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Tag: eBay

  • eBay Now Lets Users Get Items Within An Hour

    eBay Now Lets Users Get Items Within An Hour

    eBay is testing a new same-day shipping service called eBay Now in San Francisco. Presumably, if successful, it will expand to more areas.

    Merchants in the test group (which includes Postmates, TaskRabbit and Uber) can reportedly offer the service to customers for $5.

    Owen Thomas at Business Insider has a step-by-step look at how it works, after making a purchase and accepting a delivery. According to Thomas, the service functions as an “on-demand delivery service,” which “picks up goods from local stores,” and delivers them to your door in about in about an hour. The couriers, he says, call themselves “shoppers”.

    A really good point is brought up in that step-by-step slideshow: “The hour-long delivery window makes a lot of impulse buys possible.”

    The whole thing brings something of an instant-gratification factor to e-commerce. Historically, when people have shopped online, they’ve had to wait to get their products. This really does bring more of an offline shopping element to the table. Imagine if they added a mobile fitting room service, allowing you to try on clothes before purchasing.

    According to TechCrunch, users can use the eBay Now option with any store on the company’s Milo platform.

    Users can simply pay with their credit cards or PayPal accounts.

    You can sign up for the beta here, if you live in the area.

  • Anonymous Announces #OpAnonTrademark In Retaliation To French eBay Store

    Anonymous Announces #OpAnonTrademark In Retaliation To French eBay Store

    Well, that didn’t take long. Earlier today, we brought you a story of how one French retailer had trademarked the Anonymous logo for his own use. He is using the faceless man logo and the slogan on a variety of t-shirts at the moment, but that could expand to other products. I guessed that it wouldn’t be long before Anonymous caught wind of it and took to action, but I didn’t expect it to take off so fast.

    But take off fast it did. Anonymous just announced Operation AnonTrademark via the group’s French branch. The original video detailing the operation was in French, but it has now been translated into English by the U.S. branch to start a global campaign against Early Flicker.

    Here’s the transcript of their message to Early Flicker:

    “Anonymous logo and slogan has been defiled and registered through the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). An online t-shirt company online called “Early Flicker” or “E-flicker” has registered the anonymous slogan and logo and passed it on as their own. Now under French law the company owns the rights to the anonymous logo and slogan.

    In a response the National Institute of Industrial Property said that “the conditions seem fulfilled since the mark is registered and it does not seem to have made ​​use.”

    Their arrogance and ignorance of what they have done will not go unpunished. Anonymous will take down any business they have going on the internet and the ninety-nine percent will not stop until the registration has been revoked and a public apology has been made.

    The name of Anonymous will not be the whore of the world.”

    I haven’t seen Anonymous this angry at a single entity in a while. They have already started posting the personal details, including phone number, address, personal email address, and Google+/Facebook accounts of the man behind Early Flicker, Apollinaire Auffret. There also seems to be plans to launch a massive DDoS campaigns against Early Flicker’s Web sites.

    I spoke to some members of Anonymous on the matter and they said that they would have no problem if Early Flicker was just selling Anonymous t-shirts. Their problem is that Anonymous has already registered the logo and slogan under a Creative Commons license. For Early Flicker to trademark it as his own creation is illegal. That being said, they still love the people that make Anonymous merchandise using the CC license.

    It looks like this operation isn’t going to be over anytime soon. It will be interesting to see how Early Flicker responds. If its found that they have trademarked a Creative Commons licensed image, that could spell trouble for him.

  • Will Anonymous Allow Their Logo To Be Trademarked?

    Will Anonymous Allow Their Logo To Be Trademarked?

    The Anonymous logo is one of the defining images of our generation. Whether you agree with them or not, Anonymous has had a profound impact on the Internet. That’s why it’s interesting that Anonymous hasn’t tried to monetize their image. Of course, it could be that a French online retailer beat them to it.

    Twitter user @asher_wolf spotted a trademark filing from earlier this year that seeks to claim the Anonymous logo for their own. You know the one – the suited man with a question mark for a head standing in the front of the globe. It’s more synonymous with the Anonymous movement than the Guy Fawkes mask. Variations of the question mark man have been appearing since Anonymous was just some guys trolling the church of Scientology from 4chan’s /b/ board.

    The lengthy history of the logo is what makes this news odd. Why trademark it now? The person behind the trademark is a Frenchman named Apollinaire Auffret. He works for the retailer Early Flicker and they have begun selling Anonymous merchandise via their eBay store.

    What’s interesting is that Auffret did not only trademark the logo, but he also filed for the slogan – “Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

    The man responsible for the trademark is obviously a peddler of suspect quality graphic T-shirts. You can see from his store that all of the t-shirts have graphics taken from various popular Web sources. He probably thinks that Anonymous is popular enough to warrant t-shirts.

    Unfortunately, he may be only inviting attacks on his store and Web site. Anonymous has been traditionally against the use of copyright and trademark for any reason. Some within the group may feel that the trademark is an offense to their beliefs. Of course, it could also be somebody within Anonymous hoping to make a few extra bucks off the brand. The openness of the group makes it hard to pin down members or their motivations.

