If you list items through an eBay seller tool (e.g. Sell Your Item form, Turbo Lister, Selling Manager) or the eBay API, these Item Specifics will be available in the next few weeks. If you use a 3rd party listing service (e.g., Andale, Marketworks, etc.), please contact them to verify that they will offer the Item Specifics functionality in the above categories.

To learn more about Pre-Filled Item Information, please see our information page. You can also check out Seller Central for details on upcoming changes to Item Specifics. If you have any comments or feedback about the Item Specifics in these categories, please email them to computers@ebay.com for future consideration.

Link to this announcement | Back to top

Learn About the New Versions of the Sell Your Item Form and Turbo Lister
The teams working on the new Sell Your Item form and on the next version of Turbo Lister will be visiting our Seller Central and Auction Listings discussion boards from 9:00 to 11:00am PT. Stop by to learn more about these projects, ask questions, and provide your feedback.

Discuss eBay Live!
Have questions or comments about eBay Live! 2006, or just want to learn more? Our event planning team will be dropping in on the eBay Live! board from 10:00am to Noon PT.

Meet our Policy Management Team
Following up on today's Trust & Safety Town Hall, our Policy Management team will be jumping around answering questions on the Seller Central, Professional Buying, Policies/User Agreement, and Trust & Safety (Safeharbor) boards from 4:00 to 5:00pm PT.

As always, other Pinks from around the company will also be checking in on various boards throughout the day. And make sure you stop by one of my favorite threads: the Pinks Game on the New to eBay board. We'll be asking eBay-related questions and you can win prizes for your answers.

We hope you enjoy Pinks Day!

Sincerely,

Rachel Makool
Director, Community Development

Link to this announcement | Back to top

Call in to eBay Radio today, February 28, with your host Jim "Griff" Griffith, Dean of eBay University, live from 11:00am to 1:00pm PT. Guests this week include:

• Barbara Weltman, author of "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting an eBay Business," with advice and tips for tax time.
• Greg Cole, President of HammerTapnow.com, with "What’s Hot on eBay" and what you can learn from holiday buying trends.
• Julian Green, Director of ProStores, an eBay Company, with news about ProStores and their eBusiness Boost contest.
• Jason Miner from PayPal, who will answer your PayPal questions.

And as always we'll have "The News" with Lee Mirabal, as well as the most important feature on eBay Radio: your calls! Call in during the show at 877-474-3302 (USA) or 001-858-678-8958 (Internationally) to talk with Griff and his guests or to ask a question and share your voice with the rest of the eBay Community. Remember, one lucky caller per week, selected at random, will receive an autographed copy of Griff's book, "The Official eBay Bible".

If you can't catch the live show you can always select and listen to any past eBay Radio broadcast, listed by topic and date, in the eBay Radio archives. And don't forget to tune in to our "Ask Griff" edition of eBay Radio on Sunday from 3:00pm to 5:00pm PT.

Visit www.wsradio.com/ebayradio for more information and to listen to eBay Radio on your computer.

Link to this announcement | Back to top

The promotion starts on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 00:00:01 PT (12:00 AM plus one second) and ends that same day, Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 23:59:59 PT (11:59 PM plus 59 seconds). Listings which were created prior to February 28, 2006 and scheduled to start during the promotional period will also be eligible for the special promotional rate.

The 10¢ Fixed Price Sale will not apply to eBay Motors vehicles, International, Live Auction, Professional Services, Real Estate/Ad Format, and Store Inventory listings. Also, the following Business & Industrial categories are excluded from this promotion: tractors & farm machinery (category #91952), heavy equipment (25249), concession trailers, carts (67145), imaging and aesthetics equipment (92035), forklifts and other lifts (97185), manufacturing equipment (92080), metalworking equipment (92082), and commercial printing presses (26247). Please click here for more details.

For full promotion details, please click here.

We hope you enjoy the one-day 10¢ Fixed Price Insertion Fee Sale!

Link to this announcement | Back to top

Registration is now open for eBay Live! 2006. And on top of the huge variety of learning and networking opportunities, this year's eBay Live could be the most fun-packed yet...because we’ll be gathering in Las Vegas! Thousands of us will come together at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on June 13-15.

This year's eBay Live! will feature:

• More than 180 seminars, labs and discussions tailored for every kind of eBay seller and buyer.
• The massive Solutions Center floor, offering a wealth of new ideas for accelerating your online sales.
• A keynote address from me and our CEO, Meg Whitman.
• Our traditional eBay Live! Gala, which this year will welcome Huey Lewis & The News as our musical guest.
• Loads of opportunities to spend time with eBay friends, make new ones, and share ideas for success on eBay.

If you sign up before April 15, you’ll save $20 off the regular registration fee. Please go to www.ebay.com/ebaylive for all the details on eBay Live! 2006. I hope to see you at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas!

