5-Minute Market Research Recipe to Power Up Your Profits
This workshop will be held on Monday, April 2nd from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific time. Please join Jen Cano, from HammerTap, a Certified Solution Provider, as she guides you through a simple, 5-minute recipe for using market research to pump up your eBay sales and profits. Market research doesn't have to take up a lot of time; so come find out why you can't afford not to spend 5 minutes researching your product before you start your next listing.

Research 101
This workshop will be held on Friday, April 6th from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Pacific time. Have you wondered why some people make lots of money selling on eBay and others quit before they see a profit? What is the difference between these two types of sellers? There's a good chance the successful seller uses research to determine what, when and how to sell their products. Please join Sara Taheri and Denise Hogue from Terapeak Marketplace Research for a gentle and fun introduction to how you can put market research to practice and increase your profitability on eBay. There will be examples based on Terapeak Research reports and you will get the chance to ask our research experts questions live.

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

• Go to www.ebay.com
• Click on Community at the top of the page
• Click on "Workshops" in the "Events" section
• This will bring you to the threaded Workshops Board.

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

Want timely reminders about workshops? We recommend two ways to make sure you never miss an important workshop:

• Sign up for the Workshops Information Group! By joining this group, you will receive an email notification reminding you about upcoming eBay Workshops. (To sign up for the Workshops Information Group, please click here.)
• Subscribe to the RSS feed for the Workshop board. When a new workshop becomes active, your RSS reader will be updated. (You can also subscribe to just the specific topic thread that interests you.) To subscribe, click on the button at the bottom of the Workshop board or thread. Copy and paste the feed URL into your reader to subscribe. For more information on RSS, please read our RSS Help page.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Max Mancini

The 5th annual eBay Developers Conference will be held from June 11-13 in Boston, MA, right before eBay Live!. It's perfect for eCommerce developers, entrepreneurs, and affiliates who want to take advantage of the leading eCommerce platforms on the web – eBay, PayPal, Shopping.com, ProStores, and Skype. If you are a tech-savvy eCommerce professional who is interested in the momentum that Web 2.0 has brought to the industry, we can give you the business behind the buzz.

As always, we'll be offering a wide range of sessions at this year's conference. For example, join us to discuss the A to Z's of optimization, from your online storefront to affiliate search engines. Or maybe you'd want to attend the basic and advanced eBay and PayPal Web Services classes. We're also expanding our popular (and free) one-on-one technical support sessions, and we've added a PayPal Bootcamp to help you train for the PayPal certification exam – also free with your eBay Developers Conference badge.

Register now to save 40% and to get into eBay Live! for free
Best of all, registering for the eBay Developers Conference will also get you into this eBay Live! event at no additional charge! If you register by Friday, April 6th, you’ll save 40% off the regular price.

Check out our information page at www.ebay.com/devcon for all the details, including registration & pricing, updates on our keynote speakers, sessions, and everything else related to the conference.

See you in Boston!

Sincerely,

Max Mancini
Senior Director, Platform & Innovation

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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., Marketworks, etc.), please contact them to verify that they will update their Item Specifics in the Consumer Electronics categories.

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

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Jim "Griff" Griffith

• Ed McCabe, a PakMail Franchise owner, joins us with mailing tips for new eBay sellers.
• Phyllis Wischer, with Keepmore.net, gives us a brief look at her "Cost of Goods Sold" eBay Workshop.
• Christopher Spencer, Executive Vice President of the Chase Group and author of "The eBay Entrepreneur," joins us to give us tips about how to use the new program where half.com listings get displayed on eBay Express for free.
• Rebecca Richards, Events Manager with eBay, tells us everything we need to know about eBay Live! 2007.
• Cliff Ennico, author of the "eBay Seller's Tax and Legal Answer Book," joins us to answer the most frequently asked tax questions that eBayers ask.

Plus "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 subscribe to the, or access any past broadcast from the eBay Radio Archives. To subscribe to the podcast all you need is an  reader (a portable MP3 player is optional). Visit www.wsradio.com/ebayradio for more information about subscribing to the podcasts and to listen to eBay Radio on your computer.

