eBay News & Announcements
eBay and PayPal (an eBay company) announced a joint effort to increase buyer protection on the eBay North American auction sites. PayPal will be offering $200 of protection with no processing fee on all PayPal transactions for tangible goods in the U.S (excluding Live Auctions and vehicles). In Canada, all PayPal transactions for tangible goods will be covered up to $315 CA. PayPal Buyer Protection will also be increased to cover up to $2,000 for tangible items listed by qualified sellers in the U.S. In Canada, tangible items listed by qualified sellers will be covered for up to $2,000 CA.

Meanwhile, eBay is ending the eBay Standard Purchase Protection Program (SPPP) in the U.S. and Canada. This program, which was established in 1999 before eBay acquired PayPal, has covered all eBay transactions, except for items paid for with cash or instant money transfer services, for up to $200, minus a $25 processing fee.

eBay also released details on upcoming category changes, expected to take place by mid-January. In the Consumer Electronics category there will be increased visibility for iPod and MP3 Players and accessories. EBay Motors will expand the Custom Built Motorcycles section and several new sub-categories are being added to the Toys and Hobbies category as well.

eBay In The News
Yesterday, eBay announced plans to acquire StubHub, an online marketplace for reselling tickets to major events. Despite some eBay sellers offering ticket sales on the auction site, Bill Cobb, president, Marketplaces North America, stated that there is little overlap between StubHub's users and eBay's. eBay is said to be spending $310 million to purchase StubHub.

Following last week's news of  impending fee hikes on the North American eBay sites (see eBay Watch: Happy Fee Hikes), eBay fee protest auctions have sprung up, similar to those which were listed after last year's eBay Store fee increases were announced. Several readers provided us with links to these protest auctions over this past week, but not surprisingly, the auction giant has been quick to remove these types of listings from their Web site.

In other eBay fee news, the PheeBay Blog posted details on the of a class-action suit in which eBay charged sellers based on increased final bid winnings. According to the blog,  eBay's system was at fault for charging sellers fees based on what would be the next natural bid increment instead of the actual selling price.

E-commerce Tools & Services Round-Up
PayPal is testing a new security key device, a key fob [define], planned to be widely available this year. The PayPal Security Key is a small device that generates a unique six-digit security code every 30 seconds. After linking the key to your eBay and PayPal accounts, you authenticate yourself on the sites with your username and password, but then you must also enter in the randomly generated code that is currently displayed on your fob.

Once that code expires, no one else can use it. This adds an extra layer of security, meaning hackers need more than your username and password to gain access to your account. PayPal is offering the device for a one time fee of $5. The fee is waived for those using PayPal Business accounts. You can sign up for your PayPal Security Key here.

Webplus, Inc., announced an extended free trial offer on its Shipping Sidekick Web site, to Feb. 1, 2007. Shipping Sidekick is a service that allows you to compare shipping rates and package transit times of UPS, USPS, FedEx and DHL. By entering in the package weight, destination and details, you can obtain the rates of all shippers for all delivery speeds on one single screen for easy comparison purposes.

vFlyer, an online classified ad creation, management and submission platform, announced changes to its subscription-based pricing model. The company, however, will continue to offer its service for free to sellers for up to 10 published flyers. vFlyers can be posted at numerous online marketplaces such as Jobalot, HotPads, Vast, Google Base and Craigslist, among others. New subscription prices can be found on their Web sites.

eWish Gift Registry Services released new tools that help you easily integrate gift registries with popular e-commerce platforms such as Yahoo Store, Monster Commerce, Americart and OSCommerce. eWish Gift Registry Services let merchants add a gift registry to their Web site, with the company getting a 5-percent commission. There is a one-time application fee of $599, which is fully refundable within one year if merchants are not satisfied with the service.

Research Says
A recent university study by the Berkeley Haas School of Business shows that a number of people who use eBay are buying and selling reputations along with goods and services. The study points to the many auctions offering cheap items in which the seller indicates in the auction information that "a successful bidder may request the exact phrasing of the feedback." In other auctions sellers offer to return only positive feedback to buyers who pay the small listing price. The study did find that positive feedback did have an impact on price. People are willing to pay more for items that are being offered by sellers with better feedback ratings. You can read the lengthy study here (in PDF format).

Compete.com took an in-depth look at eBay's total site traffic and breaks it down into buyers and sellers, and also looks at non-registered users compared to registered users. Their results indicate that those listing on eBay represent three times the traffic that eBay bidders generate.

Only on eBay...
Last year eBay touted the success of vehicle sales through its auction Web site, and with that in mind this week's IT is a brand new 2007 Ford Fusion SEL. This is not just any Ford Fusion, however. It's autographed by participants in Comic Relief 2006.

Comic Relief: Celebs sign Ford Fusion and auction it for charity. (Click for larger image.)

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