Tag: eBay

Amazon Attracts 1 in 5 Internet Users

comScore released a report today on the top global retail and auction sites, finding that Amazon sites were visited by one in five global Internet users in June – more than any other in the category.

Amazon sites received visits from over 282 million visitors in June, according to the report. That’s 20.4% of the world’s Internet population.

“While retail e-commerce has already grown to become a $150+ billion annual industry in the U.S., it still presents enormous upside opportunity across much of the globe,” said comScore co-Founder and Chairman Gian Fulgoni. “Technology has changed the way consumers behave, and increasingly they are opting for the convenience and pricing advantages offered by the online channel. Several global retail brands have already capitalized on this global consumer trend, and many other retailers are sure to pursue their share of the pie.”

eBay came in second behind Amazon at 16.2% of global Internet visitors, though PayPal is becoming an increasingly major factor in eBay’s overall business strategy.

Alibaba reached 11.3% of Internet users, Apple reached 9.7%, and Rakuten reached 4.2%.

As you can see from the above charts, Amazon attracted 35.4% of its audience from North America. Europe accounted for 31.8% and Asia Pacific accounted for 24.1%.

In its most recent earnings report, Amazon announced a sales increase of 51% year-over-year.

August 17, 2011
Zong Officially Acquired by eBay

eBay announced that it has officially completed its acquisition of Zong, announced just over a month ago.

Zong provides payments through mobile carrier billing, and is now part of PayPal. eBay says it adds complementary technology and talent to strengthen PayPal’s position in mobile payments and digital goods.

According to eBay, Zong leverages connections with over 250 mobile network operators.

“Commerce is changing. With mobile phones, we walk around with a mall in our pockets. PayPal helps to make money work better for customers in this new commerce reality – no matter how they want to pay or what device they’re using,” said PayPal President Scott Thompson, when the acquisition was announced. “We believe that Zong will strengthen this value by helping us reach the more than 4 billion people who have mobile phones, giving them more choice and security when they pay.”

“Our customers love the convenience of paying with their mobile numbers – a number they know by heart, and a device that they always have with them,” said Zong CEO David Marcus. “We look forward to extending our services to PayPal’s more than 9 million merchants around the world. And we’re committed to working with carriers and merchants to help them drive more sales across devices.”

PayPal expects to process over $3 billion in mobile payments this year.

Other recent eBay acquisitions include: GSI Commerce, Magento, WHERE, MissionFish, Fig Card and Where.

August 11, 2011
Main Street Fairness Act Draws Amazon Support, eBay Opposition

On Friday, Senate Democrats introduced the “Main Street Fairness Act” again. It was also introduced in in the House by Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA) during the last session of Congress.

Essentially, the bill calls for a federal set of guidelines for how states should collect taxes from online retailers. This has been a hot button issue lately. It blew up recently as Amazon and others shut down affiliate programs in California to avoid taxes, causing harm to small businesses who had relied them.

Amazon and eBay have presented opposing views to such a bill. Amazon is supporting it, while eBay says it will harm small retailers. PCMag shares the following statement from Brian Bieron, eBay’s senior director, of federal government relations and global public policy:

“A collection of state tax commissioners have again been able to get an outdated Internet sales tax bill introduced in Congress, but we are confident that it will be rejected because it would harm small Internet retailers. Better policy is reflected by H.Res. 95 from Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA) and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) with 27 bipartisan co-sponsors, which says that Congress won’t give states ‘the authority to impose unfair tax collecting requirements on small online businesses.’”

“The giant retailers jockeying for new Internet sales taxes have national store networks that they combine with their major online sales platforms, a business model they know brings some tax collection duties. Forcing small businesses to take on the same costs and tax burdens as national retail businesses is unrealistic, unfair and will unbalance the playing field between giant retailers and small business retailers on the Internet.”

The House bill says states would be authorized to “require all sellers not qualifying for the small seller exception to collect and remit sales and use taxes with respect to remote sales sourced to that Member State under the Agreement.”

In Section 3 of the bill, as presented in the House of Representatives, it says Congress makes the following findings:

(1) States should be encouraged to simplify their sales and use tax systems.

(2) As a matter of economic policy and basic fairness, similar sales transactions should be treated equally, without regard to the manner in which sales are transacted, whether in person, through the mail, over the telephone, on the Internet, or by other means.

(3) Congress may facilitate such equal taxation consistent with the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota.

(4) States that voluntarily and adequately simplify their tax systems should be authorized to correct the present inequities in taxation through requiring sellers to collect taxes on sales of goods or services delivered in-state, without regard to the location of the seller.

(5) The States have experience, expertise, and a vital interest in the collection of sales and use taxes, and thus should take the lead in developing and implementing sales and use tax collection systems that are fair, efficient, and non-discriminatory in their application and that will simplify the process for both sellers and buyers.

(6) Online consumer privacy is of paramount importance to the growth of electronic commerce and must be protected.

