Bill Cobb

I'm really happy to share the news with you that eBay Inc. has just acquired StumbleUpon (www.StumbleUpon.com). StumbleUpon offers a unique finding experience that introduces people to interesting and relevant web content that has been recommended by others in the community with similar interests. StumbleUpon is a great way to explore the Internet when you're not sure what you are looking for, or when you want to make discoveries around your particular interests.

Our intent is to support the growth and evolution of this community-based business, and StumbleUpon will run as a separate business unit within eBay Inc. Although there are no definite plans to share at this time, as the site evolves, we'll be exploring the possibilities for synergies between StumbleUpon and eBay marketplaces, Skype, and PayPal. We'll be sure to keep you posted.

Sincerely,

Bill Cobb
President, eBay North America

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Eric Shoup

I'm pleased to introduce our latest updates to the ProStores platform (formally known as ProStores 8.1). This release includes several improvements to let you:

• More easily create, manage and display attributes and details about your items in your web store. You'll now be able to add up to 10 attributes for each product, and share them across your entire product catalog. For example, you'll be able to apply attributes such as "Color" and "Size" across multiple products rather than having to apply them to products one at a time.

• Send out partial shipments to your buyers in cases where part of their purchase is on backorder.

For full details about these improvements, check out our New Features page. To learn how ProStores can help you complement your business on eBay with your own web store at your own web address, check out ProStores.com.

Sincerely,

Eric Shoup
Director, ProStores

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Using Research to Maximize your Profit!
This workshop will be held on Friday, June 1st from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Pacific time. Join Sara and Denise from Terapeak Marketplace Research for an interactive discussion on how to maximize your profit by using research to determine which listing features will work best for your unique listings. The Terapeak team will be on hand to answer questions on research and the different ways it can improve your eBay sales!

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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Bill Cobb

As you know, Philipp recently announced the launch of Bid Assistant and eBay To Go, two new tools which improve the buying experience and expand the reach of eBay listings to the rest of the internet. My team will be on hand to answer questions about these new launches, and share a little about what other kinds of improvements you can expect to see in the future. They'll also share some information about our recent tests of eBay's new Finding technology.

Ask us your question on the air
If you have a question for me or one of the other leaders on our panel, you'll be able to call us at our toll-free number – 877-474-3302 – to talk to us in person. We'll be broadcasting LIVE via Internet radio with the help of our friends at wsRadio (the same folks that produce Griff's eBay Radio show). As always, you'll be able to listen in via Windows Media Player or Real Player.

If you'd prefer to email us your question, send it to townhall@ebay.com.

I hope you'll join us to let us know what's on your mind and to hear what other Community members have to say. Visit www.ebay.com/townhall for all the details.

Sincerely,

Bill Cobb
President, Marketplaces North America

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Jeanette Longstreet

Additional security for invoice emails
The next invoice email you receive will contain only a text summary of your invoice information, including the amount due and your payment method on file. To see your full invoice details, you'll need to log in to your eBay account.

Teaching sellers to log into their accounts from a safe URL (Web address) is an important step in helping members stay safe from malicious links and buttons in spoof emails.

Enhanced reporting
Now you'll have more flexibility when analyzing your invoices. You'll be able to download your invoice into an easy to view, non-editable, HTML file. You can also download your invoice transaction level details in to a CSV file, enabling you to easily sort and analyze your invoiced transactions using any application that supports the CSV format, such as Microsoft Excel. We're also adding additional reports, such as new subtotals by fee or item, to help you track the fees you’ve paid.

To check your invoice, go to "My Seller Account" within My eBay and select "View Invoice."

Sincerely,

Jeanette Longstreet,
eBay Billing Team

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Steve Corral

Since everyone seemed to have so much fun with the "Pack Your Bags and Win It" promotion last year, we've decided to do it again. Winners get a $25 eBay gift certificate, or a trip to Boston, MA, including two free passes to eBay Live! 2007.

Here's how our "Pack Your Bags and Win It! Sweepstakes" works:

Every time you win an Auction-style listing or use Buy It Now between May 24th and May 30th, you'll be entered into that day’s prize drawing for a chance to win one of 50 $25 eBay gift certificates, or the Grand Prize: a 5-day / 4-night trip to Boston, MA from June 13-17, 2007 to attend eBay Live! We'll have a total of 7 Grand Prize Winners (1 each day) and 350 eBay gift certificate winners (50 each day)!