    If you feel like you must have an Anonymous t-shirt, you can grab one from the store for €19.90. You might want to grab one now before Anonymous starts to attack the poor guy.

    [h/t: Wired]

  • Selling Soul on eBay: Woman Will Part With Hers for $2000

    Selling Soul on eBay: Woman Will Part With Hers for $2000

    Selling souls on eBay is nothing new. During the auction websites’ earlier years, you could purchase objects like this all the time. In addition to souls, people would bid on everything from ghosts to haunted objects to demonic babydolls, though, in most cases, these auctions were yanked before anyone could get their grubby little hands on them. Once upon a time, I was intrigued enough by a so-called “ghost in a jar” that I almost dropped some cold, hard cash to bring the item home. Alas, I did not, leaving me to wonder what might have been.

    For those of you who are in the market for another person’s mortal soul, a freelance writer by the name of Lori N. is currently selling hers on eBay for a cool $2000. Like most people in this economy, two grand is usually just lying around on the kitchen table, generally right next to an empty box of cereal and a cup of lukewarm coffee. I guess if you’re going to auction off your soul, you might as well put a high dollar value on it.

    According to Click On Detroit, Lori was in a car crash not too long ago, an accident that has had a very negative effect on her existence. Her body is a busted mess, she claims, and she’s just looking to make some money on what’s left of her soul. Given the damage done — Lori reportedly lost a breast, broke several bones, experienced a collapsed lung, and had a stroke — she’s currently “at the end of her rope”. Understandable.

    “What I’m going to deliver is the opportunity for someone to save my soul. They can save it through prayer, they can save it through conversion,” the owner of the soul explained. “And I’m also going to give them a certificate detailing the white and black marks on my soul.”

    Although Lori understands that she may offend some folks with such a stunt, she’s hoping that she might meet someone during the process. In other words, the auction really is a thin-veiled cry for help, one that could lead her to the happiness she lost following the accident.

  • T3Media Allows You to Sell Your Original Photos and Videos online with Paya

    T3Media Allows You to Sell Your Original Photos and Videos online with Paya

    Tese days everybody is looking for a way to make some extra cash. Some people have a yard sale or sell things on ebay. Others are looking for a more unique way to get paid.

    T3Media out of Denver is just putting the finishing touches on a new service they call Paya. Paya allows you to sell your original content online. What kind of content?

    Paya will allow you to sell your videos and photos on over 250 sites. The concept is really simple. You log into Paya via Facebook, list the photos and pictures you want to sell, then set the price.

    Buyers can see the content on Paya, and wherever else you originally posted the material: YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, wherever. The content has a link back to the Paya page, and once the transaction is made, you get to keep 80% of the selling price.

    So, if you’re looking for a way to make some extra cash, or you’re a creative type hoping to sell your masterpiece online, Paya might be right for you. At the very least, it’s worth looking into.

    Forbes spoke with T3Media CEO, Kevin Schaff, and he was excited to share, what he sees as, an extreme demand for the service.

    T3Media CEO, Kevin Schaff comments on their new Paya service:

    “You have Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and all the content that lives there, but there is no way to sell off of them.”

    “About 375 billion photos are being created daily,”

    “72 hours of footage just on YouTube are being uploaded per minute – it’s staggering,”

    So, T3Media’s service is simple solution to a complex problem; how do we take all this original content and make some of it work for us financially? There’s no telling how popular the service could become, but it represents a unique opportunity for all the social media users out there who are looking to make some extra cash on what they’re passion about: posting media content.

  • Ebay Stalls Efforts Forcing Tracking on Top-Rated Sellers

    Ebay Stalls Efforts Forcing Tracking on Top-Rated Sellers

    It was supposed to start June 20th, but Ebay is stalling on efforts to force top-rated sellers to monitor tracking time for at least 90% of their transactions.

    According to a release by Ebay’s vice president of seller development, sellers aren’t yet ready to implement tracking on a majority of their orders. Starting June 1st, they are giving sellers 30 days to get ready for the change.

    Michael Jones, Vice President of Seller Developments comments on the delay in the changes:

    “Since we announced updates to the eBay Top-rated seller criteria in February, many Top-rated sellers have said they need more time to meet the new requirement to upload tracking within handling time on 90% or more of US transactions. We’ve heard your concerns and want to give sellers more time to make the needed changes.”

    “We are extending the time for implementing the tracking upload requirement by one month. We will begin counting tracking for achieving Top-rated status as of June 1 (and not May 1 as originally announced).”

    At the next seller evaluation taking place July 20th, the new standards for rating a sellers performance will be in full effect. In his post, Jones lays out the facts about how evaluations will look going forward.

    This is how top-seller evaluations will look going forward:

    * The July evaluation will look at transactions from June 1 to June 30 to determine if you meet the standard.

    * The August evaluation will look at the period of June 1 to July 31.

    * The September evaluation will look at June 1 to August 31.

    * From that point onward, we will look back at the previous three calendar months of transactions to determine your tracking upload rate.