The whole House Bill can be read here. Information regarding the Senate Bill is here, but the full text is as of yet unavailable.

August 1, 2011
NFL Lockout Fun: Players Selling Cars on eBay

While Derek Anderson has never been confused with a great NFL quarterback, he does make a few million being a mediocre one. However, has the impending changes in the soon-to-be ratified (?!?!) collective bargaining agreement have Anderson thinking of plans after football? Is he trying to ensure his style of life remains the same, just in case he gets shown the door? Or is he simply updating to a new model of luxury car by selling his current Aston Martin on eBay?

The auction in question, as pointed out by BustedCoverage, is of a 2007 Aston Martin Vantage, with a tagline that reads “VANTAGE! NAVIGATION! NFL QB’S CAR! BLUETOOTH! CLEAN!” It’s also worth noting that Derek Anderson is not named as the “NFL QB” in question, and it’s not until an image of the nameplate is visible before the truth comes out:

While it’s not sure whether or not the company selling Anderson’s Aston Martin — Alexander Auto Group — wanted it to remain slightly anonymous or if the reveal intended. Whatever the case, the cat is out of the bag, and considering the quarterback involved, there’s no real way of knowing whether or not this is a fire sale or simply a change of pace. Considering the listed price of $73,500, the idea of it being a safety net can be entertained.

There are no bids and/or offers on Anderson’s car, currently. For what it’s worth, it’s a great looking vehicle:

As far has his money-making potential goes, it’s probably a safe bet that, despite not being the best at what he does, when the NFL once again opens for business, Anderson will find a job on a team’s roster. The projected league minimum salary in the future CBA is rumored to be around $500,000, so even if he gets cut from his current team, chances are Anderson will continue to make money off of football.

Of course, he could be planning ahead, knowing his days could be short and his ability to make Pro Bowl-level salaries are behind him. A quick glance at his statistics in the lead image provides a clue as to why that is.

July 22, 2011
eBay Humor: The Car or the Wife?

Divorces can be brutal undertakings, as is to be expected when lives change so dramatically. They can also be adventures in financial creativity, as people scramble to hold onto what’s dear to them. Unfortunately, sometimes the loss in a divorce can extend well beyond the emotional level, targeting items people have come to love, such as boss Super Sport Camaros with bitching racing stripes on them. While these situations are often bitter for the parties involved, sometimes they spill over into the Internet, providing unintentional humor for those of us who aren’t involved.

Just ask eBay seller wyliewalczykracing and his latest auction, which stems from a nasty-looking divorce. Granted, I’m not privy to the details of the divorce proceedings, but with the description wyliewalczykracing offers on his current item up for bid — the aforementioned 2010 Camaro SS — it’s plain to see he’s not happy about the way things have played out with his soon-to-be ex-wife, and he’s sure as hell not happy about having to sell his Camaro, which is a casualty of said unhappy ending.

The devil, as they say, is in the details, and the description for his auction item is filled with them, as wyliewalczykracing offers a biting comparison/contrast between his beloved Camaro and the woman he’s divorcing. Let’s just say the Camaro comes out looking like a gem. Not so much for his less-than-significant other. First, the introduction to his comparison:

As much as this car & my wife are loved and will be missed. I am forced to part with both, So my loss is your gain here. The car has less than 10,000 miles on it, her- a little more-just saying. The car has never seen snow, she can be as cold as ice. The car was garage stored when not in use, she is making me move out to the garage. This car has extraordinary acceleration with the 6.2L V8, superior handling, excellent value, head-turning looks, unique interior design, great fuel economy, and a throaty boasting exhaust, which beats a bitchy mouth any day.

Ouch, but then again, the title and subtitle for the description are as telling as anything on the page:

HER or the CAR?

Your Choice…

But The Car is Better Looking & A Whole Lot Cheaper!
There’s an awful lot of hurt feelings on display here, but the title and the description paragraph are only the beginning. The pièce de résistance of the auction is when wyliewalczykracing compares the specs between his car and the apparent bane of his existence. Some highlights:

2010 Chevrolet Camaro – Muscle Car

Soon To Be Ex-Wife – Pretentious Witch

2010 Chevrolet Camaro – High Performance Motor

Soon To Be Ex-Wife – Motor Mouth Low performance brain

2010 Chevrolet Camaro – Precision Handling

Soon To Be Ex-Wife – Loose on entry (Take from that, what you will – Ed)

2010 Chevrolet Camaro – Neon Trim Lighting Color Matched To Interior

Soon To Be Ex-Wife – Carpet does not match the drapes

Again, the word “ouch” is applicable. Here’s a screenshot of the entire spec comparison, just in case the auction goes away:

There’s also pictures of the car, quite naturally, although, wyliewalczykracing did not include any shots of his betrothed. Whatever the case, it appears as if wyliewalczykracing’s auction has been well received. Currently, the high bid for the Camaro is $27,201.61. Considering the description, I can’t help but wonder what the bids on his upcoming ex-wife would be?