Guess what they packed, and increase your chances of winning
But wait -- there's more! Each day we'll feature an eBay staff member or personality you're likely to know (like Jim "Griff" Griffith, Dean of eBay Education) on our promotion page. Follow the "Pick What They Packed" link and use the drop-down menus to guess which five items they packed in their suitcases for Boston. Check the Pack Your Bags discussion board for daily "Hai-Clues" that will help you "Pick What They Packed."

If you can correctly guess the exact five items the designated person packed that day, you'll get one more entry into the daily prize drawing for a chance to win the Grand Prize 5-day/4-night Boston MA trip, which includes hotel accommodation, air transportation, $250 dining allowance, ground transportation between your hotel and Boston airport, and two (2) tickets to the eBay Live! Closing Gala! You can see our official rules here.

Pack Your Bags and Win It Sweepstakes starts tomorrow, May 24th, so get ready to shop, play, and win!

Sincerely,

Steve Corral
eBay Marketing

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Jamie Stark

The 20¢ Insertion Fee Sale starts on Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 00:00:01 Pacific time (12:00 a.m. plus one second) and ends that same day, Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 23:59:59 Pacific time (11:59 p.m. plus 59 seconds). Listings which were created prior to May 24, 2007 and scheduled to start during the promotional period will also be eligible for the special promotional rate. Please note: If you schedule a listing to start during the promotional period, the regular price will still be displayed during the listing process. However, you will only be charged the promotional price.

This promotion will not apply to the following types of listings: Fixed Price listings, all eBay Motors listings (including Parts & Accessories, Passenger Vehicles, Motorcycles, Power Sports, and Other Vehicles), as well as Live Auction, Professional Services, Real Estate, Ad Format, and Store Inventory listings. Some Business & Industrial categories will also be excluded – see our promotion page for full details.

Sincerely,

Jamie Stark
eBay Marketing

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Abby Green

Special giveaways are a longstanding tradition at eBay Live!, and I have updates on a few of this year’s collectibles:

Get the Special-Edition Education Pin just for planning ahead
This year you can get our special-edition Education pin just for planning ahead! Simply use our handy Agenda Builder when you register to pick out the classes, sessions and seminars you want to attend. Then, print out your schedule, bring it to eBay Live!, and show it to one of our Education Consultants when you get there. They’ll reward you for your preparedness by handing you one of these special pins – for as long as our supplies last, of course.

Special pins and offers from the Hard Rock Café
We've worked with the Hard Rock Café, and co-branded Hard Rock Café and eBay Live! pins will be available for purchase at the Hard Rock in Boston. Quantities will be limited, so grab yours while you can! The Hard Rock Café will also be offering free sodas (regardless of whether you purchase anything) and free dessert with two meals purchased just for showing them your eBay Live! badge.

Can you spell B-O-S-T-O-N?
This year, we'll also be giving away a series of coins minted especially for this event. Each one features a letter, and put together they spell "BOSTON." They'll be given out throughout the event along with the other pins, so try to collect them all!

Register now to take advantage of the $25 savings, and I hope I’ll see you in Boston!

Sincerely,

Abby Green
Senior Events Manager

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Jim "Griff" Griffith

• Rob Chesnut, VP of eBay's Trust and Safety Department, tells us what's new in Trust and Safety.
• Larry Meehan, VP of Media Relations & Tourism Sales, with the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau tells us the “Do's and Don'ts of Boston.”
• Skip McGrath, Publisher, The eBay Seller's News, joins us to tell us how to get the most out of eBay Live! 2007.
• Diane Falvey, Co-CEO of OasisConnect.com and an Executive Online Business Strategist, will give you tips on how to get started with your eBay business.
• Karen Nathan, Director of Business Development at Bizfilings.com, tells you why you may want to use a fictitious business name for your eBay business.

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.
uter.

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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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Keywords are the Key to Success
This workshop will be held on Monday, May 21st from 09:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Pacific time. Did you know that at least 80 percent of online shoppers (including eBay members) search for items using keywords? When used wisely, keywords can be your key to success! Please join Charlene Davis, author of “How to Sell Clothing, Shoes & Accessories on eBay” and co-author of “Make Big Profits on eBay,” as she chats with members about the importance of using strategic keywords in auction titles and listings. We'll also go over eBay's Keyword Spam policy and how to avoid using inappropriate keywords that may confuse and discourage potential buyers.