    Note as of June 1, 2012:

    Only those Top-rated seller listings with 14-day or better returns with a money-back option and 1-day handling qualify for a 20% discount on Final Value Fees and the greatest average boost for fixed priced listings in Best Match. The timing for that requirement has not changed.

    Jones comments on the efforts of Ebay sellers:

    “We continue to be impressed by the number of sellers who have already risen to the challenge of the new criteria and now offer the services online buyers expect—including tracking. eBay buyers clearly appreciate it too, as shown by the continued growth of sales for Top-rated sellers. Other indicators eBay uses to track buyer satisfaction are also pointing to this progress—due in large part to your quick action and dedication to great service. We thank you and look forward to more sellers achieving Top-rated status in the months ahead.”

    We will keep you posted if there are any further alterations to the deadlines or evaluation processes for Ebay sellers.

  • Kobe Bryant H-O-R-S-E eBay Auction Winner Goes Big

    Kobe Bryant H-O-R-S-E eBay Auction Winner Goes Big

    You might remember the Kobe Bryant eBay auction from May of this year (2012) where Bryant’s game-worn plastic face mask was offered. The winning bidder wound up paying $67,100 for the right to own the Lakers’ star’s Phantom of the Opera mask. Last week, another Kobe Bryant-based eBay auction went live, with the highest bidder winning an opportunity to play a game of H-O-R-S-E against one of the best scorers to play in the NBA.

    It, like the plastic mask before it, also drew some substantial bids. While not as much as the protective piece of plastic, the winning bidder for the H-O-R-S-E game will be paying $22,322.22 for the right to test their shooting skills against Bryant. While the “any given Sunday” kind of thinking is always something to acknowledge when competitive sports are involved, unless the winning bidder is a trick-shot artist, the game probably won’t last very long because this is what the winner will be going up against:


    Good luck. It should be noted the winning bidder will have an opportunity to at least put some pressure on Kobe shoot the ball a few times. Even if they miss one of Kobe’s attempts, while they’ll be assigned a letter for the miss, the winning bidder will be allowed to lead off in the next round. This alternates until someone completes the H-O-R-S-E spelling, meaning the high bidder will have about five chances to shoot first.

    The proceeds from the considerable bidding war will go to the Kobe & Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation’s Youth Homelessness Initiative. As for the bidding aspect, here how the final bidding broke down:

    (image)

    In other news, for those out there keeping score, that’s two eBay auctions Kobe Bryant’s been attached to since May. The combined total for the winning bids is $89422.22. That’s not a bad total for someone who is supposed to be a divisive personality.

    [Via Ball Don’t Lie]

  • Prototype iPad With Two Dock Connectors Sells For $10,200

    Prototype iPad With Two Dock Connectors Sells For $10,200

    In the weeks and months leading up to the unveiling of the original iPad in 2010, there were all sorts of rumors about what Apple’s tablet device: what it might look like, what sort of features it might have, how much it might cost, and so on. There were even rumors about what it might be called – iSlate was the most common, though iTablet was kicked around as well. The choice of “iPad” surprised pretty much everything, and subjected the tech world to enough feminine hygiene-related jokes to last a lifetime.

    At any rate, one of the rumors that was widely believed was that the iPad would have dual dock connectors – one beneath the home button (where it is now), and one on the side for when the iPad was being used in landscape mode. Numerous reports, component leaks, and a patent application seemed to confirm this, yet when the device was actually unveiled, there was only one dock connector – a design choice that Apple has held to in two subsequent generations.

    So, what happened to that second dock connector? Apparently Apple decided at the last minute to remove it. It seems, however, that there are still a few prototypes floating about. In fact, one of them made its way onto eBay over the weekend. The prototype was built for testing purposes and includes Apple’s Switchboard platform for testing hardware (based on the icons, it looks like Apple is populated by Star Wars and Transformers fans; try to contain your shock).

    According to the eBay listing, the device isn’t fully functional. It seems that Apple deliberately disables these units when its done with them, and the seller says in the item description that the touchscreen only works sporadically, and that the batter had to be replaced. Apparently, though, a piece of Apple history is still worth a pretty penny even if it doesn’t quite work. The auction ended shortly after midnight, Eastern time. After 23 bids, the prototype iPad sold for $10,200 (with free shipping, which is always nice).

    iPad Prototype eBay Auction

    The listing includes lots of pictures of the device. Here are a few that clearly show the second dock connector:

    iPad Prototype

    iPad Prototype

    iPad Prototype

    The auction began over the weekend with a starting price of $4,800. It had a Buy It Now option for $10,000.

  • Olympic Torches on eBay

    Olympic Torches on eBay

    Apparently the Olympics are more than just a time to show pride in one’s country. British Olympic torchbearers are selling the torches for a profit of up to $237,000 on eBay. 8,000 people were chosen to be torchbearers because of contributions to their communities, according to the AFP.

    The Olympic torch is a symbol of purity and is being turned into a quick buck. Actually a quick euro. Even though the example below only has one bid. The rational explanation is some people just don’t need a trophy to display the part they played in the Olympic games. They are selling it to someone that will appreciate the torch. But not all people are using the money for personal profit. One torchbearer is taking her profits and making a donation to a charity and a hospital who treated her son for cerebral palsy.