With that in mind, a rebuttal auction from her would be too good to be true.

July 14, 2011
PayPal Aims to Save You From Being Eaten Alive by the Living Dead
In light of our other recent zombie coverage and Bruce Campbell on Twitter news, it seems appropriate to bring up a new PayPal ~~commercial~~ community-made video that was unveiled today at a company event, which shows how you may be able to survive a zombie apocalypse if you’re a PayPal user.

Hat tip to All Things D’s Tricia Duryee for sharing:

Update: This was originally reported to be a PayPal commercial, but a spokesperson for the company tells WebProNews it’s not actually one of their commercials, but was created by the PayPal community. Don’t expect to see it on TV (unfortunately).

It’s also worth noting how horror scenarios are being used in advertising these days. A couple weeks ago, we first saw a Woolite ad directed by Rob Zombie.

I still love this classic Freddy Krueger Fonzies commercial though:

Some stats subtly dropped at the end of the PayPal video:
- 100 million active users
- More than $3,500 per second
- $7.5 billion yearly via mobile by the end of 2013
By 2015, we’re all going to live our lives digitally, according to PayPal President Scott Thompson. That means without wallets:

PayPal also updated its iPhone app this week. With this, all app features are displayed on one page, transaction history details are “just a tap away,” and filtering of transaction history has been improved.
July 12, 2011
Google Plus Invites Appearing on eBay

Honestly, we really shouldn’t be surprised by this by now, but yet, here we are. Google Plus (or “+”, depending on your propensity to spell things out) is Google’s newest venture into the social media world, and currently, the service is on an invite-only basis. This, apparently, has ramped up the interest level, so much so, in fact, Google Plus invites are appearing on eBay.

While this is reminiscent of Gmail’s explosive popularity when it debuted, the idea that people have moved beyond auctioning off invitations seems like the old school approach, but again, it’s clearly happening. Another thing worth noting is the invitation only status on Google Plus is generating a great deal of interest in the service. Couple that with the fact that the early buzz is largely positive, Google’s approach regarding raising interest levels is obviously working.

Now, does this mean Google Plus will be successful in its attempts to replace Facebook and become the number one social media platform of the near future? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Facebook currently has over 700 million members, many of which only recently joined (by recently, I mean in the last three or four years). Combine that with how long Facebook has been open to the public — forget its invitation-only/college students only origins — and you see growth is not a one-day or even one-year process. Keep in mind, Facebook opened up it’s doors to people with valid email addresses in 2006. It’s taken almost five years to reach the peaks they’ve successfully conquered.

Even if Google Plus is indeed the Facebook killer, it will take some time before Facebook can be reduced to Myspace status.

Of course, the invitation-only debut is a great way to generate the necessary buzz. If people view it as an exclusive club where invitations speak louder than snarky comments, the desire to join the service grows, especially when the buzz is coupled with positive reviews. The feeling of being left out is clearly not a good one in regards to public consumption.

These reason help explain why a digital, non-tangible invite can sell on eBay, and in some cases, for a little bit more than one might expect. Although there are two pages of invites listed on eBay’s results page, we’re going to concentrate on three. One has the largest bid, another has the most bidders, and the other has the highest “But It Now” total.

Regarding the one with the most bids, there are currently seven eBay members who made bids on the invite. The price as of now has been pushed up to $15.50. The highest bid total is for $27.00, but there are only two bids. Apparently, the high bidder on this auction decided they didn’t want to play around and went for the jugular. Too bad the bidder didn’t notice the other auctions in play, especially the one with the $21.97 “Buy It Now” listing.

Clearly, that guy wants Google Plus right now. Invitation-only settings, especially in regards to web properties and services, bring out out the impulsive side of the Internet.

June 30, 2011
eBay and GSI Commerce Make it Official (For $2.4 Billion)

eBay announced today that it has completed its acquisition of GSI Commerce, which was announced back in March. The deal was approved by stockholders on the 17th.

eBay acquired all outstanding shares of GSI at $29.25 pher share in cash, adding up to about $2.4 billion.

GSI Commerce will continue to operate as a separate business from eBay, and will be led by Chris Saridakis as its newly appointed president. He will report directly to John Donahoe, eBay’s President and CEO.

“We intend to lead the next generation of commerce innovation,” Donahoe said when the deal was first announced. “The acquisition of GSI, which offers the most comprehensive integrated suite of online commerce and interactive marketing services available, will significantly strengthen our ability to connect buyers and sellers worldwide. Combined with eBay Marketplaces and PayPal, we believe GSI will enhance our position as the leading strategic global commerce partner of choice for retailers and brands of all sizes.”

“While those are longer range goals that the combined companies are fast at work on – coming in today there was a noticeable difference already,” GSI’s Jose Mallabo said today on the GSI Commerce blog (also providing the following pictures. ” For the people sitting at the King of Prussia headquarters of GSI you didn’t have to read the release or this post to know the deal closed – you just needed to look up as you walked in.”