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The promotion will start on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 00:00:01 Pacific time (12:00 a.m. plus one second) and end on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 23:59:59 Pacific time (11:59 p.m. plus 59 seconds). Listings that were created prior to the promotion and are scheduled to start during the promotional period (March 27-28, 2007) will also be eligible for the discounted rate.

This promotion will not apply to the following types of listings: all eBay Motors listings (including Parts & Accessories, Passenger Vehicles, Motorcycles, Power Sports, and Other Vehicles), as well as International, Live Auction, Professional Services, Real Estate, Ad Format, and Store Inventory listings. For full details, please see our promotion page.

We hope you enjoy the 50% Off Featured Plus! promotion.

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Blair Hamilton

We've just streamlined the process to make it much easier to save a Favorite Search. Once you’ve run a search on the site, simply follow these steps:

• Click on the "Save this search" link that appears to the right of your search criteria.
• Choose the email notification settings you’d like.
• Click "Save," and you're done! The search will be saved in the Favorite Searches section of My eBay for easy access.

For more information about Favorite Searches, check out our Help page.

Sincerely,

Blair Hamilton
Buyer Experience Team

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Jim "Griff" Griffith

If you can't catch the live show you can always subscribe to the podcast , or access any past broadcast from the eBay Radio Archives. To subscribe to the podcast all you need is an reader (a portable MP3 player is optional). Visit www.wsradio.com/ebayradio for more information about subscribing to the podcasts and to listen to eBay Radio on your computer.

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Half.com Listings on eBay Express
This workshop will be held on Monday, March 26th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Pacific time. Learn how you can dramatically increase your market and rev up your sales by automatically listing your Half.com items on eBay Express. No need to list your inventory twice or change the way you sell. Members of the Express and Half teams will be present to answer any questions you may have.

What is “Cost of Goods Sold” and does it affect your eBay business?
This workshop will be held on Wednesday, March 28th from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Pacific time. Have you ever wondered, ‘What does Cost of Goods Sold mean?”; “How do I track it?” and, “How will it affect my eBay business profits?”. Please join Phyllis Wischer of KeepMore.net for their next workshop covering the topic of ‘Cost of Goods Sold’. Knowing how to handle Cost of Goods Sold is a very important function for the eBay business owner.

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

• Go to www.ebay.com
• Click on Community at the top of the page
• Click on "Workshops" in the "Events" section
• This will bring you to the threaded Workshops Board.

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

Want timely reminders about workshops? We recommend two ways to make sure you never miss an important workshop:

• Sign up for the Workshops Information Group! By joining this group, you will receive an email notification reminding you about upcoming eBay Workshops. (To sign up for the Workshops Information Group, please click here.)
• Subscribe to the RSS feed for the Workshop board. When a new workshop becomes active, your RSS reader will be updated. (You can also subscribe to just the specific topic thread that interests you.) To subscribe, click on the button at the bottom of the Workshop board or thread. Copy and paste the feed URL into your reader to subscribe. For more information on RSS, please read our RSS Help page.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Kristina Klausen

Shipping is a key part of the eBay experience. My team is dedicated to improving the buyer and seller experience associated with shipping. On this note, I'm pleased to be able to introduce several improvements we'll soon be making to our Combined Shipping Discounts feature.

Combined Shipping Discounts lets sellers offer discounted shipping rates when a buyer purchases multiple items from them – a great way to encourage repeat sales. In the next week or so, you'll see the following improvements to this feature:

• Extended Merchandising. Buyers looking at your items will now see new messaging that encourages them to make multiple purchases from you to take advantage of your combined shipping discounts. We're also making it easy for them to "window shop" during the buying process and view your items where your discounts apply.

• Different Discounts for Different Items. Now sellers have the flexibility to set different discount shipping rules for different items. For example, you can set discount rules for your bowling ball sales that are different from your discount rules for your bowling glove sales. Since the shipping costs can vary greatly from item to item, this gives sellers much more flexibility.

• Promotional Shipping. In contrast to offering shipping discounts per item, Promotional Shipping allows you to set a special shipping rate on all of your sales that meet some criteria. For example, you could choose to offer "Free Shipping When You Spend $25!" or "Buy 3 items and shipping is only $5!" This is a great new marketing tool for sellers to consider as part of their strategy.

To learn more about Combined Shipping Discounts, visit our information page.