Sincerely,

Bill Cobb
President, eBay North America

Link to this announcement | Back to top

CARad Express is an easy-to-use listing tool to help sellers create professional-looking and effective eBay Motors listings. Normally offered for $9.95 per listing, CARad Express will be free during this trial period.

During the CARad Express Free Trial Offer:

For auction-style and Fixed Price eBay Motors passenger vehicle and motorcycle listings on the US eBay Motors site (www.ebaymotors.com), use of the CARad Express listing tool will be free. This promotion will not apply to non-passenger vehicle/non-motorcycle listings, or for International, Live Auction, Professional Services, and Store Inventory listings. Listings on www.ebay.com are also not eligible for this promotion. For full promotion details, please click here.

We hope you enjoy the CARad Express Free Trial Offer!

Link to this announcement | Back to top

$pot Hot Selling Items & Categories Using Research
This workshop will be held on Friday, March 3rd from 10:00 PT to 11:00 PT. Sara Taheri and Dave Frey, Brand Managers from eBay Certified Provider Terapeak, will explain how to analyze and incorporate market research to find emerging opportunities so you know what to sell. They will walk you through a number of examples of research tools and show you how to use research in your sales strategies to discover niche markets.

Workshops are hosted in discussion threads on the Workshops Board. To get to the Workshops Board:

• Click on Community at the top of almost any eBay page
• Click on "Discussion Boards" in the "Connect" Section
• Click on "Workshops" underneath the category-specific boards on the right-hand side of the page
• This will bring you to the threaded Workshops Board.

To view archived workshops or to learn more about future workshop events, please check our Workshop Calendar.

Want timely reminders about workshops?
To make sure you never miss an important workshop topics, sign up for the Workshops Information Group! By joining this group, you will receive an email notification reminding you about upcoming eBay Workshops. Each notification will include the time and date, a brief description of the event, and a link to the discussion thread where the actual workshop will be held. To sign up for the Workshops Information Group, please click here.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Link to this announcement | Back to top

To get started, follow the instructions we’ve provided here.

To learn more about ProStores, visit our information pages at www.prostores.com.

Sincerely,

Julian Green
Director, ProStores

Link to this announcement | Back to top

Hi, I'm Dave Steer, and I work on the Trust and Safety team at PayPal. My team's responsibility is to raise awareness within the eBay and PayPal Community about the ways you can stay safe when buying and selling online.

Identity theft continues to be a fast growing crime that affects consumers wherever they are. We're committed to helping you protect your privacy and, specifically, to help protect you from spoof (also called phishing) emails and websites.

I'd like to reiterate some basic tips to make sure that you are keeping your accounts and personal information secure:

• Be suspicious of any email that requests personal information – Be cautious of emails that request you to click a link and submit your financial or personal information.
  
• Look for cues to verify the authenticity of emails – Any email that PayPal sends you will include your first and last name in the greeting. For all eBay emails, check My Messages (located in My eBay). Any email eBay sends you about your account or requesting personal information will also be in My Messages. If you receive an email asking for information about your account or requesting personal information and it's not in My Messages, it's a fake email.
  
• Report suspicious emails to us – In case you receive a suspicious email and you're not sure if it's really from eBay or PayPal, please forward it to spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com. We will respond (usually within minutes) to tell you whether or not the email is authentic.
  
• Download the eBay Toolbar and the PayPal SafetyBar – The eBay Toolbar includes Account Guard which indicates when you are on a legitimate eBay or PayPal site, and alerts you when you are on a known fraudulent site. PayPal's SafetyBar detects fraudulent emails in your email program and puts them in the spam folder.
  
• Monitor your account for suspicious activity – The best way to prevent damage from identity theft is to stay alert and catch any suspicious activity early. I strongly recommend that you log into your eBay and PayPal accounts frequently to ensure that all the transactions listed are legitimate.
  
• Pay safely and securely – Only enter your financial information on secure websites. Check that a website is secure by looking for the closed lock symbol () near the bottom of your browser window. And, of course, use a safe payment method such as PayPal, which lets you pay without sharing your financial information with the person receiving your money. PayPal also covers you 100% against unauthorized money sent from your account.
  
• Stay informed – You can find out the latest information on safety, security and identity theft protection by visiting the PayPal Identity Protection pages and the eBay Security & Resolution Center.

Sincerely,
Dave Steer
Sr. Manager, PayPal Trust & Safety

Link to this announcement | Back to top

If you list items manually through an eBay seller tool (e.g. Sell Your Item form, Turbo Lister) or the eBay API, the updated Item Specifics will be available in the next few weeks. If you utilize a 3rd party listing service (e.g., Andale, Marketworks, etc.), please contact them to verify that they will update their Item Specifics in the Tickets category.

For general information about Item Specifics and how to use them, please visit the Item Specifics overview page.