Some think the deal is key in eBay’s competition with Amazon in e-commerce, as GSI powers an impressive list of clients‘ e-commerce offerings. Clients include major brand like Adidas, Calvin Klein, Nautica, Levi’s, Toys “R” Us, HP, NFL, NBA, MLB, NASCAR, ESPN, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and many more.

In March, we ran an article from Rob Diana, who said, “This is the easiest way for eBay to get into ecommerce for larger brands without affecting their auction business. They get a known name in ecommerce and an excellent client list. In addition, they also get the warehouses and distribution facilities that GSI manages for some of their clients. Yes, they have warehouses which contain either merchandise for their clients or merchandise that they own and sell through their clients stores.”

“This combination of things could make a huge business for eBay,” he continued. “In order to see why this is a good idea, you have to think of the possibilities. There is the obvious ability to start hosting major ecommerce brands. However, the other parts of the deal really make it interesting. eBay has its own auction site. Match auctions with “discount” items from the merchandise their clients sell and warehouses to distribute from. Very quickly, eBay could become an even larger player in the discount and used merchandise niche because they would own some of the product. Or they could enable the client stores to hook into the eBay auctions so that they can have their own outlet store and auctions.”

eBay completed the divesture of GSI’s licensed sports merchandise business and 70% of its ShopRunner and Rue La La businesses to a newly formed holding company led by GSI founder and former CEO Michael Rubin.

June 20, 2011
eBay to Acquire Open Source E-Commerce Platform Magento

eBay announced it has agreed to acquire open source e-commerce platform Magento, which the company has had a minority stake in since 2010. eBay will own the entire thing once the transaction closes (the terms of which have not been disclosed).

eBay CEO John Donahoe uploaded the following message to developers:

Magento will join eBay’s integrated open source platform group X.Commerce, which eBay says is focused on leveraging the company’s assets and partner technologies to build a strong developer community as a resource for merchants.

@PayPalx
PayPalXToday X.com truly becomes X.Commerce with Payments, Commerce, Auctions, and more … exciting day for #Commerce developers ! 2 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

eBay promises more details about its plans at the X.Commerce Innovate conference in October.

June 6, 2011
eBay Acquires WHERE, MissionFish

Two bits of acquisition news coming out of eBay today. First, the company has completed its previously announced acquisition of location media company WHERE. Terms of the deal were still not revealed.

“Local commerce companies like WHERE are blurring the lines between in-store and online shopping,” said PayPal’s Amanda Pires. “By giving people hyper-local, relevant retailer information and deals on their mobile phones, we see a huge opportunity for local merchants to reach more buyers, and for consumers to get more choice and value when they shop.”

“As a first step, we plan to integrate PayPal into the WHERE mobile app to make it even easier for PayPal customers to take advantage of the local deals,” she added. “As John Donahoe said at analyst day, eBay Inc. is at the forefront of a new retail landscape, which is more convenient, more accessible, more local and – and more relevant to more consumers than ever before.”

The company has also acquired MissionFish, the technology and team that powers the eBay Giving Works program. This is a program that’s been around since 2003. It helped the eBay community raise $54.8 million for US and UK nonprofits last year. A donation is made every 24 seconds through the program, raising $91 every minute, according to the company.

eBay’s Richard Brewer-Hay writes, “It seems a natural progression for the eBay Giving Works team and one that can only strengthen the future for all that they’re aimed at accomplishing.”

“Personally, I’m excited to welcome additional experienced social entrepreneurs directly into the eBay family making it possible for us to serve the nonprofit sector even better than before,” he adds. “Great stuff!”

Sean Milliken, Founder of MissionFish, wrote a message on the MissionFish site, saying:

This move is a strong endorsement by eBay of the program, and of the idea that a global company can deliver a dramatic social impact through their products and properties. In addition to bringing our seasoned social entrepreneurs in-house, eBay is investing their money, their people and their brainpower into our mission. I am energized by their commitment, and have set my sights even higher on what we can accomplish together.

Going forward, count on us to keep doing what we’ve always done: power eBay Giving Works, and launch new ideas that drive resources to organizations everywhere. Initially we’ll work with Points of Light to process and deliver U.S. donations (just like we do today). Eventually, a new nonprofit, staffed by members of the MissionFish team, will be responsible for donation handling.

We started this venture in 1999, and have reinvented ourselves repeatedly in the eleven years since. Through it all we’ve been carried forward by a true focus on our vision, and by the friends, nonprofits and donors whose trust is our secret ingredient. We also owe a debt of gratitude to the Points of Light Institute, who gave us a home and were early believers in our mission.

Points of Light is the institute that has been running MissionFish until now.

May 2, 2011
PayPal Buys Fig Card, Aims to Kill the Wallet

PayPal has acquired Fig Card in the latest move in the increasingly interesting mobile payments space. This comes just a week after the company acquired WHERE, for location-based deals.

eBay and PayPal will not get left behind as competition grows and industries merge.

