EBay gets into rentals
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EBay plans to buy the apartment and home rental service Rent.com for $415 million, adding to its already exhaustive breadth of offerings.
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EBay dropoff stores, which list, package and ship eBay items for people who prefer not to do it themselves, have gotten a little help in their quest to find a market - from eBay itself.
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eBay's latest auction trend may give the company a major headache.
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The popular real estate site now lets users sell their own homes.
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EBay Inc. has launched a free classified advertising site in the United States, an experiment the online auction company says could lead to new sources of revenue.
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eBay launches a new marketing campaign that hits close to home.
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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 future of online rentals is just getting started.
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EBay Inc., the world&#39;s largest Web auctioneer, agreed to buy privately held Rent.com for $415 million in cash and stock as it expands into classified listings.
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Internet auctioneer eBay Inc.   on Monday rolled out a service for U.S. auto dealers  intended to drive a tenfold increase in the inventory of cars  available for purchase on its Web site.
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NEW YORK -- You might call it the ultimate full-circle moment: Two guys fed up with paying eBay listing fees are now selling their own alternative to the online auction business -- on eBay.
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eBay, the online marketplace, is enjoying continued growth thanks to increased international sales and the success of its online payment service, Paypal.
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Blog: Web site lets people post classified videos
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Ebay sellers are warned to check if they need to register as a business with Revenue and Customs and pay tax.
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EBay has created an experimental application, EBay Desktop, which gives users a next-generation animated interface to inspect items for sale, place bids and track their purchases. And it's slick!
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  SEATTLE  A real estate site that publishes estimated values for about 70 million U.S. homes began letting homeowners and real estate agents post sale offers online Thursday.
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InfoWorld - After making a series of decisions that frustrated some merchants, eBay is wooing store owners.