Talk to the Shipping team – Attend an Online Workshop!
We will be hosting an online workshop on Friday, April 13th at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time. Stop by to learn more about how to use these shipping discounts, and how they can help your business.

Sincerely,

Kristina Klausen
Senior Director, Shipping

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Raj Reddy

The Return of Pre-Orders
I am pleased to announce that due to popular demand, later this week we are bringing back the Pre-Orders feature, as well as adding some new great new functionality that will make it much easier for buyers and sellers to manage their Pre-Order activities. Pre-Orders give buyers the option to place an order using preset item and seller criteria (such as price, condition, and feedback ratings).

For example, you could use Pre-Orders to state that you want to buy a new copy of the latest James Patterson book at $15 or less from a seller with 98% or greater positive feedback. Sellers can then look through these pre-orders during the Half.com listing process, as well as elsewhere, to see which ones they may be able to fill. If a Patterson seller matching your criteria is willing to sell at your price, the order is automatically placed! Not only is this convenient for buyers, but it gives sellers the opportunity to sell their items instantly, and to research possible pricing for their media inventory. Learn more on the Pre-Orders information page.

And in case you didn't see it, make sure you read our recent announcement about how sellers may be able to get their Half.com items automatically included on eBay Express at no additional cost. Click here for details. As you can see, we are hard at work building great new features for Half.com (check it out at www.half.com), and I’d like to thank our Half.com Community for all the feedback and suggestions they’ve provided so far. Stay tuned for more news to come!

Sincerely,

Raj Reddy
Half.com

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Jenny Copson

One of the areas my team is responsible for is the site header – the bar at the top of almost every eBay page with the Buy, Sell, and other links. We've been working on the header to make it easier to search for items and to navigate around the site.

1. Quick access to eBay categories & specialty sites – A new “categories” link will be included in the header. When you hover over it with your mouse, a full list of eBay categories will be displayed, letting you quickly go right to the one that interests you. In addition, we're adding convenient links to other eBay sites, such as eBay Motors and eBay Express.
2. Bigger Search Box Front & Center – One thing we've heard consistently through our research is that members want a bigger, more obvious search box. This enlarged search box will be available in the middle of the header, directly below your name when you are signed in.
3. Quick links – The standard Buy, Sell, My eBay, Community, and Help links will be moved over to the upper right-hand corner. Similar to the categories link, when you hover over these links a short list of related links will be displayed. For example, if you hover over the Community button, you'll see links to the Discussion Boards, Answer Center , etc.
4. A Fresh New Look – Last but not least, we felt it was time to give the header a fresh new look. We hope you like what you see and find the navigational tools overall more useful.

You can see a screenshot of the new header to the right. To view a full-size version, please click here.

Sincerely,

Jenny Copson
Buyer Experience Team

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Jim "Griff" Griffith

Hi everyone in Detroit, Michigan! This is Jim 'Griff' Griffith, eBay's Dean of Education. I'm the author of The Official eBay Bible. I'm also the host of eBay Radio, and I regularly answer member questions on eBay's Chatter blog (www.ebaychatter.com). I'll be traveling to Detroit this week, and I want to personally invite you to join me and our other esteemed instructors at eBay University on March 24th where we will be teaching the Basic Selling and Beyond the Basics of Selling courses.

I've been teaching at eBay Universities nationwide ever since the program began in 2000. I usually teach the Basic Selling course, where I enjoy getting to meet “newbies” or buyers who are just thinking about selling for the first time. Don't miss your chance to learn about eBay from me, as well as the other great instructors.

Our program is only $59, and includes the opportunity to network and learn from other sellers. You can even bring a friend for free if you register before 11:59pm Pacific time on March 23rd. See our course page for a description of the classes, and for more information about eBay University.

I hope to see you in Detroit!