    (image)

    The relay started Saturday and will make it’s way around England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It runs through the start of the London Olympics on July 27.

  • eBay Opens New Office in Bangalore

    eBay Opens New Office in Bangalore

    According to the PayPal official blog, eBay is set to open a Global Development Center in Bangalore, India, which is projected to bring roughly 1,000 new jobs to the area over the next three years.

    India, increasingly “touchy” in regards to mostly all things having to do with the internet, had also seen an eBay development center established in the city of Chennai in 2007, which employs over 2,200 people. Also in 2007, eBay India had sued Harry Potter scribe J.K. Rowling for essentially being unhappy that the site was selling pirated copies of her books. eBay India didn’t like that she didn’t like this. Again, “touchy.” Still, new jobs are always a good thing.

    Anupam Pahuja, GM, PayPal IDC, Chennai, states “This is quite a milestone for us given that we started our first development center in India in Chennai in 2007 and have already grown to over 2,200 people. Now we are all set to make our mark in Bangalore too. Our new center in Bangalore will feature several centers of excellence and will house technologists from both eBay Marketplaces and PayPal.”

    The new location is hiring senior technologists for research, platform and application development, architecture, quality engineering, product management, marketing and product analytics, user experience and design and information security, and interested applicants can visit eBay Careers.

    Pahuja adds, “PayPal is growing at a phenomenal rate as we continue to execute on our bold vision of reimagining money. To support this growth we need to expand our talent pool and we’ve been calling out to top talent to come innovate with us. Bangalore was the natural choice because of the availability of pukka software engineering talent there. Replicating the successful model in Chennai, this new center will be a crucial development site for PayPal.”

  • Wal-Mart, eBay Try Out New Search Engines

    Wal-Mart, eBay Try Out New Search Engines

    Reuters is reporting today that both EBay and Wal-Mart are replacing their outdated search engines in order to compete with online retailers such as Amazon.

    The report states that eBay will soon implement a new search engine it is calling “Cassini”, which will replace the antiquated “Voyager.” EBay search was dismal in 2008, and eBay sellers have never held back their criticism. From the Reuters story:

    Since then, eBay has gone on a hiring spree to fix search. The number of employees working in that area has tripled to more than 150. EBay also poached several engineers from Microsoft Corp’s Bing search unit, including Ken Moss, who runs the Seattle office, and Hugh Williams, who oversees eBay’s new search engine, Cassini, to be rolled out in 2013.

    Wal-Mart is also updating its online store search, but is going a different route with its design. Reuters cites Anand Rajaraman, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president for global ecommerce, as stating that Wal-Mart’s new search engine was created in under nine months by only 10 to 15 developers. The new search relates “terms and phrases that people use when describing products, rather than matching queries to exact words in listings.”

    The Reuters story states that if sites such as eBay and Wal-Mart improve their search enough, they could threaten Google’s shopping search results. This seems far-fetched, though, as those companies would have to provide shopping results from competitors to match the usefulness of Google.

    Of course, these companies could simply use Amazon itself to implement search, which is available as part of Amazon Web Services (AWS). I suppose paying Amazon directly would defeat the purpose of improving their searches, though. What do you think? Can eBay impress its sellers with Cassini? Will Wal-Mart improve its search enough to overtake Amazon on the web? Leave a comment below and let me know.

    (via Reuters)

  • Righthaven Copyrights (Including Porn Titles) Being Auctioned on eBay

    Righthaven Copyrights (Including Porn Titles) Being Auctioned on eBay

    17 Righthaven copyrights are being auctioned off on eBay today. I’m not going to rehash the entire Righthaven saga here, but if you’re unfamiliar with the story, Righthaven with the business model of purchasing copyrights and suing people. They have become commonly known as a “copyright troll”.

    Properties previously acquired by the “company” have been turned over to lawyers, as Righthaven’s debt in legal fees mounted. You can read about the events here.

    Rimon Law Group has issued a press release about the auctions, which Partner and Chief Sustainability Officer Lara Pearson tipped us off to. The release says:

    This is the third auction of Righthaven property to satisfy court judgments against the Las Vegas company. The RIGHTHAVEN service mark was sold for $1025.00 in an auction that closed this morning. The auctions are being conducted by the court-appointed receiver for Righthaven, Lara Pearson, Esq., operating under the eBay seller name courtappointedreceiver.

    It’s mostly sports titles, with a little bit of porn sprinkled in. I’ve linked all the listings below. The porn descriptions are pretty funny (don’t worry, there’s no NSFW imagery or anything, though the language is as strong as you’d probably imagine).