How to Compete in a Crowded Market Using Multiple Product Sourcing Techniques
This workshop will be held on Tuesday, May 22nd from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Pacific time. Many eBay sellers ask how they can optimize their sales before and after they find a product to sell on eBay. Colette Marshall, Business Development Manager for Product Sourcing Experts WorldwideBrands.com, will show sellers how to use different Product Sourcing techniques to gain a competitive edge, in any marketplace, and earn the highest profit margins possible.

'Accounting' made simple and easy for the eBay business owner!
This workshop will be held on Wednesday, May 23rd from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 pm Pacific time. The mere mention of the word "accounting" frightens most people. But when you think about the basics of accounting (or bookkeeping), you are simply tracking the funds coming into and the funds going out of your business. The two most important reasons you must do accounting are to help you make good business decisions and to prepare the ever dreaded "income tax return" for your business. As an eBay member, accounting should be a simple process that allows you to track income (funds in) and expenses (funds out) of your business; it should not be (and does not have to be) a complex method of debits, credits, and double entry bookkeeping procedures. Join Phyllis Wischer during this workshop to gain a better understanding of what accounting means to you, an 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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Philipp Justus

As the year goes on, we'll be unveiling more projects that will celebrate and enhance the thrill of winning on eBay. We'll be talking about some of these ideas at eBay Live! in Boston, and I hope you can join us. But until then, here are a couple new features that we hope you enjoy.

A buyer's new best friend - Bid Assistant
Tired of losing auctions and having to search another item to bid on? Very soon we'll be launching a new bidding tool that manages your bids and makes winning items at the right price easier. Bid Assistant will place bids for you on a series of items from your Watch list - all in one simple step.

For instance, let's say you're shopping for a new Canon digital camera, and you have five that you like on your Watch list. Using Bid Assistant, you simply create a bid group from your Watch list and enter the maximum amount you want to pay. This amount could be the same for all five – or you could specify different amounts for each listing based on, say, the varying item condition. It's up to you.

Once set up, Bid Assistant will place your maximum bid on the item that's ending soonest. While the listing is active, our bidding system will automatically update your bid amount UP TO your maximum amount you gave to Bid Assistant, as necessary.

At the end of the listing, if you win, you get to celebrate your victory! The rest of your listings will not be bid on by Bid Assistant. But if you lose, Bid Assistant will automatically bid on the item ending next. This pattern continues until either you win one of the cameras (woo hoo!), or all five listings end.

Bid Assistant makes it easier for you to win items and saves you time. To learn more, check out our information page.

Take eBay with you - eBay To Go
Those of you who maintain your own website, blog or social networking profile will have a lot of fun with our new eBay To Go product. With just a few simple steps, you can create an eBay To Go widget to showcase eBay listings, or even just your favorite eBay search. In moments, you'll have a fun and functional eBay widget ready to be embedded into your own site. It's perfect for sharing the eBay listings that you’re passionate about with your own web audience.

To learn more and to get started, visit togo.ebay.com. It's free, fun and fast, so check it out!

Stay tuned for more cool stuff as the year goes on.

Sincerely,

Philipp Justus
Senior Vice President, Auctions

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During the Get 3 Free First Time Seller Promotion:

New eBay sellers who create up to three Auction-style or Fixed Price listings will not be charged insertion and Gallery upgrade fees for those listings. In order to qualify for the special offer, the eBay member must not have sold on eBay before, and must list their first three items during the promotional period (May 17-31, 2007).

This promotion will not apply to all eBay Motors listings (including Parts & Accessories, Passenger Vehicles, Motorcycles, Power Sports, and Other Vehicles), or to International, Live Auction, Real Estate, Ad Format, Professional Services and Store Inventory listings. The following Business & Industrial categories are also excluded: 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). For full details about this promotion, please see our information page.

Take advantage of this special offer and start selling on eBay!

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Artemisa Saucedo

Please join us in congratulating the below winners in each of the following categories:

• Best Shopping Experience: A Fortunate Dog
• Best eBay Store Marketing: fun4pets
• Best Looking eBay Store: Mark's Memories
• Best “Standard” Store Layout: Copper Frog Studio

To learn more about the winners go to ebay.com/bestinstores2007. For more information on how the winners were selected, please see the see the official rules.

For those of you attending eBay Live! in Boston, on Friday June 15th we will be offering a seminar called “Best in Stores: eBay Stores Best Practices Panel” during which past and present Best in Stores contest winners will discuss their tips, tricks, and best practices. Make sure to stop by!

Congratulations to the 2007 winners and many thanks to all the eBay Stores that entered the 2007 Best in Stores Contest! You have all helped in making this year's contest a huge success!