Here’s Fig Card’s own description of itself:

A while back, we wondered why we weren’t using our fancy iPhones to pay for things. Why do we have to take our iPhone and our wallet to the gym? Why do we have to carry supermarket cards, drug store cards and lunch loyalty cards around? Obviously the phone can do all of that. It’s not that there haven’t been other attempts at solving this problem. But clearly they haven’t worked, and there’s usually more than one reason. Our patent pending solution requires no new hardware on the phones (iPhone, Android, many Blackberry models) and free hardware for the merchants. Transactions complete faster than credit card and often faster than cash.

Peter Chu, Senior Director of PayPal Mobile said on the PayPal Blog:

Fig Card developed an extremely easy way for merchants to accept mobile payments in stores by using a simple and very low cost USB device that plugs into the cash register or point-of-sale terminal. All the consumer needs is the Fig app on his or her smart phone. We loved their approach to point-of-sale, particularly because it was driven by the same vision that we have at PayPal – in the future, transactions can be as smart as a computer and not as dumb as paper. We won’t need our physical wallets. We’ll be able to pay any way we want, from any device, anywhere in the world with both flexibility and privacy.

Prior to founding Fig, Max and Hasty led a series of successful companies. Max was co-founder and CTO of Firefly, where he helped define many of the governing principles of privacy on the Web that are still used today. Firefly was sold to Microsoft, and he went on to architect Microsoft Passport, one of the first single sign-on systems.

Financial terms of the acquisition are undisclosed.

The whole mobile industry is getting very competitive, with lots of overlap between services and offerings from companies that one time may not have been seen as likely competitors. I believe we will continue to see the lines get blurrier.

Google and Apple, for example, are both expected to get heavily involved in mobile payments (and wallet extinction) through NFC tech and their market leading smartphone/tablet operating systems. Payment for physical goods via Facebook Credits becoming a mainstream method of payment acceptance is not so far fetched either.

Deals companies like Groupon and check-in app companies like Foursquare also continue to see more overlap, as these industries look to be on the path to consolidation – and companies like eBay/PayPal, Google, Facebook, etc. are all in the mix here as well.

Combine all of this with emerging technologies like augmented reality, and the evolution of mobile commerce is simply a fascinating storyline to follow. It will also be interesting to see how companies like Square hold up in the long term, with the rest fo these emerging technologies. Where do you think this will all be ten years from now?

April 29, 2011
eBay Posts Strong First Quarter Earnings

Good news for e-commerce giant eBay, as today they report solid first quarter results.

For the first quarter ending March 31st, eBay reports $2.5 billion in net revenue, which is a 16% increase from the same period last year.

The company recorded first quarter net income on a GAAP basis of $475.9 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $619.0 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, representing a 12% increase for each compared to the same period of 2010. The first quarter increase in non-GAAP earnings per diluted share was due primarily to solid top line growth and a lower effective tax rate.

It looks like the growth of eBay’s PayPal service really pushed revenues in the right direction. PayPal grew in active registered accounts 16% year-over-year. At the end of the quarter that figure totalled 97.7 million accounts. This marks the 6th consecutive quarter that PayPal has added around 1 million new accounts per month.

“In the first quarter, PayPal continued to drive strong growth globally, eBay sharply accelerated growth in the U.S. and we announced several acquisitions that we believe will enhance our leadership and innovation in commerce and payments. The year is off to a strong start,” said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe.

Last December eBay acquired local commerce company Milo, and this year they have acquired GSI Commerce, location media company WHERE and they bought majority stake in Turkish online marketplace GittiGidiyor.

eBay Marketplace grew modestly, but not at the clip that PayPal grew – gross merchandise volume grew 8% year-over-year (excluding vehicles).

For the future, eBay says they expect net revenues of $2.55 billion to $2.65 billion in the second quarter. For the full year 2011, eBay expects net revenues between $10.6 billion and $10.9 billion. They also expect GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $1.53 to $1.58 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $1.93 to $1.97.

April 27, 2011
eBay Buys WHERE to Expand in Local and Mobile

eBay announced today that it has agreed to acquire location media company WHERE in an effort to better position eBay in the local and mobile commerce spaces.

“Local commerce companies like WHERE are blurring the lines between in-store and online shopping,” said PayPal’s Amanda Pires on the company blog. “By giving people hyper-local, relevant retailer information and deals on their mobile phones, we see a huge opportunity for local merchants to reach more buyers, and for consumers to get more choice and value when they shop.”

“As a first step, we plan to integrate PayPal into the WHERE mobile app to make it even easier for PayPal customers to take advantage of the local deals,” she addeed. “As John Donahoe said at analyst day, eBay Inc. is at the forefront of a new retail landscape, which is more convenient, more accessible, more local and – and more relevant to more consumers than ever before.”

eBay has been making some major moves in terms of expanding throughout the growing e-commercesphere. These include buying Milo, GSI Commerce, Brands4Friends, Critical Path and a majority stake in GittiGidiyor.