    The listings include:

    “Ebony Princess #3.” – Copyright

    “Browns Damn right I’m backing Cleveland 11-14-10.” – Copyright

    “UTAH The pointspread took a big plunge on Tuesday 12-22-10.” – Copyright

    “Ebony Amateurs Vegas Edition #10.” – Copyright

    “Rockets 11-10-10.” – Copyright

    “OREGON Let’s go over some undisputed facts. 01-10-11.” – Copyright

    “Ravens If you haven’t heard it by now 11-11-10.” – Copyright

    “Analysis Thank Ohio University for this play 11-17-10.” – Copyright

    “Over the total Michigan is going to score points 11-13-10.” – Copyright

    “Hawks 11-10-10.” – Copyright

    “Tonight’s top play 01-15-11.” – Copyright

    “Temple How can a team 11-16-10.” – Copyright

    “Ravens These two very good teams meet 11-11-10.” – Copyright

    “ROCKETS (plus the points and money-line) 7-0 That’s the Rockets’ record 01-21-11.” – Copyright

    “Suns Absolutely ridiculous pointspread 11-17-10.” – Copyright

    “TENNESSEE How do you lay points 01-05-11.” – Copyright

    “RAVENS 80-116. You know what that is? 01-09-11.” – Copyright

    Mother’s Day is coming up, so…something to think about if she likes copyrights. Starting bids are at $50! The auctions end at 8:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday May 5, 2012.

    Earlier this year, we saw Righthaven.com taken over by a new entity with a sense of humor.

  • eBay Releases App v2.0 for iPad

    eBay Releases App v2.0 for iPad

    Internet auction giant eBay has just released it app for iPad version 2.0, presently available at the Apple iTunes store, allowing users to better sell, search, bid, buy, browse and pay in an interface built around the tablet.

    Below is a clip of eBay VP of Mobile Steve Yankovich showing off the new app:

    Key features include an updated, customizable design, ultra-high resolution item images via the iPad retina display, three ways to view search results, revisable listings, a back button, improved search and more eBay notifications. The app update also includes:

    – Stunning images A better shopping experience with rich, high quality images
    – Quick listings Create a listing in under a minute on your iPad
    – Photo upload Effortlessly upload photos from your iPad camera or photo library
    – Advanced search Target your results to listings that fit your budget and taste
    – Mobile Checkout Pay for items with PayPal, eBay gift cards, coupons and earn eBay Bucks where available
    – My eBay Stay on top of your bidding, buying, and selling activities from anywhere
    – Customer service on the go See how your items are performing, reply to questions promptly, and provide speedy response to Best Offers
    – Effortless navigation Buy and sell in My eBay without ever clicking away from your search screen-products are always in view
    – Alternate viewing Shop eBay in landscape or portrait views

    Interestingly, iPad trade-ins on eBay have been up ten-fold from last year, through eBay’s Instant Sale Program – though many of those who trade are just looking to upgrade to the latest model.

  • Kobe Bryant Puts His Mask on eBay For Charity

    Kobe Bryant Puts His Mask on eBay For Charity

    During the NBA’s All Star game, Kobe Bryant’s nose was broken by a Dwyane Wade when the Heat guard hit him with an unnecessarily hard foul, especially for a meaningless exhibition game. Wade’s foul was so hard, it also gave Bryant a concussion. After he was medically cleared to play again, Bryant had to wear a protective mask to avoid re-injuring his nose.

    The foul in question:


    As you can probably tell from the lead image (courtesy), Kobe’s mask became something of meme, or, at least something for opposing fans to make fun of. Not to be outdone, Bryant himself also had an opinion of the mask, saying it was like wearing a sauna and that it produced so much sweat, he could drink it. Lovely images of sweat intake aside, Bryant’s mask was a trending item for a little while, which no doubt led to his (or his handler’s) decision to auction it off on eBay, with the proceeds going to charity.

    So how much would people bid on a plastic face cover that was worn by an NBA player? As of this writing, the high bid for Kobe’s mask is $2,550.00. There have been 38 bids on the item, and the auction is scheduled to last for six more days, meaning you have time if you want to outbid the current leader. Oddly enough, as pointed out by Ball Don’t Lie, when he was cleared to play without the mask, Bryant said “I might donate it, see if anybody’s dumb enough to buy that sweaty mask,” which should give you all the incentive you need to knock the highest bidder from their perch.

    Hey, at least it’s for charity. I mean, who cares if the player who wore the mask thinks the person who is willing to spend a lot of money on it is dumb? It’s your money, right?

  • WHERE Ads Rebranded as PayPal Media Network

    WHERE Ads Rebranded as PayPal Media Network

    PayPal’s official blog has just announced that it’s WHERE advertising platform has been rebranded as the PayPal Media Network. Roughly a year ago, eBay acquired local commerce company WHERE, one of the largest mobile location-based advertising networks, and the name change is indicative of further integration into the eBay/PayPal family.

    The new PayPal Media Network name also describes the evolution of a multi-channel advertising platform offered to members of PayPal’s retail network. Mobile devices have been influencing all points of sale more and more, and Walt Doyle, GM of PayPal Media Network, states that “A consumer may begin their purchase journey in a store, on a phone, at their desktop, or on a tablet, then engage with the same brand or product across a multitude of different mediums and devices to discover, research, price check, etc. – The boundaries between the physical and digital world have disappeared and the purchase funnel has become a purchase pretzel! No longer is there e-commerce, offline commerce, m-commerce – there is simply commerce.”

