Amazon drops eBay’s Bill Me Later
December 31, 2008
Amazon.com have announced they will no longer accept payments via BillMeLater, the credit service bought by eBay earlier this year. A notice on Seller Central says: Effective December 31st, 2008, BillMeLater (BML) will no longer be accepted as a… Read more
My 10 eBay New Year resolutions
December 31, 2008
List stock as soon as it arrives I don’t mean the stuff that’s already buried at the back of the warehouse, that’s for a rainy day project and lets face it I no longer know what’s there anyway. I’ll just try not to add to the several racks of… Read more
Sellers should police 3rd party ad pirates, say eBay
December 30, 2008
Since eBay began running ads in search results, we’ve heard of a few eyebrow-raising things advertised there. There were the weed seeds. There are not-infrequently pirate music CDs, DVDs, knock-off designer clothing and handbags. This week, for… Read more
eBay 2009 : a few thoughts
December 29, 2008
2008 has been a year of huge change on eBay. The one thing we can say for certain about 2009 is that there’ll be more of the same: the only constant is change*. Randy’s posted his predictions; so has Ina (the comments on both threads are… Read more
Private sellers get 5p listing weekend on eBay UK
December 26, 2008
on eBay UK. On Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th December, auctions’ insertion fees are reduced to 5p. All other fees are charged as normal. Buy It Now items are not included, though sellers can add a buy it now price to their auctions for the normal… Read more
“Free post” increases price and sell through rate
December 26, 2008
It’s almost the New Year and from the 27th January all DVD sellers will have to offer free postage and packing, but will it really increase sales? The guys at Terapeak have run some reports looking at eBay UK DVD listings and the effect a free… Read more
Skype me a Christmas card
December 24, 2008
There’s gotta be someone out there that you meant to send a card to, that special person who’s card plopped onto your doormat this morning and you realise there’s no way you can get a card to them for tomorrow. (Well you might be better organised,… Read more
Royal Mail price increases for 6th April 2009
December 23, 2008
Royal Mail have announced their tariff changes to take place in April next year, with the cost of a 1st class stamp rising from 36p to 39p. The cost of a 2nd class letter rises from 27p to 30p. What’s probably of more interest to eBay sellers is… Read more
Skype loses $2.3m in patent settlement
December 23, 2008
Skype has settled a court case for $2.3m with Mangosoft Inc for alleged patent infringement of their dynamic directory service. The case was filed two years ago and closed last Thursday, Mangosoft will license its software to Skype for $2.3… Read more
eBay India offers half-price listing upgrades 23rd-26th December
December 23, 2008
, eBay India are running a listing upgrades promotion. Sellers listing on eBay.in who have not used listing upgrades in the previous two months, may do so for half the normal rate. Most listing upgrades – from Home Page Featured to Scheduled – are… Read more
Is the long tail a market worth pursuing?
December 22, 2008
You probably know what your best sellers are on eBay, they may be the same as your top sellers on Amazon and your own website too, but , suggested that there’s just as much (if not more) money to be made from rarer slow selling products. The… Read more
News on eBay fee credits
December 22, 2008
In December eBay ran a listing promotion offering free subtitle for sellers with a Featured or Anchor shop. Originally the promotion excluded items listed using the Good ‘Til Cancelled (GTC) format but sellers were offered free subtitle on GTC… Read more
Skype moves Australia to Europe
December 22, 2008
We all know where Australia is right? The Antipodes, that’s the other side of the world. Down under. You know, where the wallabys and kangaroos hang out with Matilda. Well not any more, Skype has moved it conveniently close to the UK, just South… Read more
Actress sells snot on eBay
December 19, 2008
So this would be where I write some comment about ‘if you need a gift for that difficult person…’ Actress Scarlett Johansson is on eBay. Johansson appeared on the Jay Leno show earlier in the week with a streaming cold which she blamed on co-star… Read more
The yellow button returns to eBay My Messages
December 18, 2008
The yellow button has returned to eBay My Messages to allow users to click and reply from within eBay rather than using their email reader such as Outlook. This disappeared when eBay annonymised email addresses in member to member communications… Read more
eBay.com extend promotions on media and free shipping til March
December 18, 2008
until 31st March 2009. Free shipping All sellers who offer free shipping will get free subtitle listing enhancement. PowerSellers who offer free shipping will get double FVF discounts. Sellers are reminded that listings with free shipping get a… Read more
Terapeak Value Track: Price trends on eBay
December 17, 2008
Terapeak are beta testing a new Value Track tool, which allows you to save your favourite eBay searches and weekly reports are then generated showing how these items are performing on eBay. The information is presented in a similar format to share… Read more
The Christmas Decorations are up in my eBay shop
December 17, 2008
I’ve been far too busy to put up the Christmas decorations at home and they’ll probably not go up until this weekend, but… Read more
eBay Rewards, better late than never
December 16, 2008
Just in time for Christmas, some sellers have had a surprise windfall from eBay today. Those with long memories may recall 2007’s eBay Seller Rewards progamme, an eBay promotion mostly notable for being almost entirely incomprehensible to those… Read more
eBay is the most trusted ecommerce company
December 16, 2008
New research has just named eBay as the number one most trusted ecommerce site and second most trusted company overall after American Express. A study by the Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe asked US consumers which companies they thought were most… Read more
eBay invest in new Utah datacenter
December 16, 2008
eBay have purchased land to build a new data center in South Jordan, Utah which will cost an estimated $334 million to build. The State of Utah will in return give tax breaks worth $27.3 million over a 10 year period, but tax revenue flowing into… Read more
eBay Australia MD quits
December 16, 2008
this morning, as managing director Simon Smith steps down. Mr Smith joined eBay in 2000 and has presided over eBay.com.au’s growth to five million visitors a month, though he’ll probably be best remembered by Australian eBay users for the… Read more
Amazon staff buy their Chrismas presents on eBay
December 15, 2008
Every one is busy doing their Christmas shopping, and ecommerce staff are no different to you and I. In the past it’s been a standing joke that an enterprising post room employee based at eBay’s offices in San Jose made up some stickers reading… Read more
Why I don’t buy on eBay mobile
December 14, 2008
As it comes closer to Christmas and I realise I really must start buying a few presents before time runs out, I’m getting increasingly frustrated with eBay mobile. Having an HP iPaq mobile handset it should be easy – whenever an idea for a… Read more
eBay close European national offices
December 13, 2008
eBay have confirmed that they are closing many European national offices, as Europe bears the brunt of their global cost-cutting exercise. An eBay spokesman confirmed yesterday that European operations will now be centralised in just two offices:… Read more