“Mobile and local are key areas for us,” said Pires. “This announcement builds on the acquisition of Milo late last year, bringing even more great deals and value to consumers. Since we don’t compete with our merchants, we are in a unique position to partner with retailers of all sizes and help people shop and pay anytime, anywhere and in any way they want.”

@WHERE
WHEREJust to clear things up, eBay was not started because of a pez collection. 21 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

From @WHERE’s TwitPic

WHERE has 4 million users, offers local daily deals, and has apps available for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm, and Windows Phone. The company tells advertisers they can reach 50 million users on their hyper-local ad network.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

April 20, 2011
Record Store Day Releases Hit eBay Early

Record Store Day is on Saturday, April 16. This is a day when record stores and music artists come together to celebrate music and the continued existence of albums that you can hold in your hand, in the digital age.

For a more official description:

This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on. Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Francisco on April 19, 2008 and Record Store Day is now celebrated the third Saturday every April.

The spirit of the day, however, seems to be being undermined by those looking to cash in on the releases prior to the event. Items are turning up all over eBay before Record Store Day even gets here.

Here’s the entire list of Record Store Day releases.

The people behind Record Store Day have responded to the situation on Facebook:

Record Store DayThanks to everyone who has pointed out ebay auctions to us. We really DO understand and share your frustration over how much this sucks. And we do take action where we can, especially if we find a store doing it: Time Traveler was doing it, we forced a take-down, and are putting them on public notice. 21 hours ago · 252 likes · 83 comments

One fan commented, “To do this prior to release day belittles the whole ethic…”

Another said, “People should just boycott them and not buy them on eBay. That’s just wrong of them. That just ruins the fun of Record store day. I say ban them for life!”

@recordstoreday
Record Store Day@BrianHastie Record Store Day is a celebration of the STORES. 2 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Also happening this weekend is Coachella, which is sure to draw interest from a lot of the same people who are interested in Record Store Day. The event is being streamed live on YouTube starting today.

April 15, 2011
Commercial Privacy Bill Of Rights Praised By eBay, Microsoft

Today, Senators John Kerry and John McCain introduced a piece of legislation known as the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011. It’s designed to regulate how firms should handle consumers’ personal data, and while that’s a complicated issue, eBay, HP, Intel, and Microsoft wasted no time in voicing their approval.

A few obvious thoughts: it’s interesting to see Kerry and McCain working together, and the existence of that partnership is sure to increase the odds of this bill becoming law.

Also, it’s interesting to see eBay, HP, Intel, and Microsoft form a team.

(image)

Finally, while their PR reps might be writing congratulatory blog posts right now, it’s hard not to notice that Google and Facebook – two companies that have as much consumer info as anyone – didn’t contribute to the tech firms’ joint statement.

Anyway, the four companies said together, “We have long advocated for comprehensive federal privacy legislation, which we believe will support business growth, promote innovation and ensure consumer trust in the use of technology. The complexity of existing privacy regulations makes it difficult for many businesses to comply with the law.”

Then the statement continued, “We support the bill’s overall framework, which is built upon the Fair Information Practices principles. We appreciate that this legislation is technology neutral and allows for flexibility to adapt to changes in technology. The bill also strikes the appropriate balance by providing businesses with the opportunity to enter into a robust self-regulatory program.”

We’ll be sure to report how the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011 fares.

April 12, 2011
eBay Buys Majority Stake In Turkish Site

eBay’s international presence is growing larger in a significant way today. eBay announced this morning that it’s taking control of GittiGidiyor, a company that was founded in 2001 and qualifies as the leading online marketplace in Turkey.

eBay now owns 93 percent of outstanding GittiGidiyor shares, and although terms of the transaction were not disclosed, eBay fans and shareholders should rest assured that this move isn’t as random as it may sound.

For starters, eBay actually bought a minority stake in GittiGidiyor about four years ago, so it’s had plenty of time to learn how the organization operates and be sure of its profitability.

A couple other interesting facts: GittiGidiyor has over 6.4 million registered users, and according to Internet World Stats eBay highlighted, Turkey is the world’s 12th largest market for Internet usage (with a penetration rate of 45 percent).

Anyway, Doug McCallum, eBay’s senior vice president in Europe, said in a statement, “We knew that when we acquired a stake in GittiGidiyor that we were buying into an excellent business in an exciting ecommerce market. Since 2007, we have been impressed with GittiGidiyor, its people, its VC investor iLab and its successful approach to ecommerce. There is a lot that we can learn from GittiGidiyor, and much we can share.”

As for how everyone else is reacting, eBay’s stock is down 1.52 percent so far this morning, but given that the entire market is experiencing a steep decline, this one development may not be entirely (or at all) to blame.