Sincerely,

Artemisa Saucedo
Marketing, eBay Stores

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Edurne Jorda

Dan Serpico

Many eBay sellers already drive traffic to their eBay listings through marketing on their own websites and other off-eBay pages. We're pleased to let you know that we've recently expanded our Affiliate Program to allow all sellers to join the program and get rewarded for driving traffic to eBay.com - even if it's to your own items!

If you are marketing your eBay listings online, we hope you'll consider becoming an eBay Affiliate. For more details about this program, please visit our information page.

PowerSellers -- Join the eBay "Promote It" Sweepstakes
As a special incentive for our PowerSellers, we've put together the eBay "Promote It" Sweepstakes. From May 15 through August 15, register as an eBay Affiliate and you'll have a chance to win one of 25 cash prizes up to $1,000 simply for using your off-eBay website, blog or online store to drive traffic back to your listings.

Here are the rules to be entered into our random drawing, to be held on August 20th, 2007:

You must be a registered eBay PowerSeller throughout the entry period. You must be a registered eBay Affiliate throughout the entry period. (Not registered as an affiliate yet? Join Now!) Integrate eBay onto your website! Use eBay Affiliate Tools or the API to create ads and links for your affiliate campaign. Enter your site URL for a chance to win cash prizes – 25 sellers will be chosen to win!

Here are the prizes:

• 1st prize – 10 winners will each receive $1,000 cash
• 2nd prize – 10 winners will each receive $750 cash
• 3rd prize – 5 winners will each receive $500 cash

For complete details and Official Rules, see our promotion page.

eBay is proud of our PowerSellers, who rank among the most successful eBay sellers in terms of both product sales volume and customer satisfaction. To learn more about the benefits of being a PowerSeller and how you can qualify, please visit our PowerSeller portal page.

Sincerely,

Edurne Jorda
Seller Development

Dan Serpico
eBay Affiliates Team

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Jim "Griff" Griffith

• Jen Cano, Hammertap VP of Education, will be here to discuss her 5-Point Customer Loyalty Checklist.
• Robin Cowie, President of WorldwideBrands.com, will be here with news from the China Sourcing Fair in Hong Kong.
• Skip McGrath, Publisher, The eBay Seller's News, talks about eBay Metrics – Important numbers eBay sellers need to watch if you are going to make a profit.

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 begins at 00:00:01 Pacific time (12 a.m. plus one second) on Tuesday, May 15, 2007, and ends at 23:59:59 Pacific time (11:59 p.m. plus 59 seconds) on Thursday, May 17, 2007. The following listings are not eligible for the promotion: Live Auction, Professional Services, Motors Local Market, and Store Inventory listings, and listings on eBay.com or international eBay sites.

For full details about this promotion, please see our information page.

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Gary Briggs

But first – I want to give a major plug for eBay Live! If you've never attended our annual gathering, you've got to experience it. If you're an eBay Live! veteran, you really don't want to miss this year's event in Boston. Meet up with eBay leaders and staff, along with thousands of eBay sellers and buyers for three fun, action-packed days from June 14-16. It's the first time we've held eBay Live! in the Northeast, and registration is filling up quickly. But it's not too late - sign up for eBay Live! now!

Did I mention Kool & The Gang are playing at the closing gala?

Now, on with the marketing update.

Community Counts promotion wraps up in Lumberton
You may remember that back in November we kicked off our Community Counts promotion. Considered eBay's first "census," members in the U.S. earned points for their local communities (based per capita on each member's registered ZIP Code) each time they were active buying, selling, using the Community Forums, or taking part in eBay Giving Works, eBay's dedicated program for charity listings. After three weeks of activity, our good members registered in 08048 made Lumberton, New Jersey eBay's most active eBay Community. We're headed to Lumberton this week to honor this community's accomplishment with a town party, and to deliver a $10,000 donation to their chosen charity, the Burlington County Animal Alliance.

Here at eBay, we saw Community Counts as a fun way to celebrate eBay's greatest asset: our Community of buyers and sellers. The promotion struck a chord with media around the country, too. On April 4th, ABC World News Tonight ran a feature on Lumberton and its incredible population of eBay members, from a "mompreneur" to a professional seller. It was a fantastic piece that really captured all that's great and unique about our eBay members. Community Counts has also received coverage in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and other media outlets.

