dominates online auctions with over 50 million unique users in June in the US alone. This represents an increase of over 10% on the same period last year.

Globally, eBay now has over 150 million users and is still by far the best place to buy and sell through online auctions, especially with the growing presence of PayPal across the world helping to make payments more secure for buyers and sellers alike.

New “Value an Item” Archive Categories Launched

We’re pleased to announce the launch of our latest series of “Value an Item” archives.

These archives are based on items previously for sale on eBay and are primarily intended for those people who want to find a “benchmark” price for items but are not registered on eBay and so can’t search completed item histories.

Each of the category pages has live eBay auction and “Buy it Now” item listings as well as the archive section, so you can compare prices to make sure you are getting a great bargain – and then if you find what you’re looking for, it’s free and easy to register on eBay.

There’s also a Google search facility so you can check on items across our entire site as well as elsewhere on the Internet.

The latest category is for Antiques and Art which contains 19 sub-categories and thousands of items ranging from ancient manuscripts to reproduction antique furniture. You can browse the archives by clicking on Valuing an Item – What’s it Worth

Hurricane Souvenirs Sold on eBay

As storm-weary US Gulf coast residents continued mopping up in the wake of Hurricane Dennis, souvenirs of the natural disaster started appearing on eBay.

Hurricanes may tear off roofs, destroy homes and wreck cars, but for some, Hurricane Dennis has damaged neither their sense of humour nor their willingness to make a profit.

Looking for a battered roof tile, broken tree branches or a piece of toast with writing on it? If so, then search eBay and you’ll find these and other souvenirs of Hurricane Dennis appearing on eBay.

One of the more unusual items is a “Bottle of Hurricane Dennis Wind” complete with rainwater. Another seller is offering a piece of the broken sign from the Ramada Inn Hotel which nearly injured a CNN reporter who was broadcasting live when the terrific winds hit town.

Apparently the seller of the toast bearing a commemorative message about the hurricane has promised to donate some of the money to the American Red Cross. So at least some of these curiosities will be sold to the benefit of charities and other good causes – it’s an ill wind………

eBay Special Collectable Categories

eBay originally started back in ’95 as a place for collectors to buy and sell their items. Since then, eBay has grown into the world’s largest online marketplace for almost everything you can think of.

But eBay is still the best place to find great bargains for collectable items ranging from Star Wars and Star Trek through to model railways and diecast models.

Even though eBay now has over 130 million users across the globe, there are many people who have not yet joined but still regularly search on the internet for items they want to buy. So we introduced the “Value an Item” feature on our main website about a month ago to help people who haven’t registered on eBay to find “benchmark” prices for previously listed eBay items.

This archive has proved so popular that we’re introducing a wide range of specialist categories just for collectors. The first of these is for diecast (or die cast if you prefer) models and you can find the index of sub categories at our web site on the eBay shopping page.

Each of these new pages has live eBay auction and “Buy it Now” items as well as the archive section so you can compare prices to make sure you are getting a great bargain. There is also a Google search facility so you can check on items across our entire site as well as elsewhere on the Internet.

eBay Introduces PayPal in China

eBay, the world’s largest online auction marketplace has launched its secure payment service, PayPal, in China to help its plans for growth in the country.

Mathias Entenmann, vice-president of PayPal’s international business is reported as saying, ‘This is a very special and important moment since we started to introduce PayPal to non-US markets in 2003.’

PayPal has partnered with China Pay, which is an official online payment processor in China, now estimated to be the world's second largest Internet market.

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.

As we reported in June, one of the keys to eBay’s future success in China is PayPal, because the system is a major factor in helping to remove the financial risk for 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.

eBay Ghostly Auctions

I was browsing the eBay news items today and noticed that a man in the US is auctioning a photograph taken on a trip to the Gettysburg Civil War battlefield. He says the picture reveals a ghost.

Apparently, the picture listed on the eBay US auction site isn't very clear but the seller says he took it with a disposable camera and therefore doesn't have an original digital image.

It’s said that research indicates the ghostly image could be of a Confederate soldier in dress uniform – presumably killed in the Civil War battle in 1863. Bidding for the photograph had apparently reached only $3.50, although the auction still has several days to run.

If you search eBay UK, you’ll find 21 “ghost” items currently listed, with many more appearing on other eBay international sites. One of my favourites is the “Vintage Photo with Ghost Image Soldier and Mother” which is item number 6192329748 but I have to say it’s the mother who looks spooky rather than the soldier!