Sincerely,

Griff

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Jim "Griff" Griffith

• Greg Cole, President of Hammertapnow.com, tells us about 5 analytic essentials to avoid eBay extinction.
• Jason Miner, Host of Pay Pal Radio, joins us to give us an overview of PayPal basics including what's needed to sign up and the difference between the various levels of accounts.
• Jeff Woolf, Auction Director of Universal Rarities, gives us the scoop on the Anna Nicole Smith Diary Auctions, including how he acquired the items.
• Danna Crawford (Danna is a PowerSelling Mom) of AskDanna.com, will tell us about using MySpace to promote your eBay business and about her eBay Radio fan club.
• Christine Lu, who will soon be hosting a new Entrepreneur Radio Show about doing business in China, tells us some important things you need to know if you are thinking about doing business in China as well as the benefits of sourcing from China.

Plus "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 subscribe to the, or access any past broadcast from the eBay Radio Archives. To subscribe to the podcast all you need is an reader (a portable MP3 player is optional). Visit www.wsradio.com/ebayradio for more information about subscribing to the podcasts and to listen to eBay Radio on your computer.

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Raj Reddy

Chung Cheong

Sellers – How to get your Half.com items included on eBay Express
We've made the process for getting your Half.com listings on eBay Express as simple as possible. If you and your listings qualify under the eBay Express criteria, all you have to do is opt-in here.

By opting in, you'll get these benefits:

• Instant exposure for your Half.com listings to a whole new marketplace with millions of shoppers
• All your new qualifying Half.com listings will appear automatically, so there's no need to change your current listing process
• Payments for your items will happen automatically at the time of sale, and be available to you immediately in your PayPal account. (Normal PayPal transaction fees apply.)

Get 50% Off your Final Value Fees
As an added bonus, if you opt-in before April 15th, you'll get 50% off your Final Value Fees for any of your Half.com listings that sell on eBay Express through the end of June. As usual there are no insertion fees for your Half.com listings. And, for a limited time, now you can save on the Final Value Fees, too!

To answer any questions about this new Opt In for Half.com listings on eBay Express – or about any other Half.com or eBay Express-related topic – we'll be holding a Community Workshop on March 26th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Pacific time. We hope you will join us here.

Sincerely,

Raj Reddy
Half.com

Chung Cheong
eBay Express

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Hilary Holmquest

We're going to end this test in the next few days, and buyers who have been seeing the new design will be reverted to the current pages.

We've collected a large amount of data, in terms of both statistics and direct member input. We'll be applying what we learned to future projects, so stay tuned. I also want to take a minute to thank everyone who saw the new designs and provided their comments – your input has been a great help!

Sincerely,

Hilary Holmquest
Finding Team

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Artemisa Saucedo

Do you think you have the Best Looking eBay Store? What about the Best Shopping Experience, or the Best Store Marketing? How about the Best “Standard” Store Layout?

If you answered ‘yes' to any of these questions, register for your chance to be recognized as a Best In Stores winner! You could win $1,500, or a trip to eBay Live! in Boston, as well as bonus Store exposure on the site.

How To Enter the 2007 Best In Stores Contest
First, make sure your eBay Store looks its best. For help on customizing your Store, click here.

Next, register your eBay Store in one of the contest categories between March 19th and March 31st, 2007 by clicking here.

Community Voting Begins in April – Grand Prize Winners Announced in May
We will select four finalists in each of four categories:

1. Best Looking eBay Store
2. Best Shopping Experience
3. Best eBay Store Marketing
4. Best “Standard” Store Layout

Then in April, we'll open up voting to the eBay Community. Members will be able to vote for one Grand Prize winner in each of the four categories. Finally, in May, we'll announce the Grand Prize winners! (For complete details see the Official Rules.)

Sincerely,

Artemisa Saucedo
Marketing, eBay Stores

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Jim "Griff" Griffith

If you can't catch the live show you can always subscribe to the podcast , or access any past broadcast from the eBay Radio Archives. To subscribe to the podcast all you need is an reader (a portable MP3 player is optional). Visit www.wsradio.com/ebayradio for more information about subscribing to the podcasts and to listen to eBay Radio on your computer.

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Gary Briggs

“Complete Your Collection” Campaign
Many of us have a collection that we're working on (or that we're helping our kids with, such as Pokemon cards at our house). It's natural that, from time to time, our attentions are pulled elsewhere and we let our buying activity lapse.