Joining the Galactic Empire with Star Wars and the USPS
If you're a Star Wars fan, (for the record, there are a bunch here in our offices in San Jose – one look at the collectibles in the cubicles around me confirms that!), you already know that Star Wars is turning 30. To celebrate, Star Wars has partnered with the USPS on a "galactic-size" promotion, and eBay gets to be involved, too. Star Wars and eBay branding is being featured in over 12,000 Post Offices around the country. As part of the celebration, fans can win great prizes, including eBay Gift Certificates.

In addition, we've set up a special Star Wars site where fans can vote for their favorite characters, see hot Star Wars items, and check out Star Wars-related eBay Groups. The USPS sweepstakes page links to our site, and thousands of Star Wars enthusiasts have been visiting every day. It's been a great way to attract these collectors to eBay, and...may the Force be with you!

Get your cameras running -- eBay adds video!
User-generated video on the internet has really come of age. Recently, my colleague Jim Ambach announced that we've changed our rules to allow video in eBay listings, too. I hope you had a chance to check out some of the listings with videos that we commissioned from some up-and-coming artists. (I don't know about you, but my favorite video had to be the vintage Lego men.) These videos were intended to inspire our sellers and get you thinking about the creative ways you might want to use this technology in your listings.

I'm really excited about this change, because I'm convinced that video will add a new, fun dimension to the shopping experience on eBay. And in addition to making eBay an even more unique destination for shoppers, they can bring additional traffic to eBay.

Active Lifetstyle, Children's X-Sell, and Think Green campaigns
With winter over and spring in full bloom, we've created our Active Lifestyle campaign to highlight how eBay is a great place to find "get fit" types of items – from exercise bikes to workout apparel to water bottles. Over 15 million members have received a "get fit" promotional email over the past month. We also launched a similar campaign called Children's X-Sell, which encourages people to come to eBay to find new spring and summertime clothes for their children (and to sell their outgrown clothes while they're here). These were sent to over 1.5 million members.

Finally, in April many people recognized Earth Day, an annual campaign to raise awareness about environmental concerns. Interest in environmentally-friendly goods has never been higher, so throughout April we've been running "It's Good to Be Green" campaigns on the homepage. Like our email campaigns, these homepage spots promoted eBay as a place to get almost any "green" item, such as solar panels, bikes, and even the Toyota Prius. We're also featuring green items in our summer catalog that is being mailed to over 3.1 million top buyers. This is just another way we're letting people know they "can get IT on eBay."

Thanks for reading, and see you in Boston!

Sincerely,

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

PS: Here's a goofy picture of me at Bill Cobb's most recent Town Hall – Click my picture to read more on the Chatter Blog.

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Designing eBay Stores That Increase Sales
This workshop will be held on Monday, May 14th from 12:00 pm PT to 1:00 pm Pacific time. In this workshop, Debbie Levitt, President of Certified Provider As Was," will explain and demonstrate various ways to design eBay Stores. She'll also look at your categories, Store header, custom Store pages, and explain how you might use a custom Store home page.

Research Your Way to Success on eBay: The 5 Phases of Researching Right!
This workshop will be held on Tuesday, May 15th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 pm Pacific time. Have you been wondering what to sell on eBay and how to list it profitably? Well, the good news is you don't need a crystal ball, you only need to do your research! However, when most people think of "research" and "eBay" they think of checking what products are selling on eBay... and leave it at that. But if that's all you do, you're barely out of the gate! There are 5 different phases of research you MUST do in order to generate a strong eBay income. And these 5 phases affect all areas of your business: product sourcing, trending, listing, and marketplace competition. Without this critical information, you're literally selling in the dark! Please join Lisa Suttora Founder/CEO of WhatDoISell.com and best-selling author of "What to Sell on eBay and Where to Get It" (from McGraw-Hill publishers) as she shows you how to research your way to success!

Freight Shipping & Paying With PayPal
This workshop will be held on Friday, May 18th from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 pm Pacific time. Are you missing out on sales with heavier items over 150 lbs? Join the Freightquote team, Pamela Mattes and David Barnes, as they will be hosting a workshop presenting the various options that are available when shipping large or heavy items. The workshop will demonstrate how you can utilize the eBay Freight Resource Center to schedule pickups and use your PayPal account to pay for freight charges. We will also discuss how you can receive pricing, create the necessary shipping documents and track your shipments all in a few easy steps. The Freightquote team will also show how you can save time and facilitate sales by adding a Freight Calculator to your auction. Join this workshop for tips to save money, and generally minimize headaches when you need to ship large items you are selling or buying.