April 12, 2011
eBay Sellers Get Social Listing Tool

eBay developer Sellebrity, has introduced a new tool called “Social Streamer” aimed at helping sellers promote their listings for free on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Social Streamer works by monitoring how listings change over time due to social factors, such as bids, watch counts, links, bookmarks to the listing, and questions asked. The tool compiles and analyzes this information, and in some instances, will use it to attract a buyer on a special landing page.

For example, a rare item can be promoted initially as a good deal because it has no bids. Over time, the listing can be promoted using social data, and before the auction ends, it can be promoted as a last-chance offer.

“People kept saying they did not get the Social Networking thing, so we made a tool for them,” a spokesperson for Sellebrity said.

“This new social tool comes with lots of extras: It optimizes itself using analytics, and it also engages buyers at a very personal level before they get to eBay. Social Streamer was created to help every seller, regardless of who they are or what they sell.”

April 4, 2011
eBay Local Features Contribute to Dramatic Expansion of E-Commerce Giant

We appear to have entered a whole new era for eBay. One that will go more head-to-head with Amazon, and one that will place a new added focus on local.

First, the real news – the local part. You may recall that eBay announced the acquisition of Milo back in December. Now, the company has unveiled some new features stemming from that acquisition.

Tell us what you think about eBay’s new local features.

eBay has new local availability search results, powered by Milo, which show shoppers which local stores in their neighborhood currently have a desired item in-stock, as well as the price at each location. That should go over pretty well with users.

Of course eBay faces the task of getting consumers to see eBay as this new expanded shopping entity, as opposed to its old incarnation of just online shopping/auction site. This makes eBay more of an all around product search site.

There are also consolidated product pages, which include tabs to find products by new, refurbished or used options. A local tab, powered by Milo, also displays in-stock results from nearby stores.

“In the new retail environment, eBay is uniquely positioned to help retailers, large and small, compete globally in new ways and to help consumers shop for whatever they want – anytime, anywhere,” said Dane Glasgow, VP, global product management at eBay. “Our customers tell us they want eBay to make it even easier and more convenient to find great deals, whether they’re shopping online or around the corner. We are enabling a new kind of commerce, connecting eBay shoppers to local merchants.”

The Milo results are integrated into the iPhone and Android versions of eBay’s RedLaser barcode-scanning app, as well. This isn’t the only cool thing eBay has been doing in the mobile app department. We recently looked at the augmented reality-based fashion app they offer.

For local stores and sellers, Milo has a new offline-to-online software product. “Through a one-time, three-step installation, independent retailers will be able to upload their local inventory and automatically share the real-time availability of their products with millions of shoppers nationwide,” eBay explains. “It’s an easy, low-maintenance way for small business owners to drive foot traffic into their brick and mortar locations—and it works with a popular point-of-sale system many retailers already use.”

eBay is clearly making many moves to re-invent itself, despite coming off an impressive fourth quarter. This week, eBay announced plans to acquire GSI Commerce, which should put it in even more direct competition through Amazon. This is a company that hosts e-commerce sites for many very big brands, including: Polo, Adidas, Toys R Us, etc. See the full list here. Combined with eBay Marketplaces and PayPal, eBay says it believes GSI will “enhance its position” as a commerce partner for retailers and brands.

Other recent acquisitions include Brand4friends, an online fashion shopping club, and Critical Path, a mobile app developer, which had already helped eBay create iPhone apps for eBay, StubHub, eBay Classifieds, and Shopping.com.

eBay said last month it expects $13 billion in revenues in 2013 (compared to $9 billion in 2010).

“New rules of retail are being written today,” said President and CEO John Donahoe. “Online and offline commerce are changing and converging, and technology is dramatically influencing how consumers connect, shop and pay.” The new local stuff certainly plays into that.

A couple weeks ago, eBay announced it would make it free to list up to 50 items per month in auctions at any start price, starting April 19.

Is eBay on the right path? Tell us what you think.

March 31, 2011
eBay’s iPad 2 Data Revealed

Although we don’t have the official numbers from Apple, it looks as though sales of the iPad 2 have been good. Maybe even great. After its opening weekend, some analysts projected that the new device had sold hundreds of thousands more that its predecessor in its opening weekend.

Today, eBay released its sales statistics regarding the iPad 2. The numbers that they report represent the 2 weeks between the launch in the States and the launch in 25 additional countries.

What we find is that out of the nearly 12,000 iPad 2’s sold in that 2 week span, around 65% of them were sold to buyers in the U.S. – 7919 to be exact. Compared to last year’s statistics, that is in incredible increase. Last year only 35% of 1st gen iPads went to customers in the U.S. This figure could signal any number of things. It is plausible that Americans cared more about having a tablet this time around, or that this year Americans are more economically suited to afford prices well above the ticket value. Americans could also be more impatient, as shortages were reported all around the globe. Either way, the United States dominated the demand.

eBay also calculated the average amount above retail that customers paid for certain iPad 2 models. For the platinum device, the 64 GB with 3G, customers were willing to pay $406 above retail. For the regular 64 GB sans 3G, just $264 above retail. For the basic 16 GB with no 3G, only $198 above retail. It seems as though customers who wanted the more luxurious models were more willing to spend a little extra.