    The PayPal Media Network affords marketers opportunities to reach out to consumers on all fronts of evolving commerce, and have aligned with eBay.com, BML, Shopping.com and RedLaser, amongst others, to better target relevant and local advertising material. The WHERE (former) network presently reaches roughly 70 million customers ion the U.S. through affiliate networks, and has been expanding quickly through eBay. PayPal Media Network is just one of PayPal’s upcoming service capabilities the company will be rolling out, and will compliment PayPal’s new Here card reader system, a competitor of Square’s own Card Reader System.

  • Merchants To Get More Out of eBay’s E-Commerce Platform X.Commerce

    Merchants To Get More Out of eBay’s E-Commerce Platform X.Commerce

    We spoke with Matthew Mengerink, VP and GM of eBay’s x.commerce, which offers merchants an e-commerce platform using the “fabric of eBay” and its various products to essentially be the ultimate set of APIs and tools for e-commerce (though it also applies to getting people into brick and mortars with mobile apps).

    Mengerink and his colleagues are spending a few days in Vegas at the Imagine conference, getting to know the developers that are helping them build their ecosystem (which is growing quite well, by the way).

    With x.commerce, Mengerink says, there have been five to six thousand Magento extensions and seven thousand PayPal extensions created by developers in the past year. They’re seeing something like 300 a week for PayPal. There were two thousand Magento extensions installed in the first quarter alone.

    eBay/x.commerce announced some new partnerships at Imagine, which should fuel the growth of the ecosystem even more, and add to eBay’s own “fabric” with their own services for merchants o take advantage of. New partnerships are with: Avalara, e-Dialog Express, Fanplayr, Kabbage, Lexity, M2E Pro and TheFind, which have each developed new capabilities based on eBay’s Magento platform. The goal, according to Mengerink, is to keep costs down for merchants, and eliminating the complexities of using multiple solutions. He also emphasizes the ability for merchants to easily switch integrations on and off as they see fit. Because of this ease, he says, merchants can experiment more across different services.

    Avalara is offering AvaTax through x.commerce for tax services for merchants, including tax calculation, exemption certificate management and returns processing.

    e-Dialog Express is giving Magento merchants email marketing tools, such as an email editor and tools for tracking email opens, clicks, pageviews and social sharing.

    Fanplayr offers Coupon & Offer Gamification for Magento merchants to “harness the marketing and sales capabilities of ‘Smart & Targeted’ coupons”.

    Kabbage provides funding for online sellers, and uses Magento to streamline the application and payment process for merchants, using PayPal via the X.commerce platform. Kabbage disburses loans to merchants via PayPal Payments, and uses PayPal’s PreApproval API to establish automatic repayment of loans, as x.commerce explains.

    Lexity actually offers a search engine marketing platform for Magento merchants, which implements AdWords campaigns. It automatically manages and optimizes keyword bidding.

    M2E Pro’s extension integrates Magento and eBay platforms for listings management, synced stock level, imported eBay transactions and orders, and feedback.

    Finally, TheFind provides a shopping search engine, indexing over 450 million products from 500,000 online stores for comparison shopping. With the Magento integration, merchants can add it to their own stores.

    At the conference, developers are showing off their stuff at bar camps, and getting together at mixers, which Mengerink cites as his favorite part of the event, because it “fosters the ecosystem”.

    According to Mengerink, eBay has x.commerce set up so that anytime the company makes a new acquisition, it can quickly be integrated into x.commerce, to add to the fabric. Between acquisitions and partnerships, they’re going to give merchants a lot more reasons to tap into x.commerce.

  • Ultraviolet Code Crackdown Starting on eBay

    Ultraviolet Code Crackdown Starting on eBay

    In an attempt to get consumers to start investing their disposable income on packaged media again, Hollywood studios have embraced the Ultraviolet format, which essentially allows users to watch the movies they purchase on any device that supports the cloud-based digital locker. For instance, say you’re really getting into “Avatar”, but you’ve got a pesky doctor’s appointment scheduled right in the middle of your viewing. You could, in theory, pause the movie, trek to the doctor’s office, and resume watching the flick on your smartphone while waiting for the nurse to collect you. It’s an interesting idea, for sure, but movie-goers have not been overly thrilled with the format’s performance.

    Ultraviolet is owned by five major studios — Sony, Paramount, Universal, Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox, to be exact — all of which are struggling to keep consumers interested in collecting the movies they love. So when someone comes along and, through no fault of their own, threatens their business model, the studios are going to react accordingly. Given the industry’s shakiness at the moment, it definitely makes sense.

    Such is the case of an eBay user who was accused of copyright infringement for selling his unused Ultraviolet codes online. Whenever he’d purchase a new movie — in this instance, it was “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” — the guy would stick the codes online for people to buy, usually for $6 a pop. Unfortunately, the studios aren’t too crazy about individuals separating the codes from their physical counterparts and putting them up for auction.