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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Jim Ambach

When I made my announcement, our policy allowed sellers to link to a video, but not to embed the video directly within their listing. Just like the online video world, our policy is rapidly evolving – we’re updating it to now allow sellers to embed videos within their listings. The videos still need to be hosted on one of our approved sites, but it's up to you whether you want to embed them or simply link to them. We'll also be evaluating other video hosting sites as time goes on, and will update our approved list periodically.

As I mentioned before, we've been working with several film-makers who also happen to be eBay sellers. They've used video in their listings to tell buyers about their items in a fun, interesting way. Here are a few more examples (with the videos embedded this time) that will hopefully give you some creative ideas.

• Just Like the Real Thing: diecast model toureg
• Neon Orange Chuck Taylors
• Lego Man with Mustache and Backpack

Our policy page will be updated to reflect this change shortly.

Sincerely,

Jim Ambach
Vice President, Seller Experience

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• Digital Cameras – We're adding new Body Style attribute with the following styles: Full Body, Compact, and Ultracompact.
• Camcorders – We're updating Type, Format and Brand values.
• Cell Phones – We're updating Brand and Carrier values and allowing multiple Technology selections.
• Cell Phone Accessories – We're updating Brands.

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 Cameras & Cell Phones categories.

For general information about Item Specifics and how to use them, please visit the Item Specifics overview page. If you have any comments or feedback about Item Specifics, please email them to taxonomy@ebay.com and they will be considered for future enhancements.

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Diana Baraniewicz

There are a few Cross-Promotion options that sellers have had access to that we'll be retiring soon. These options simply haven't been as effective as eBay's default logic in driving bids and purchases.

Item Cross-Promotion Rules
Using our seller cross-promotion tool, sellers have been able to create rules for what types of their own items should appear in the cross-promotion display area on Bid/Buy It Now Confirmation pages, and at the bottom of Stores sellers' item pages. When a seller does not specify cross-promotion rules, eBay's default logic populates the space with relevant items, choosing additional items from the seller based on the buyer's search.

We'll be removing the item-level Cross-Promotion options in the next few weeks. These rules have had low adoption by our sellers, and have not had a positive track record in increasing bids/purchases among buyers. Please note that sellers will still be able to create Keyword to Keyword, Category to Category, and Store Category to Store Category rules.

Both sellers and buyers should experience better results by letting eBay's logic do the work.

Cross-Promotion Connections & Personalized Picks
Also, in June we'll be removing the Cross-Promotion Connections feature, which allowed sellers to promote other selected sellers' listings on their item pages, as well as the Personalized Picks page in My eBay that makes recommendations for future purchases based on your buying history. These features have also seen very low usage. By removing features like these that under-perform, we help simplify the site and free up available resources that can be better utilized elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Diana Baraniewicz
Finding Team

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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!

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	***Original: Coming Soon: Category Updates***
	April 26, 2007 | 04:27PM PST/PT The category structure will be updated in mid-May 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. Updated categories: CAMERAS & PHOTO Look for new Nikon digital camera models. CLOTHING, SHOES & ACCESSORIES We're adding categories for Shoe Charms in the Women's and the Girls' Accessories sections. COLLECTIBLES Look for updates in the Casino Chips and Longaberger Baskets sections. Also check out categories for the 1982 Knoxville World's Fair, Cross Fountain Pens, Pirates of the Caribbean pins, and contemporary Viewmasters. COMPUTERS & NETWORKING We're making changes in the PC Motherboards and Sound Cards sections, and making room for Enclosures and Microsoft Office 2007. CRAFTS You'll find categories for Polymer Clay Molds, Vintage Crochet & Knitting Patterns, Quilt Squares, and a new breakdown for Beach Glass. HOME & GARDEN We're creating a category just for Chewing Gum. Also check out the new expanded section for Microwave Ovens. JEWELRY & WATCHES We're adding categories for Handcrafted Lanyards, Circle Pendants, and Vintage Glass Beads. TOYS & HOBBIES Under Action Figures, we've expanded the McFarlane Sports sections and added more Transformers. Under Trading Cards, look for categories for Naruto and World of Warcraft. 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!
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During the eBay Motors Parts and Accessories 50¢ Insertion Fee sale:

For regular auction-style and Fixed Price Parts and Accessories listings with a starting price above $9.99 on the U.S. Motors site (www.ebaymotors.com), the insertion fee will be capped at $0.50. All insertion fees less than $0.50 will still be charged at the normal rate. For more information about insertion fees during this promotion, please click here.