Link to this announcement | Back to top

As some background, Ad Format brings interested buyers and sellers together, without enabling the actual bidding or buying process through the site. This format has been used in our Real Estate category for several years, where buying or selling is usually a major transaction. Using Ad Format, eBay has brought interested buyers and sellers together on the eBay marketplace for houses and real estate properties, items that require more time and communication before a deal is closed than most other types of items sold today.

Based on the successful activity we’ve seen in Real Estate, we think Ad Format has the potential to bring buyers and sellers together in other category areas, too, and we’d like to learn more. In the next few days, we’ll be expanding Ad Format as a listing format option in a limited number of specially selected categories, such as Trade Show Booths, Travel, and Websites & Businesses. For a complete list of categories being added, click here.

How Ad Format Works
Ad Format will appear to sellers as an optional listing format in the Sell Your Item form. With Ad Format, sellers can advertise their item to the eBay marketplace, and interested buyers can contact the seller to get more information and express any interest in purchasing. An Ad Format listing costs a flat $9.95 for 30 days. (There are no Final Value Fees.) Prospective buyers who want more information can use the Contact Seller button on the listing to learn more.

Ad Format listings will appear with other auction or Fixed Price items when you search or browse. They will have a icon next to them on the Search & Listings pages to indicate that they are Ad Format listings.

We’ve started a thread on the Seller Central discussion board for members to leave their comments and suggestions about Ad Format. To access that thread, please click here.

Sincerely,

Erik Rannala
Senior Manager, eBay Product Marketing

Link to this announcement | Back to top

Tune in to eBay Radio today, February 21, with your host Jim "Griff" Griffith, Dean of eBay University, live from 11:00am to 1:00pm PT. Guests this week include:

• John Quain, Technology Expert and Consultant for Skype, with news about the upcoming celebrity Skype auctions.
• Greg Isaacs, Director of the eBay Developers Program, who will showcase a company called Filmloop. He will be joined by Filmloop's VP of Marketing, Alice Lankester.
• Dan Serpico, Home & Garden Category Manager, to update everyone on the "Home and Garden Best House on the Block" contest.

And as always we'll have "The News" with Lee Mirabal, as well as the most important feature on eBay Radio: your calls! Call in during the show at 877-474-3302 (USA) or 001-858-678-8958 (Internationally) to talk with Griff and his guests or to ask a question and share your voice with the rest of the eBay Community. Remember, one lucky caller per week, selected at random, will receive an autographed copy of Griff's book, "The Official eBay Bible".

If you can't catch the live show you can always select and listen to any past eBay Radio broadcast, listed by topic and date, in the eBay Radio archives. And don't forget to tune in to our "Ask Griff" edition of eBay Radio on Sunday from 3:00pm to 5:00pm PT.

Visit www.wsradio.com/ebayradio for more information and to listen to eBay Radio on your computer.

Link to this announcement | Back to top

• For core insertion fees for auctions and Fixed Price listings on eBay.com, the lowest tranche fee (i.e. for items with a starting price of $0.01 to $0.99) will be lowered from a quarter to twenty cents.

• For feature fees --
  • Picture Show and Sales Reports Plus will be free for everyone.

  • Reserve Fees will be capped at a $50 maximum.

  • The fees for the second and third tiers of Picture Manager will be reduced and the storage levels you get will be increased.

  • Two new bundles of optional listing features will be available which can save you up to 39% per listing.

• The final value fee for the middle tranche will increase from 2.75% to 3% for auctions and Fixed Price listings on eBay.com.

• There are no changes for eBay Stores fees.

To learn more about the upcoming fee adjustments, click here.

Link to this announcement | Back to top

How to Set up Your eBay Business III
This workshop will be held on Thursday, February 23rd from 11:00 PT to 12:00 PT. In this 3rd and final segment of our series on how to set up your eBay business, Lisa Suttora, Founder and CEO of eBay Certified Provider WhatDoISell.com, will discuss the key business tools that must be in place to enable you to work with legitimate wholesale suppliers. She'll also discuss tips and strategies to help you establish a professional business image.

Seller Risk, Chargebacks & Protection with PayPal
This workshop will be held on Friday, February 24th from 13:00 PT to 14:00 PT. From buyer chargebacks to fraud to security, sellers face unique risks when selling online. Successful sellers know how to manage these risks in order to generate more sales opportunities. Join the PayPal Seller Protection team for this workshop as they answer your questions about chargebacks, confirmed/unconfirmed addresses, the PayPal Seller Protection Policy, and the steps PayPal takes to protect sellers.

Workshops are hosted in discussion threads on the Workshops Board. To get to the Workshops Board:

• Click on Community at the top of almost any eBay page
• Click on "Discussion Boards" in the "Connect" Section
• Click on "Workshops" underneath the category-specific boards on the right-hand side of the page
• This will bring you to the threaded Workshops Board.