    Here’s what the eBay user told The Consumerist:

    I picked up “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” on Blu-ray this morning. It came with a digital download code good for a free Ultraviolet copy of the movie. As Ultraviolet is worthless to me, I listed the code on eBay. Within a few hours of the listing going up, eBay took it down for copyright infringement. They warned me not to list it again, or my account would be suspended.
    I called their customer service number to explain that the listing was taken down in error, and the helpful lady on the phone was much more concerned with the fact that there was no birth date attached to an 11-year-old eBay account. Once we got that taken care of (she literally refused to help me until I tied my birthday to my account), she basically just kept reading and rereading the email to me over and over again.

    Now, let’s forget the fact that I’ve sold Ultraviolet codes on eBay before. Let’s also forget the fact that, right this very second, there are a boat-load (metaphorically, not literally – that would be weird) of Ultraviolet code auctions live. How, exactly, are they able to claim Ultraviolet codes as copyright infringement? It’s a product. It’s barely different from me selling a physical copy of the Blu-ray that I don’t want, or the third disc in the set which is a DVD copy I’ll never use. And why are they enforcing this imaginary policy selectively?

    Is this an awful lot of trouble to go through just to make, at most, $5? Yes, it is. However, I’m self employed, and today is a slow day.

    According to attorney Jim Burger, this practice is considered “unbundling”. “[The] use of the UV code is governed by the UV license, [which] permit[s] the owner of the disc to access digital content in the cloud and does not allow resale of the service,” he explained to MESA. In short, unless you’re willing to sell the whole package along with those unused codes, studios aren’t going to be too thrilled with your online transactions.

    Burger also added that individuals who purchase these codes from sites like eBay could be considered guilty of copyright infringement themselves. All of this may seem outrageously silly from a consumer standpoint, but the studios are obviously struggling to maintain an economic foothold in an age where people can download just about any sort of entertainment they want for free.

    At present, there are roughly 20 codes available for purchase on the auction site, most of them ranging from $2 to $5, depending on the title. Since you shelled out your own hard-earned cash to bring these titles home, should you be allowed to sell the unused codes to those who only wish to purchase the digital copy? Should the studios be allowed to tell you how to resell something you already own? Let us know in the comments section.

  • eBay’s First Quarter Forecasts Continuation of Year Over Year Profits

    eBay’s First Quarter Forecasts Continuation of Year Over Year Profits

    eBay Inc. was pleased to report today that revenue for Q1FY12 increased 29% to $3.3 billion, compared to the same period of 2011. They recorded Q1 net income on a GAAP basis of $570 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $725 million, or $0.55 per diluted share. The year-over-year increase in first quarter GAAP earnings per diluted share was driven primarily by strong top-line growth partially offset by their investment in improving consumer shopping experiences and the impact of acquisitions.

    John Donahoe, eBay Inc. President and CEO, explained why he believes the first quarter was so successful:

    “The first quarter was a strong start to the year for us with momentum continuing in our Marketplaces, PayPal and GSI Commerce businesses. We believe that innovation in retail today is technology driven, and consumers are embracing smarter, easier, better ways to shop. We are enabling commerce in this new retail environment, supporting and partnering with sellers of all sizes and giving consumers worldwide the ability to shop anytime, anywhere, for whatever they want.”

    First Quarter 2012 Financial Highlights (presented in millions, except per share data and percentages)

    PayPal

    The company’s PayPal business ended the quarter with 109.8 million active registered accounts, a 12% increase over the first quarter of 2011. PayPal revenue increased 32% year over year, driven primarily by increased penetration on eBay as well as continued merchant and consumer adoption. PayPal’s net total payment volume (TPV) grew 24% year over year to $34 billion. PayPal continues to focus on its core platform as well as mobile and point of sale initiatives.

    PayPal recently provided a new way for consumers to make purchases at 2,000 U.S. Home Depot stores. All that customers need to do is enter their mobile number and pin, or swipe their PayPal card, and then enter their passcode.

    Consumers who practice this method of payment receive electronic sales records of their purchases in a snap.

    GMV

    The company’s Marketplaces business also delivered strong first quarter performance. Gross merchandise volume (GMV) excluding vehicles increased 12% year over year to $16 billion. Sold items increased 17% compared to the first quarter of 2011, reflecting the continued impact of improvements to eBay’s core technology that are designed to make it easier and faster for shoppers to browse and buy. U.S. GMV excluding vehicles increased 13% year over year as sold items growth, mobile engagement and momentum in fashion and parts & accessories were key drivers of growth in the first quarter. Fixed price GMV, which represented 64% of total GMV in the first quarter, grew 18% globally year over year, a four-point acceleration compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. International GMV excluding vehicles increased 11% year over year to $10 billion, reflecting improved performance in Korea and solid growth in Europe. Downloads of eBay’s suite of mobile apps surpassed 12 million in the first quarter and 78 million globally since the launch of mobile in the third quarter of 2008.

    GSI

    The company’s GSI business, which was acquired in the second quarter of 2011, contributed $237 million in revenue for the first quarter. GSI generated $715 million in global ecommerce (GeC) merchandise sales during the quarter. Same store sales grew 26% year over year, reflecting strong e-commerce sales from retail clients.