Listings created prior to May 8, 2007 that are scheduled to start during the promotional period (May 8, 2007) will be eligible to receive the promotional rate. Excluded are Vehicle listings, listings on international eBay sites, Live Auction, Professional Services, Ad Format, and Store Inventory listings, and listings on www.ebay.com. For full details about the sale, please see our information page.

We hope you enjoy the eBay Motors Parts & Accessories 50¢ Insertion Fee sale!

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Please visit www.ebay.com/townhall to read the transcript or to listen to the audio archive.

Also, remember to save the date on Wednesday, May 23rd for our next Town Hall event with Bill Cobb.

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	***Previous update: Reminder for the Town Hall with Bill Cobb on Monday, April 30th***
	April 27, 2007 | 01:05PM PST/PT Don't forget to listen in as Bill Cobb hosts our next Town Hall on Monday, April 30th, at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time. He'll be joined by Rob Chesnut, eBay's Senior Vice President of Trust & Safety, Dave Cullinane, eBay's Chief Information Security Officer, and other leaders around eBay for this Trust & Safety-themed event. Phone in your questions This Town Hall is being broadcast live via Internet radio. Call 877-474-3302 during the event to ask your question on the air. You can also email your question to us at TownHall@ebay.com. For more information and to listen in, visit our Town Hall page.
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	***Original: Phone In Your Questions! Town Hall with Bill Cobb on Monday, April 30th***
	April 19, 2007 | 12:10PM PST/PT Bill Cobb Hi everyone...this is Bill Cobb, President of Marketplaces North America. I'd like to invite you to my next Town Hall event on Monday, April 30 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Pacific time. This month's topic is Trust & Safety. My friend and colleague Rob Chesnut, eBay's Senior Vice President of Trust & Safety, along with several members of his team, will be joining me during this Town Hall. I'm also pleased that eBay's Chief Information Security Officer, Dave Cullinane, will be able to join our panel. Dave brings 35 years of experience in the information security business to our team, and we're delighted to have him. Ask us your question on the air We'll be broadcasting LIVE via Internet radio with the help of our friends at wsRadio. If you have a question for me, Rob, or one of the other leaders on our panel, you'll be able to call us at our toll-free number – 877-474-3302 – to talk to us about your Trust & Safety question in person. As always, you'll be able to listen in via Windows Media Player or Real Player. Email us your question before the Town Hall If you’d prefer, you can also email your Trust & Safety-related question to us before the event to TownHall@ebay.com – we’ll be answering some of our email during the show, as well. So, I hope you'll join us. Visit www.ebay.com/townhall for all the details. Sincerely, Bill Cobb President, Marketplaces North America
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Complete details can be found in the announcement directly below.

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	***Original: Coming Soon: Relisting Credit for Multiple-quantity Good 'Til Cancelled Store Inventory listings***
	May 01, 2007 | 09:23AM PST/PT Brian Madigan Hi everyone...I'm Brian Madigan from the eBay Stores team. With the upcoming USPS Rate Change just around the corner - May 14th to be exact - we understand that many eBay Stores subscribers will need to edit some of the shipping details in their listings. Unfortunately, multiple-quantity Good 'Til Cancelled Store Inventory listings aren't editable once at least one sale has been made. These listings have to be manually ended and relisted in order to change the shipping details. We know this is a less than ideal situation, and we're hoping to make this process a little easier. From Monday, May 7th through Sunday, May 13th, we'll be offering relist credits to Stores subscribers who cancel and relist these types of listings. If your listings meet the following criteria, you'll be credited for your Insertion Fees, Listing Upgrade Fees and eBay Picture Services Fees: They must be active Multiple-quantity Good 'Til Cancelled Store Inventory listings with at least one sale. They must have been listed on eBay.com or eBay Motors (Parts and Accessories Only). They must have specified a shipping option that will be affected by the USPS Rate Change. For the full list of eligible shipping options, click here. Listing must be cancelled and relisted during the offer period. For complete details, please visit our information page. I also encourage you to take the time review the step-by-step instructions on how to make changes to your multiple-quantity Good 'Til Cancelled Store Inventory listings with at least one sale listed using eBay Tools here. Sincerely, Brian Madigan eBay Stores Marketing
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Jim "Griff" Griffith

If you can't catch the live shows 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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Market Research: Staying Ahead of a Continually Changing Market
This workshop will be held on Monday, May 7th from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific time. Time to renew a product sourcing contract? Wondering whether to take the bulk-rate discount or purchase a smaller volume? This is the class for you. Please join Jen Cano, from HammerTap, a Certified Solution Provider, as she helps you find ways to anticipate changes in your product performance on the eBay marketplace.

