News and Announcements
EBay this week made some enhancements to members' MyWorld pages. MyWorld is typically used to provide more information about who you are when other members click on your user ID. The recent changes include new themes to customize your MyWorld page, a new Guestbook feature, additional tag options to make your MyWorld page more visible and a new interface on the MyWorld hub page that shows up to 49 pictures. With the new hub interface, you can search based on what those pictured like to do, what they buy, what they sell and some of their interests.

According to industry reports, eBay Inc. is set to begin auctioning advertising airtime on 2,300 participating U.S. radio stations, in a move similar to Google's recent expansion into radio advertising. eBay partnered with Bid4Spots for the eBay Media Marketplace for Radio. eBay believes its hundreds of thousands of sellers will want to use the new channel for advertising.

A new study by Evans Data Corporation (EDC) ranks eBay as having the most promising Web 2.0 integration development, by offering resources to developers that enables them to integrate added functionality into their applications. Despite the cited potential, however, the study, "Definitive Rankings of the Top Six Companies Offerings Web 2.0,"says developers still had the most difficulty integrating their applications due to problems with outages and downtime. But, because eBay is addressing this with new and better APIs, developers anticipate they will work more with eBay next year than any other company.

The report also says that Amazon provides more financial gains for developers compared to eBay which was second in that category followed by PayPal, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN portal. Other highlights from the study show that PayPal is expected to gain an increase in integration as more and more developers look to develop applications with e-commerce solutions. EBay also ranked the lowest for security.

Third-Party Services and E-Commerce Tools Roundup
Research software provider HammerTap announced plans to integrate its market research solutions with the ProStores Web hosting service. Adding in ProStores compatibility will offer ProStores merchants a new way to obtain streamlined research data. After importing a client's inventory list, HammerTap organizes the products into categories for easy reference. From there, ProStores merchants can generate research reports for specific products. HammerTap market research will also give ProStores merchants an inside look into shoppers' buying habits on eBay offering research information to assist these merchants in making selling decisions for specific products in their ProStores Web stores.

For those eBay sellers using Mac OS X, GarageSale, an application that enables you to create and manage eBay auctions, has been updated to Version 3.2.1. The application offers Mac OS X users an auction editor and imports photos from iPhoto, a digital camera or iSight.

It supports eBay features, such as item attributes, and automatically uploads auction images to a Web server via FTP, WebDAV or .Mac. This recent updated introduces support for eBay's Digital Delivery option and lets users browse Auction Designs using a visual interface. It also supports eBay's new options for international shipping. GarageSale can be purchased online for $29.99 and is available in English and German.

Finally, WebAssist is offering designers a free Skype extension that lets them add "Skype Me" buttons to existing Web pages. The lets site visitors call your company directly by clicking the button. The extension is compatible with Macintosh and Windows platform Dreamweaver CS3, Dreamweaver 8 and Dreamweaver MX 2004. The add-in is also compatible with Microsoft Expression Web.

Research Says...
According to eBay Pulse this week, and for the third week in a row, Webkinz still remains the most popular search on eBay.com, holding first place above both Wii and xBox 360. On the Canadian eBay Web site, Webkinz takes seventh place with Lululemon, Wii and xBox 360 being the top three searches. In the UK, the Apple iPod still remains as the top search followed by McDonald's Monopoly and PS3. Here is a snapshot of several eBay categories from the US, UK and Canadian eBay sites, and the corresponding top three searches in each on eBay.com for June 7, 2007:

• eBay.com: Toys & Games: Star Wars, Transformers, and Little Tikes.
• eBay.co.uk: Toys & Games: Lego, Little Tikes and cars.
• eBay.ca: Toys & Games: Webkinz, Lego and Transformers.
  
• eBay.com: Computers & Networking: Laptop, Dell and memory.
• eBay.co.uk: Computing: Laptop, PC and desktop PC.
• eBay.ca: Computers & Networking: Laptop, Dell and Apple.
  
• eBay.com: Collectibles: Vintage poster, baseball cards and Precious Moments.
• eBay.co.uk: Collectibles: Hornby, Royal Doulton and Wade.
• eBay.ca: Collectibles: Swarovski, hockey cards and Royal Doulton.

In other international research news, there are some indicators that online shopping is gaining ground in the Middle East. A MasterCard survey reports that 76 percent of consumers in the Middle East have an Internet connection and 51 percent pay for their online purchases with credit cards. Purchases made in Egypt rose to 7 percent (up 1 percent from last year), Lebanon rose to 32 percent from 26 percent and Kuwait rose to 20 percent from 13 percent in 2006.

Only on eBay...
This week our favorite IT shows that when it comes to old items you may have or find, you should always consider eBay. In this case, the IT is an old fruit canning bottle. The seller, "mr.haneys.truck," says it is a mason-type jar, and while the glass is a bit cloudy, the item has no chips or cracks.

Door to Money Ajar: An old preserve jar fills seller's coffers with cash. (Click for larger image.)

Shortly after listing the item, an eBay member sent the seller a note saying, "Here is some advise from a collector. Get ready to make a lot of money!!! Don't under any circumstances end the auction early."  Another eBay member also offered some advice and good words, "Just want to say congrats to you. Hope you make a mint and not let them steal it from you. After this hope you go on vacation! You will need it, hang in, its going to get crazy!!!"  Good advice, indeed. In response to questions about knowing the value before listing, the seller replied "I knew it was a goody, but not this good."

With just a couple days left to go, this "old fruit canning bottle" is already bid up to $7,100. Definitely a bit of good fortune for the seller, and in this case the auction "question and answer section" makes it even more exciting to watch just how well "mr.haneys.truck" does with his old bottle.

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