    Business Outlook

    Second quarter 2012 — eBay expects net revenues in the range of $3,250 – $3,350 million with GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.49 – $0.51 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.53 – $0.55.

    Full year 2012 — eBay now expects net revenues in the range of $13,800 – $14,100 million with GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $1.91 – $1.96 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $2.30 – $2.35.

  • eBay, USPS Innovate Shipping for Retailers

    eBay, USPS Innovate Shipping for Retailers

    eBay was recognized by the U.S. Postal Service for technology and financial innovation on Monday, after systematically developing a setup on its platform that allows sellers to bill and ship faster. Users of eBay, the world’s largest online marketplace, are able to calculate postage, purchase and print stamps, ship, track, etc., all within their online store.

    Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service, presented the online auctioneer with its Partnership for Progress award at the annual National Postal Forum. eBay received the award for financial and technology achievement, as their one-click systems have saved sellers time and money, with roughly 8 million shipping labels printed in 2004 alone – the year the USPS and eBay formed a partnership to offer users the comprehensive system. With this scheme, shipping rates have grown substantially in the last 8 years, which is good news for the USPS, which has struggled in the digital age.

    Jay Hanson, vice president of eBay Managed Marketplaces, who accepted the award, stated, “This is an example of eBay and USPS continuously improving the products, integration, and pricing for our customers. eBay’s innovations are immensely popular because they allow our customers to save considerable time and money, whether they’re an individual entrepreneur, a small business or a retailer. This ultimately means better and faster service for shoppers.”

    Donahoe went on to say, “eBay has been a true technology innovator, working with the USPS to help our customers save money while generating more than $800 million in postage last year alone. Our collaboration with eBay demonstrates the transformative power that technology can have for our industry.”

    While, The Partnership for Progress award was given for eBay’s general shipping technology enhancements over the years, eBay also launched its Fast ‘N Free program last October. The program highlights items that offer free shipping and fast delivery times. Through a broad system of data mining, eBay is able to identify items that could be delivered in under four days, based on seller location, seller rating and shipping history, and seasonality. Over 3 million items were sold through the Fast N’ Free program since its inception.

  • eBay to Inform Sellers of Protection from Buyers

    eBay to Inform Sellers of Protection from Buyers

    eBay Inc. will commence informing sellers of proactive protection from buyers, beginning April 3rd, and every month thereafter, according to an official message from the eBay announcement board.

    eBay proactively protects sellers from unfair or undeserved feedback, as well as in buyer protection cases. If the company notices an atypical pattern of low detailed seller ratings (DSRs) or negative or neutral feedback, eBay will now be letting sellers know if they remove any negative feedback from vendor profiles. Sellers will also be made aware of any resolution cases have been excluded from ones seller performance record, or if a seller has been protected by a standards grace period – meaning, a seller will be able to maintain a Top Rated Seller status even if negative feedback that had affected the rating in the past is again pending.

    Specifically, eBay will be monitoring and resolving the following issues:

    The number of negative and neutral feedbacks removed and/or number of low detailed seller ratings (DSRs) removed as a result of proactive reviews by eBay.
    If multiple DSRs from a single buyer have been excluded from review.
    Any resolutions cases removed proactively from the seller’s account
    If the seller performance standard has been protected by the standards grace period

    The first eBay email this month will cover all transactions occurring during the period from February 1, 2011 to January 31, 2012, and the company states that this proactive initiative will serve to help protect and support sellers. It has been reported that some of the main issues that eBay users have with the site concern the management, the feedback system and the buyers themselves. Perhaps the new monthly emails will improve the eBay experience.

  • New PayPal President David Marcus Talks About Past, Present & Future

    New PayPal President David Marcus Talks About Past, Present & Future

    In case you’d like to know a bit more about the new president of PayPal, eBay’s Richard Brewer-Hay posted an interview with David Marcus on the eBay Ink blog for that very reason.

    News of Marcus’ appointment to the President position came on Thursday, when eBay CEO John Donahoe broke the news on the PayPal blog. “For more than 15 years, he’s been a successful technology entrepreneur with a passion for great products that both engage and delight customers,” he wrote.”

    He was born in Paris, and talks a bit about his European background in the interview. He moved to the U.S. a few years ago to start Zong, which PayPal acquired last year. When he joined PayPal, he became GM of Mobile.

    “I’ve been a serial entrepreneur in the tech business,” says Marcus. “Zong was, I think, my third or fourth company. I’ve always been innovating on the edges of mobile and payments.”

    “We have an amazing management team. The exec staff is world class,” he says on how PayPal is well positioned for the future. A couple of new products the company unveiled this month shouldn’t hurt either. That includes PayPal Here, a new card reader (which also accepts other means of payment) and PayPal digital wallet, which lets consumers easily pay for things from their mobile devices. Meanwhile, PayPal is starting to infiltrate retail stores.

    PayPal processed $118 billion from over 100 million users in 190 countries in 2011, including $4 billion in mobile payments.