Another quiet week in eBay Land has passed. No big lawsuits. No scandals. Just some more interesting tidbits about the auction giant from around the globe. So let's get right to it.
John Slocum from the eBay Blackthorne team announced that as of Friday, May 12, 2006, eBay will no longer support its Seller's Assistant products. The reason is because the launch of eBay Blackthorne, the redesigned and renamed version of Seller's Assistant, is due for release. Blackthorne, according to Slocum, is simpler to use and includes more features to help seller meet the growing needs of their eBay business, while still offering the features of the original Seller's Assistant product line that users said were important to them.
"We will end support for Seller's Assistant products because they are based on eBay's legacy Application Program Interface (API) structure which eBay will no longer support. Blackthorne is based on eBay's new API structure," he said on eBay's Announcement page.
"On May 12, if you are subscribed to Seller's Assistant, your subscription will automatically roll over to the equivalent Blackthorne subscription. This means that if you are subscribed to Seller's Assistant Basic, you will be switched to a Blackthorne Basic subscription. If you are subscribed to Seller's Assistant Pro, you will be switched to a Blackthorne Pro subscription," he added.
Boom in the UK?
Telegraph.co.uk reported this week that eBay is spawning new cottage industries in the United Kingdom thanks to its growing popularity according to a new survey. The survey claims roughly 68,000 out of approximately 10 million people in Britain make at least a quarter of their annual income by selling goods on the Web site. (At least the wording of this survey is clearer than what eBay puts out each year in the U.S., claiming nearly a quarter of a million earn all or "part" of their income on eBay without specifically breaking down the figures.)
The survey found a significant number of sellers are using eBay UK to trade in second-hand books, rare records, homemade toiletries and jewelry.
"The online survey by AC Nielsen found that there are more Britons earning a significant income from eBay than any other European nationality. Germany came second, with 64,000 people relying on the site for a portion of their income, while France was third," said the article.
Meg Whitman, eBay's president, said: "This survey shows that the Internet allows European small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs to compete and succeed in the global market."
The survey found that, on average, each eBay business employs nine people, reported The Telegraph. Almost half earn more than three-quarters of their income from the site.
Biting off More than You Can Chew
Reuters reported this week that eBay is going to hold off on making any further acquisitions in 2006 until it deals with what the company acquired last year according to comments made by eBay's CEO Meg Whitman on Tuesday.
Whitman said the company needed to digest acquisitions from last year, such as Internet telephone carrier Skype. (We're still wondering WHY they did that...)
"We did make a number of acquisitions in 2005 in Europe ... and when we see companies in Europe that fit our strategic agenda we will certainly move forward," Whitman told Reuters.
"My preference (in 2006) would be to consolidate our position, exploit the synergies, and then think about what we might do later on," Whitman said, adding that nothing specific was targeted, said Reuters.
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Auction of the Week — Zapped
We really thought we'd seen it all on eBay. Jesus Toast. Mystery auctions. Redneck trailer vacations. Body advertising and paintings of Alan Greenspan. But the beauty of eBay is that you can find just about anything ever invented. We realized that this week when we discovered a laser hair & tattoo removal machine. No more trips to the spa for a waxing!
"You will never have to use a razor, tweezers or wax again," says seller medicalequipmentbroker. "This system also prevents razor bumps from ingrown hairs and is the fastest method for hair removal currently available. Treatments are safe, gentle and highly effective."
Bidding is currently up to $750. We can see why people would want one of these at home, but we hope the winner keeps this tool away from the kids. We've all seen that four-year-old nephew who got a hold of daddy's razor and shaved part of his head to "look like daddy," so just imagine if that self-grooming exercise was permanent! Yikes!
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Devin Comiskey is the Managing Editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.
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