London Bombings

Today is not a day to promote our usual commercial messages.

The dreadful events in London this morning overshadow what should have been a continuation of the joy and unification felt by millions of people of all ethnic origins and religions across Great Britain yesterday on winning the bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

Apparently timed to coincide with the G8 summit on third world debt relief and global climate change in Gleneagles, these terrorist bombings are a tragic reminder that whilst most of us are happy to live in a multi-cultural society which recognises individual freedoms as well as collective responsibilities – some are committed to atrocious acts in an attempt to further their own political objectives.

We extend our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those who have been killed and send our best wishes for recovery to all those injured by the terrible actions of these malevolent influences.

eBay Specialist Categories Archive

Since we launched the “Value an Item” archives last month, we’ve had many thousands of visitors looking up descriptions and prices of items previously for sale on eBay.

Why is “Value an Item” important – well, if you’re already an eBay user then it probably isn’t much use to you because you can look up the history of completed listings on eBay quite easily.

But for anyone who has still not got around to register on eBay these archives are the only way of finding a “benchmark” price for items, because only registered eBay users are allowed to search eBay’s own history files.

Our original archive files are based on eBay’s 30 main categories and they list several thousand individual item descriptions and prices. We’ve now decided to expand these to include a range of specialist categories for collectors, which will have individual item prices and descriptions that can be searched using Google.

Over coming weeks, we’ll be launching the new range of “Value an Item” categories including diecast vehicles and aeroplanes, model railways, TV & Movie memorabilia and many more. If you’re still not sure about whether to join eBay, take a look at our main web site which has lots of eBay information, tips and techniques.

eBay Free Guides

eBay is the world's largest online auction marketplace. You can find almost anything on eBay. From bargain cars to luxury houses; diecast models to antique furniture; radio controlled helicopters to scoubidous - you can find them all on eBay.

But for newcomers to eBay UK, things can look a bit complicated so we’ve compiled two free reports – one for buyers and one for sellers.

In the free report for eBay buyers, you'll learn how to find items on eBay you might otherwise have missed. The guide details advanced search techniques to find items hidden away on eBay. Also, you'll find out how to avoid scammers and lower the risk of losing your money by making full use of the eBay and PayPal security systems.

The free report for eBay sellers explains the tried and proven methods of eBay Power Sellers. You'll learn how to get higher bids, how to get viewers to look at your other auctions and how to get high quality, fast loading photographs in your auctions. The report details exactly what you can do to lower complaints, plus how to offer a 100% money back guarantee and get very few returns. Using a simple strategy will make sure buyers leave feedback - and there's many other excellent tips here too.

eBay UK - How to Register

We get emails from many people who have thought about registering on eBay UK but just haven’t got around to it yet. Why not? Well the main reason seems to be that some people think they will be charged for becoming a member of eBay or for bidding on eBay auctions.

But it’s completely free to register on eBay UK and there are no commission charges for buying items – only for selling. In fact, you can register free on any of the eBay sites across the world.

If you follow this link to our eBay Auction UK information site, you’ll find lots of useful tips, techniques and free guides to help you get the most out of eBay. Then when you’re ready, just click on any of the eBay logos or items for sale to go direct to the main eBay site.

When you register on eBay, you’ll need to have your email address handy and if this is with one of the free providers such as Yahoo, then you’ll also need to give your credit card details to confirm your identity. Don’t worry - your credit card details are always kept secure by eBay and you won’t be charged any commission by eBay for buying – only for selling.

Happy eBaying!

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch on eBay?

Billionaire Warren Buffett holds an annual charity auction on eBay to raise funds for the Glide Foundation, which is a non-profit organisation offering programmes for the poor, hungry and homeless. Glide Foundation is based in San Francisco.

This year, the winning bidder will pay over $350,000 for the lunch which is to be hosted by the billionaire either at his home base in Nebraska or in New York. The winning bidder is allowed to bring up to seven guests for lunch but it is not known whether the guests will be paying their share of the cost or whether their lunch will be free.

The head of Glide, Reverend Cecil Williams is reported as saying that Buffett is, "a very powerful person who undoubtedly feels very strongly about our programmes. He's always there, helping, reaching out".

Many individuals and organisations now raise considerable sums through eBay Charity Auctions, so if you’re interested in charity fundraising, eBay is a great place to go.