To view archived workshops or to learn more about future workshop events, please check our Workshop Calendar.

Want timely reminders about workshops?
To make sure you never miss an important workshop topics, sign up for the Workshops Information Group! By joining this group, you will receive an email notification reminding you about upcoming eBay Workshops. Each notification will include the time and date, a brief description of the event, and a link to the discussion thread where the actual workshop will be held. To sign up for the Workshops Information Group, please click here.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Link to this announcement | Back to top

You can learn more about opening an eBay Store here. For full sweepstakes details, please see our information page.

Link to this announcement | Back to top

We appreciate your input on how we can make categories better for everyone. You may submit categories suggestions here.

Thanks again to all our members who contribute to these trade-enhancing changes!

Link to this announcement | Back to top
	***Original: Coming Soon: Category Updates***
	January 31, 2006 | 02:38PM PST/PT The category structure will be updated in mid-February based on feedback received from the eBay Community and from experts in the affected fields. You may provide category structure feedback at any time by clicking here. A complete list of the new category structure can be found on Seller Central here. Categories that will be updated: COLLECTIBLES Look for changes under Decorative Collectibles. EBAY MOTORS Check out changes under Passenger Vehicles and Parts & Accessories. HOME & GARDEN Look for a new "Robotic Vacuums" category under Vacuum Cleaners & Housekeepers. SPORTS MEM, CARDS & FAN SHOP Check out changes under Cards. As always, you can move your item to another category by revising your listing here as long as it has not received a bid and there are more than 12 hours left in the listing. We appreciate your input on how we can make categories better for everyone. You may submit categories suggestions here. Thanks again to all our members who contributed to these changes!
	Link to this announcement | Back to top

Tune in to eBay Radio today, February 14, with your host Jim "Griff" Griffith, Dean of eBay University, live from 11:00am to 1:00pm PT. Guests this week include:

• Dan Nissanoff, author of "FutureShop: How the New Auction Culture Will Revolutionize the Way We Buy, Sell and Get the Things We REALLY Want."
• Chris Malta, Product Sourcing Editor, who will talk about Fulfillment Warehousing and why it is an important part of product sourcing.
• Bob Miller, "The Answer Man," who will be helping out Griff with your calls during the first hour.
• Colin Rule, eBay Dispute Resolution Specialist, who will join Griff in the second hour to assist with your dispute and transaction problem questions.

And as always we'll have "The News" with Lee Mirabal, as well as the most important feature on eBay Radio: your calls! Call in during the show at 877-474-3302 (USA) or 001-858-678-8958 (Internationally) to talk with Griff and his guests or to ask a question and share your voice with the rest of the eBay Community. Remember, one lucky caller per week, selected at random, will receive an autographed copy of Griff's book, "The Official eBay Bible".

If you can't catch the live show you can always select and listen to any past eBay Radio broadcast, listed by topic and date, in the eBay Radio archives. And don't forget to tune in to our new "Ask Griff" edition of eBay Radio on Sunday from 3:00pm to 5:00pm PT.

Visit www.wsradio.com/ebayradio for more information and to listen to eBay Radio on your computer.

Link to this announcement | Back to top

For example, if you search on “bow tie”, you’ll see all the normal auction and Fixed Price listings as you did before. But now you’ll also see all Store Inventory listings matching “bow tie” listed at the end, regardless of how many auction or Fixed Price listings were found. Similar to today, listing upgrades such as Gallery and Bold will not be shown for Store Inventory listings, unless no auction or Fixed Price items are found – then the upgrades will be shown.

This is a large, technologically-complicated launch, and it might take some time for these extra results to appear consistently. Over the next few days, these Store Inventory listings may appear off and on, and we’ll provide updates on this board if needed.

To learn more about listings in the Store Inventory format and see a screenshot of this change, please click here. I also encourage you to check out our FAQ.

Sincerely,

Chris Tsakalakis
Senior Director, Stores

Link to this announcement | Back to top

For more information about Business Registration, please see our original announcement.

Link to this announcement | Back to top
	***Previous update: Business Registration, Add Pictures to Revised Items, and Digitally Delivered Goods***
	January 13, 2006 | 10:43AM PST/PT Digitally Delivered Goods and Adding Pictures to Active Listings Even After a Bid are now once again available on the site. Business Registration will be reintroduced within the next few weeks. For more information about each feature, simply click on the links above.
	Link to this announcement | Back to top
	***Original: Update: Business Registration, Add Pictures to Revised Items, and Digitally Delivered Goods***
	December 21, 2005 | 11:05AM PST/PT Last week we announced the addition of three new features: Business Registration, Adding Pictures to Active Listings Even After a Bid, and Digitally Delivered Goods. However, due to some issues while releasing the products, we decided to delay their launch. We hope to reintroduce these features within the next several weeks.
	Link to this announcement | Back to top