eBay attempts to welcome back store owners
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(InfoWorld) - After making a series of decisions that frustrated some merchants, eBay is wooing store owners. If a speech from Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, hints at future relationships between the company and its sellers, the message is toÂ keep your doors open. During a Thursday keynote at eBay's annual sellers convention, Cobb pledged not to increase merchant selling fees this July and said that the stores category will return to the eBay page header within 30 days. In addition to offering its main auction listings, eBay allows merchants to set up shops and sell wares at fixed prices. Last July relations between store owners and eBay grew contentious when eBay announced an effort "rebalance the overall eBay marketplace," which had seen store listings eclipse auctions listings. The rebalancing meant higher store fees as of last August, and in April the stores tab was removed from eBay page headers. "For eBay Stores, the last 10 months have been a transition. We are committed to the long-term success of eBay Store owners," Cobb said. While store owners didn't welcome last August's fees, Cobb said he is pleased with the realignment's progress. Additional efforts to court store owners include 24-hour phone support for Featured eBay Store owners and a reduction in Anchor Store monthly fees. Among a raft of other initiatives for sellers, Cobb announced a temporary reduction in the Final Value Fee, a charge tacked on to an item's final selling price. Visual navigation, in which photographs play a prominent role in navigation, will be introduced to more categories. PayPal president Rajiv Dutta addressed merchant security during his portion of the keynote. "We heard the message on fraud. We know it's a top challenge. I am personally committed to keeping fraudsters off the site," Dutta said. In an effort to combat phishing, PayPal, eBay's payment division, will make theÂ PayPal Security KeyÂ available to all eBay and PayPal users on Friday. The security key device, previously in beta testing, generates unique security codes in 30-second intervals. Users then enter the code when logging on to their PayPal or eBay account. In August PayPal will launch a payment review system that flags "transactions that pose a risk." The questionable transaction is highlighted, and the seller is told to wait on shipping the item until PayPal confirms that the buyer's account contains adequate purchasing funds. Meg Whitman, eBay president and CEO, opened the keynote and emphasized that the company is suited to reach its goal of connecting people through three of its divisions. Finding, buying, communicating, entertaining, and paying are main Internet activities, she said. eBay fulfills the buying aspect, PayPal handles payment functions, and VoIP provider Skype, which the company purchased in 2005, provides communication services. "The lines between finding and buying are blurring. At the core the company is about connecting people," Whitman said. As eBay executives discussed staying linked and protected, some sellers said theyÂ felt a disconnectÂ from the company. "I'm happy to hear that stores are going back in the header," said Maria Ginter, who sells furniture and home decor on eBay. Ginter was less impressed thatÂ eBay is no longer advertising on GoogleÂ after a spat this week over a Google event to promote its own online payment system, Google Checkout. "That's how people find my furniture," she said. Deb Martin, who sells collectible figurines on her store wanted to hear of security efforts to crack down on dishonest buyers who create new user identifications solely to commit more fraud. "Buyers have no incentive to keep their name. They just restart their IDs and log back in." She also questioned the merits behind the temporary fee reduction and saw it as an effort to boost quarterly revenue and benefit shareholders. Although eBay is emphasizing its auctions, one merchant thinks that form of e-commerce has faded. "A lot of people are over bidding. They're just buying now," said Judy Pykhoff, who operates the Red Cougar Trading Post store on eBay.
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The retailer shows its turnaround may be working.
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Plus: eBay outlines policy on racist language. [News.com Extra]
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Ebay sellers are being warned to check if they need to register as a business with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and pay tax.
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In terms of usability and addressing the fact that most eBay users probably are not very efficient searchers, eBay has added this incredibly useful quick navigation tool for holiday shoppers trying to get their last minute hands on a Nintendo Wii or Sony Playstation 3:  It&#8217;s linear, yet non-linear, efficient and somewhat 2.0 in design, great [...]
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By MAY WONG    SAN JOSE, Calif.  -- Online auctioneer eBay Inc...
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Who stole Christmas? eBay has nothing to say today on why many subscribers to its Manager Pro service are unable to access the service.â¦
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Retailers are giving vocal online shoppers more opportunities to sound off about products this holiday season &#151; and in return are hoping to convert more surfers into buyers.
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Some eBay Inc. sellers on Monday balked at concessions made over the weekend by the giant Web marketplace, which is still planning to go forward with previously announced fee increases that will hit people who peddle wares through small stores on the site.
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Internet auction house eBay has announced that they will be taking preventative action against users searching for racially sensitive items.
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EBay will cut fees for sellers of books, music, movies and games. But it is defending the changes to the feedback system that have so many sellers angry that they are planning a boycott.
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In late January, eBay will no longer support the ability for members to sign in to eBay through Microsoft Passport. This means that members currently using this service will have to sign in through eBay directly.
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Less than a month after announcing a price hike that enraged small business owners, eBay Inc. said it would reduce some fees and promised to improve customer service.
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Merchants who spent the past few weeks hoping shoppers would splurge on gifts opened their doors Sunday with high hopes people would now spend on themselves.
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LAS VEGAS - EbayÂ has brought together several technology industry heavyweights in an initiative to promote recycling of old computers and other consumer electronics hardware. The move also is an attempt by the industry to pre-empt further electronic waste legislation.ADVERTISEMENTReducing the Total Cost of OwnershipLearn how to reduce the total coast of ownership in enterprise data management in this case study.
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InfoWorld - EBay unveiled changes to its online marketplace Tuesday that the company characterizes as sweeping and historic and that are aimed at boosting sales by making the shopping experience simpler and safer.
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NetSuite has updated the e-commerce piece of its NetSuite hosted application suite, allowing users to manage sales efforts on eBay Inc.'s action site