News and Announcements
In an effort to encourage new sellers to list on eBay, the auction site is offering a special promotion that gives new sellers their first three Insertion Fees and Gallery Upgrades for free. To qualify for the special offer, the eBay member must not have sold on eBay before, and must list their first three items during the promotional period, from May 17 to 31.

This week eBay is also looking to boost its affiliate program by opening it up to eBay sellers and PowerSellers. This means that those who advertise eBay listings off the eBay Web site can join eBay's commission-based revenue sharing program, and, of course sellers can also earn if the traffic is directed to their own listings.

In PayPal news this week, the company announced that it is introducing a new partner program. This program gives special benefits and incentives to e-commerce and financial service providers that integrate and offer PayPal's Express Checkout to their merchant customers.

Under this new program, partners will receive integration technical support, integration best practice information and access to co-branded marketing materials. In addition, partners that integrate Express Checkout will be eligible for an integration bonus upon receiving certification from PayPal. All partners will be listed in PayPal's Solutions Directory , making it easy for merchants to find best-in-class partners to meet their specific e-commerce needs.

In other Papal news, the company received a banking license that will let it expand operations in Europe. The license has been granted by the "Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier" and will be effective as of July 2, 2007. PayPal will move its European headquarters to Luxembourg from Britain, and become the central issuing agent for Europe.

Auction and E-Commerce Tools Round-Up
iMergent, a provider of e-commerce software for small businesses, just signed an agreement with Microsoft adCenter. The deal will integrate Microsoft's new tools and features into StoresOnline Pro on Monday. This agreement will see iMergent earn a commission for each adCenter account setup through StoresOnline. All StoresOnline merchants will receive a $50 credit toward advertising when setting up a new Microsoft adCenter account, and a low set-up base with Microsoft adCenter of $5 to begin bidding on search term placement.

Eye on the Little Guy: Match-Up Marketing
Over the past couple weeks we talked about eBay to Go, eBay blogs and other tools that sellers can use to promote their auction or store listings. This week we're going to discuss playing match-ups to increase traffic to your eBay pages. EBay Match-Ups, a service owned by eBay Inc., is a neat little Web site that allows eBay members to show side-by-side comparisons of images and ask other members to vote for their favorite choice.

Match Game: Vote on your favorite images, promote your site. (Click for larger image.)

Not only is there something oddly mindless and fun about this whole site, but it serves a second purpose as well — it provides another venue in which you can promote your eBay items for free.

Here's how it works: You can upload two images, create a caption and pose a question for other members to vote on. There are no limitations to what you post, as long as it is not offensive material. Since I list handcrafted rings on eBay in both gold and silver, my first match-up was to upload the same design in each metal and pose the big question: "Which do you prefer... expensive gold or more affordable silver jewelry?" In creating this match-up, I used my own auction images for items I had listed at the time. When others view this match-up they can see my match-up bio, which is the same as my eBay username, and get direct links to my eBay profile, eBay Store, eBay Blog and my current items for sale. I discovered that it's a great way to promote your own eBay wares for free while also having a little bit of fun at the same time.

Note, however, that it's important to remember human nature, and quite often you will see the most popular match-ups have nothing to do with eBay or items for sale but are just for entertainment or are related to current worldwide events. Still, they can be used to your advantage. For example, "Everybody Loves Raymond versus Seinfeld" is a popular match-up, so the vote images stay on the main page, and all that many more eyes can potentially be lead to your eBay listings.

This means that if you are creative enough to come up with a side-by-side comparison that captures the fancy of the masses in regard to pop culture, even if it has nothing to do with eBay, everyone who sees it will want to vote on it. The more people viewing your match-ups means more people can potentially view the links to your eBay listings. As an added bonus, creating new match-ups makes good fodder for eBay blog posts when you want to update but really don't have much else to post in your blog.

Research and Trends
According to eBay Pulse research data this week the search for Webkinz remains number one on eBay.com, followed by Wii and Xbox 360. These search terms represent the most popular searches based on the number of searches on eBay. Working the top keywords into your own listing titles can help drive traffic to your own eBay listings, as your results will appear as a better match when buyers search for those keywords. Here is a snapshot of several eBay categories and the corresponding top three searches in each for May 17, 2007:

• Sporting Goods: Bowflex, golf clubs and fishing.
• Sporting Goods > Camping, Hiking, Backpacking: Camping, tent and backpack.
• Jewelry & Watches: Diamond, Tiffany and Rolex.
• Jewelry & Watches > Vintage, Antique: Rings, vintage jewelry and art deco.

According to research by Forrester Research Inc., Internet shopping for clothing, accessories and shoes has edged out computer and hardware sales. Online shoppers spent $18.3 billion on clothes, accessories and shoes on the Internet last year, compared to the $17.2 billion spent on computer products.

A separate study by Consumer Reports shows that U.S. women spend an average of 1.2 hours a week shopping online. The study also says that 96 percent of American women who have shopped online in the past 12 months have purchased at least one product on the Internet, with the average spent on a single item a whopping $397.

Only on eBay...
In the new age of Dora and Diego, there are kids today who have never even laid eyes some of the classic Disney characters that we adults grew up with and loved. These days, the name "Donald" conjures images of a real-estate mogul with bad hair, rather than a feathered friend with a funny lisp.

The (Real) Donald: A very quacky collection. (Click for larger image.)

Bringing back memories for many from the good old days of Disney cartoons is our favorite IT this week, likely one of the largest personal Donald Duck collections out there, with 1,200 unique Donald items.

This personal collection of Carol and David "Duckman" is the result of 30 years of collecting and includes Donald Duck themed dolls, plush, cups, puzzles — just about any Donald-ized item you can imagine. Some of the highlighted items include a restaurant menu signed by Clarence Nash, who was the voice of Donald Duck for the first 50 years, a 1962 Donald squeak toy, a Fisher Price pull-toy, a 1936 Donald Vacuum Sweeper that still works, a 1944 comic book and many more historic and rare Donald Duck collectibles.

The auction listing offers 10 separate galleries showcasing all the items in this impressive collection. With only a couple days left, the bidding is at about $1500, with the reserve price not yet met. Ten percent of the final sale price will be donated to Florida's Coast to Coast Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Have an interesting e-commerce tool, auction tip, auction or news item to submit for eBay Watch? Tell us about it!