The one about the new user agreement

January 31, 2007

Amongst all the other changes this week, eBay have also updated their user agreement. The biggest change is a big dose of plain English: it actually makes sense if you don’t have a law degree. For the first time, the user agreement also contains a… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Sale discounts for eBay shops – markdown manager

January 31, 2007

Markdown Manager is the perfect solution for setting up a sale in your eBay shop. Not available in the UK yet but launched for US shop (store) owners it allows you to literally slash prices on Buy It Now and Shop Inventory Format listings. Buyers… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

I spider tax man coming

January 31, 2007

Today is the last chance for many eBayers in the UK to submit their self assessment tax return if they haven’t already done so. Not only that but by close of business today millions of people up and down the country will suddenly have lighter bank… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Featured | 4 Comments 

ChannelAdvisor – Yes to PayPal, No to Google Checkout

January 31, 2007

ChannelAdvisor have been pondering when (not if) eBay should allow Google Checkout for payments. I don’t hold with their argument that eBay dismiss it as an “unproven system” but view checkout as an e-wallet rather than an e-money payment system…. Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Featured | 4 Comments 

Buy your wedding on eBay (Including your bride)

January 30, 2007

Many thousands of people shop for special events on eBay, none more so than couples getting married. What’s not so usual is buying your bride on eBay, which is pretty much what happened with David Jones and Cheryl Pipes. David was bidding on some… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Auctions that go on forever? No thanks!

January 30, 2007

WebProNews has an interesting piece proposing a solution to the problem of scamming bidders on high ticket auctions: Now here’s another reason for eBay to start thinking seriously about automatically extending auctions when late bids hit. Scammers… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

How not to write a “how not to” article

January 30, 2007

The Torygraph jumps on the eBay-bashing bandwagon this morning, with a scare-mongering smear dressed up as advice on staying safe on eBay. Much of the article is unsubstantiated slurs: “shill bidding is widespread” and “counterfeit goods are rife”…. Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Famous Belgians

January 30, 2007

It seems like someone is quite pleased: for the first time in the history of fees on eBay Belgium, we’re announcing a reduction: Items with start prices less than €1,99 have the insertion fee halved to 5c. Listing designer is now free with… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Ad world

January 29, 2007

Well, where did that come from? I’ve just seen a new eBay advert! With a “don’t sit on it, sell it” tag line, this is prima facie aimed at new sellers: unsurprising in this traditionally slow time for retail, it follows on nicely from the eBay… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments 

Some Mothers do ‘ave Em

January 29, 2007

Dan Wilson is the former Community Manager for eBay.co.uk and is now a freelance consultant and writer. He blogs at www.wilsondan.co.uk. It’s been three months this week since I left the warming arms of the eBay bosom to a world of freelancing and… Read more

Written by Dan Wilson · Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments 

eBay scrap reserve prices in Spain

January 29, 2007

As fee announcements roll out across Europe similar to those announced for the UK this morning Spain goes one step further. They are to scrap all reserve prices and remove the feature from the Spanish website. According to the Spanish price change… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

eBay VAT status changes in the EU

January 29, 2007

eBay are to change their VAT status in Europe with the establishment of a new company located in Luxembourg, called eBay Europe, S.Ã r.l. From March 1st all European eBayers will have their contracts moved from eBay International AG in Bern,… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Uncategorized | 4 Comments 

eBay fees : DOWN!!!

January 29, 2007

If you’re a UK eBay seller, you may want to sit down before you read this. eBay fees just went down. Yes, that’s right. Down. After fee increases on .com earlier this month, UK sellers were expecting similar rises here, but it seems that eBay… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | 9 Comments 

PayPal implements EV SLL to combat phishing

January 28, 2007

PayPal have moved further ahead in the fight against phishing by implementing EV SSL certificate support. SSL has been standard in browsers for some time and stands for Secure Socket layer, the EV stands for Extended Validation. Other browsers are… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments 

Bid for the contents of the tuck bin

January 28, 2007

The People (part of Mirror Group Newspapers) are the latest to cash in on the craze of running bizarre auctions for charity. Up for sale are a Strong used PG tips teabag, One used 3A Duracell battery, One Peanut – dry roasted, A packet of cheesy… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Microsoft to challenge PayPal and Google Checkout

January 28, 2007

Well what do you reckon? Third time lucky for Gates to plunge Microsoft into the forefront of online payments? Microsoft wallet (built into Internet Explorer) was a bit of a failure (as in no one used it), so they changed it to a server based system… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Genuine fakes

January 28, 2007

Seth Godin tells a superb story about Picasso verifying the authenticity of his own work:”Fake!” he bellowed. After the dealer left, I couldn’t help myself. “Picasso, why did you say that painting was a fake? I was here, in this studio, last year… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Revealed : How the Sunday Times decided to set up eBay sellers

January 28, 2007

This morning’s Sunday Times carries a piece which it claims reveals how eBay sellers push up the prices on their own items, a practice which the paper believes is “widespread” across the site. Though the report alleges that “businesses ranging from… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | 4 Comments 

Virtual property banned from eBay

January 27, 2007

Gamers, beware: eBay is now delisting all auctions for ‘virtual artifacts’ from the site. This includes currency, items, and accounts/characters used in MMORPGs, as well as Neopoints used in Neopets. This isn’t a new policy by eBay: such items are… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Town Hall : more feedback changes to come?

January 26, 2007

Last night’s eBay Town Hall was not so much about the new, as communicating eBay’s conviction that all their recent changes were great, and that members who are complaining are completely in the minority. Seller concerns about the unintended effects… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Move over Lumberton NJ, here comes the UK

January 26, 2007

It’s official, the UK are the biggest eBayers in the world, with over £50 per head of population spent on the site annually. Last November, eBay launched a US wide search to find the most active eBay community and Lumberton, New Jersey was… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Auction extensions banned on eBay UK?

January 26, 2007

Actionbytes reported earlier this week that auction extensions were to be banned on eBay.com. This practise, whereby sellers list for the shortest time period possible, and then extend auctions with no bids, gains extra exposure at no extra cost…. Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments 

IQ? Check out your TQ (Technology Quotient)

January 25, 2007

PayPal Surveyed 1000 adults and found them worryingly oblivious to the latest technology and gadgets. One in three UK adults are still grappling with the complexities of programming their video recorder whereas toddlers seem to be pre-programmed at… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments 

Things that make you go “eww”

January 25, 2007

Actress Lindsay Lohan was so worried that her removed appendix would be sold on eBay that she’s kept it in her freezer. Now apparently Kimberly Stewart, daughter of singer Rod and a close friend of Lohan’s, is trying to persuade her to auction it… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

eBay promise more off site links in search results

January 25, 2007

We reported Shopping.com links appearing in search results promoting sales on eBay’s rival Amazon back at the begining of December. Now eBay are promising more off site links in the form of Google text adverts on search results driving yet more… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Uncategorized | 4 Comments