Lapsed collectors are a great opportunity for eBay sellers. In February, we initiated an email campaign called “Complete Your Collection” to inspire all the collectors out there to pick up where they left off. Our Relationship Marketing team sent 6 million personalized emails to buyers with information about collectible items they had recently purchased – such as stamps, coins, art, toys, etc – as well as some suggestions for new items they might be interested in to fill out their collections. This campaign has had some of our strongest response rates ever, and I'm really proud of the efforts of the team. Look for more of these types of programs in the future.

President's Day, the Academy Awards, and the “It of the Week”
In mid-February we put our own spin on the traditional President's Day Sale, promoting how buyers could pick up everything president-related right here on the site. Included were militaria, first-edition books, stamps, and, for the playful types…presidential bobbleheads!

Of course, the Academy Awards always drive a lot of buzz, and we made sure to capitalize on this national obsession. Onsite promotion attracted buyers who wanted to share in the excitement of the event by owning Oscar-style items, like cocktail gowns and designer makeup, for themselves.

With the red carpet scene on so many people's minds, eBay Style Director Constance White and eBay Jewelry Style Director Sandra Graham co-hosted the second annual eBay Style Suite. The event was attended by some of Hollywood 's trendsetting celebrities and designers, and showcased how the season's most fashionable evening wear - jewelry, shoes, and bags - can be found on eBay. The Suite received great coverage in magazines such as Business Week, and on TV shows such as Access Hollywood. (Read more about the eBay Style Suite on the Chatter blog.)

And – in a continuation of our “IT” campaign theme – last month the homepage began featuring a new section for the “It of the Week.” Here we show pop culture items that reflect what's going on in the world, such as Indianapolis Colts memorabilia after they won the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras items, Academy Awards items, and sports-related listings to celebrate the NCAA March Madness tournament.

National Crafts Month & St. Patrick's Day “It's Good to Be Green”
As for March, did you know that it's National Craft Month? We're doing our part by promoting scrapbooking, sewing, and other craft-related items on the homepage and within emails to crafts buyers.

Also, our St. Patrick's Day promotions have kicked in. Keep your eyes out for spots featuring “Your Pot O' Gold,” which promotes everything gold such as cocktail rings, dresses, and handbags. Plus you'll find promotions under the theme “It's Good to Be Green,” which highlight eBay as a place to buy environmentally-friendly items such as solar panels, retro Schwinn bikes, and hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius.

The New ”What's It Worth?” Promotion – Teaming with the USPS
Finally, we've just kicked off our new “What's It Worth?” promotion, a fun game to engage buyers and keep them bidding and buying on the site. As Kathy Thrappas recently announced, buyers get to test their pricing knowledge by guessing how much each item sells for on average for the chance to win a $100 eBay Gift Certificate. Plus, each day a buyer wins or purchases an item, they get an additional entry into the drawing.

You may have heard our radio commercials for “What's It Worth?” in some of the 45 U.S. cities where they're airing and reaching a majority of eBay's high-value buyers across the country. Large markets include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C.

We're pleased to be getting a lot of help in spreading the word about this promotion from our friends at the USPS. “What's It Worth?” posters have been placed in 12,000 Post Offices around the country! Plus over 1 million of our top buyers will receive postcards about the promotion. We're excited about this additional exposure for eBay – and we hope our sellers are, too.

Thanks for reading. I'll be back with more marketing updates in about a month.

Sincerely,

Gary Briggs
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
Marketplaces North America

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Sourcing Products with Multiple Types of Suppliers
This workshop will be held on Tuesday, March 20th from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Pacific time. Product sourcing is a cornerstone of every successful eBay business. But where to get your products? Most people rely on one or two avenues of suppliers to purchase their inventory. But in order to be successful in today's diverse online marketplace, you'll need to source your products from multiple types of suppliers. Please join Lisa Suttora Founder/CEO of What Do I Sell.com and best-selling author of "What to Sell on eBay and Where to Get It" (from McGraw-Hill publishers) as she discusses the different supplier options available to your business and how to use them effectively.

Upgrading to the New Turbo Lister
This workshop will be held on Wednesday, March 21st from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m Pacific time. Still using the older version of Turbo Lister? Download the latest version that was released in April to help make selling items in bulk faster and easier. Join the Turbo Lister team to learn about the enhancements, ask questions and get the help you need to upgrade.

Use Voice and Chat to Close More Business
This workshop will be held on