It then comes as no surprise that the most commonly purchased model was the basic 16 GB iPad 2, making up 30% of total sold. The least sold was the 16 GB model with 3G capabilities, making up only 7% of total sold. It also seems as though buyers willing to pay extra fro 3G decided to go ahead and upgrade space as well.

What other countries imported the rest of the 12,000 units? Second and third place were Russia and Canada, importing 500 and 430, respectively. Last year’s lead importer the UK imported 341 units this year, putting it in a near tie for fourth place with Hong Kong and Japan.

Although this data is strong, especially the statistics regarding sales in the U.S., it is probably unable to prove or disprove any long term predictions of the iPad’s demise. Just yesterday, a Dell exec said the iPad 2’s popularity was unsustainable.

To see eBay’s charts, go here for this year’s and here for last year’s.

March 31, 2011
eBay To Compete With Amazon With GSI Commerce Acquisition

I had always wondered when someone would buy GSI Commerce (GSIC). eBay made the announcement that they have decided to purchase them in a very interesting move. Like many people, you may be wondering who is GSI Commerce? Well, they are one of the biggest ecommerce powerhouses that you have never heard of. Their client list is enough of an explanation. Now, this is not your typical list of clients they have simply created a marketing campaign or some short term engagement. GSI Commerce hosts ecommerce sites, including the development of the sites themselves. They have big name brands like Polo, Adidas and Timberland, almost every major sporting goods site and one of the most popular ecommerce sites in the world, Toys R Us.

Why is this such a big deal? Part of the answer is in the eBay announcement itself:

Combined with eBay Marketplaces and PayPal, we believe GSI will enhance our position as the leading strategic global commerce partner of choice for retailers and brands of all sizes.

This is the easiest way for eBay to get into ecommerce for larger brands without affecting their auction business. They get a known name in ecommerce and an excellent client list. In addition, they also get the warehouses and distribution facilities that GSI manages for some of their clients. Yes, they have warehouses which contain either merchandise for their clients or merchandise that they own and sell through their clients stores.

This combination of things could make a huge business for eBay. In order to see why this is a good idea, you have to think of the possibilities. There is the obvious ability to start hosting major ecommerce brands. However, the other parts of the deal really make it interesting. eBay has its own auction site. Match auctions with “discount” items from the merchandise their clients sell and warehouses to distribute from. Very quickly, eBay could become an even larger player in the discount and used merchandise niche because they would own some of the product. Or they could enable the client stores to hook into the eBay auctions so that they can have their own outlet store and auctions.

There is another route that eBay could take as well. They could start moving into hosting smaller stores for small businesses. Granted, the GSI Commerce platform is built to host Toys R Us, but the same technology could be slimmed down to start hosting small business ecommerce sites. This gives eBay a very nice premium option that could put them in even greater competition with Amazon.

Based on the information in the press release, it also looks like the marketing and consulting services companies are also part of the deal. The companies involved are eDialog and TrueAction. These companies really round out the abilities of an ecommerce provider by offering various internet marketing services and a full service agency complete with a photo studio. Yes, there are a lot of pieces to GSI Commerce and eBay will soon own most of them.

Overall, this looks like an excellent deal for eBay as long as they take advantage of the assets they are buying.

Originally published at Regular Geek

March 29, 2011
eBay To Buy GSI Commerce For $2.4 Billion

GSI Commerce, a public company that deals in ecommerce and interactive marketing services, should soon be the property of eBay. eBay announced this morning that it intends to acquire GSI for a whopping $2.4 billion.

GSI has built up an impressive business in some respects. Its clients include Adidas, Bath & Body Works, FAO Schwarz, Godiva, HP, Major League Baseball, Mattel, the NBA, the NFL, PBS, RadioShack, and Zales, among many other noteworthy organizations.

eBay President and CEO John Donahoe stated as a result, “The acquisition of GSI . . . will significantly strengthen our ability to connect buyers and sellers worldwide. Combined with eBay Marketplaces and PayPal, we believe GSI will enhance our position as the leading strategic global commerce partner of choice for retailers and brands of all sizes.”

eBay should also see an upside in terms of corporate “synergies” (an estimated $60 million by 2013 if the acquisition closes as planned during the third quarter of this year).

There already appears to be a bit of controversy surrounding the purchase, though. GSI’s financial performance hasn’t been great (its stock was down about 30 percent year-over-year prior to eBay’s big announcement), and eBay’s offer of $2.4 billion (or $29.95 per share) represents a premium of 51 percent over GSI’s value at the end of March 25th.

That’s led some eBay shareholders to back away and send its stock down 2.05 percent so far this morning, even as the Dow and the Nasdaq are up 0.23 percent and 0.19 percent, respectively.

March 28, 2011