Enhancements to PayPal MultiOrder Shipping
This workshop will be held on Monday, May 7th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Pacific time. Make Shipping up to 50 times more productive! PayPal MultiOrder Shipping launched in October 2006, giving sellers the ability to print up to 50 U.S. Postal Service® domestic shipping labels at time. We are excited to offer enhancements to this time-saving tool in early May. We will be discussing the new features including: integration of USPS SCAN form Shipment Confirmation Acceptance Notification), uploading files of orders, creating shipping “presets” which are automatically applied to orders, enhanced label printer support, and much more. Please join us and take your shipping to the next level.

How Customer Support Can Separate You From Your Competition
This workshop will be held on Tuesday, May 8th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Pacific time. In this workshop, Steve Yeich, CEO of Certified Solution Provider HostedSupport will demonstrate how to turn yourself and your knowledge into your best sales tool. Learn how you can be the expert in your category and become the first stop for buyers.

The 10 Most Frequently Missed Deductions for the New Business
This workshop will be held on Wednesday, May 9th from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific time. If you've started a new eBay business this year, this is one workshop you won't want to miss. Most new business owners are so busy setting up his or her new business that deductions gets missed. To ensure you get the most deductions possible, please join best selling-author and CPA Diane Kennedy to learn about the 10 items that most people forget.

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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More details can be found in the announcements directly below.

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	***Previous update: Reminder - Old Version of SYI Being Retired on May 7th***
	April 30, 2007 | 10:56AM PST/PT This is a reminder that the old version of the Sell Your Item form will be retired on May 7th, 2007. If you are not currently using the new version of the form, we strongly encourage you to do so by clicking on the link to the new version at the top of the Sell Hub. More details can be found in the announcement directly below.
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	***Original: SYI Transition Reminder: Old SYI Being Retired on May 7th***
	April 18, 2007 | 04:01PM PST/PT Nate Etter Hello again, this is Nate Etter from the Seller Experience team. As you've read in my prior announcements, we've been transitioning sellers to the new Sell Your Item (SYI) form since August of last year. This process is now complete, and we’re going to retire the old version of SYI on May 7, 2007. The vast majority of sellers are now using the new form. We've also received a ton of great feedback from the Community during the transition, and have made several changes to the form based on those comments. In fact, just recently - at the Community's request - we added the seller's current account balance at the end of the listing process so you can see at a glance where you stand. On behalf of the entire SYI team, I want to say thanks to everyone who's sent in their feedback – it's been greatly appreciated. Old SYI form going away - available until May 7, 2007 The old version of SYI will be retired on www.ebay.com on May 7, 2007 (eBay Motors will continue to use the old version). I strongly encourage sellers still using the old form to click on the "Start selling with the new version of the Sell Your Item Form" link at the top of the Sell Hub. If it's been a while since you used the new SYI form, we’ve done a lot of work to make the form more efficient for all of our sellers, and we think you’ll be pleased with the experience today. Learn more at our Online Workshops To help familiarize sellers with the new SYI, we're going to continue our series of workshops. The SYI product team is on hand during these events, and happy to answer your questions. The next one is scheduled for Tuesday, April 24th at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time. On behalf of the entire SYI team, thank you for your continued support. Sincerely, Nate Etter Seller Experience Team
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Jeff King

For years, eBay's proprietary search technology has supported a marketplace that gets hundreds of millions of searches a day. In addition, my team has gained valuable insight from other new finding experiences that we've introduced on eBay – like eBay Express, our redesigned search results test (which we ran last winter), Best Match, and Motors 2.0. Your input and feedback on these projects has been invaluable, helping us figure out what works well and what does not.

The development cycle for projects like this requires lots of research, good design and development and, most importantly, ample testing in real market conditions. In the next few weeks, we'll be running a test of our latest Finding technology. For about six weeks, a small percentage of buyers (around 1%) will see a different search experience than what is currently available on eBay. This is project is similar to the "New Way to Shop" which we first tested back in 2005, although it has evolved significantly since then.

We think that this new technology will make eBay's search one of the most intelligent on the web, putting the right items in front of the right buyers more than ever before. In this new Finding experience, we'll still return listings where the item titles and descriptions match your search terms. And now we'll also use other elements of a listing as well (such as item specifics and category). This gives buyers the best chance of finding what they want without having to "guess at" all the terms the seller could've used in their item title.

As a simple example, if a buyer in the test searches for "red size 12 shoes," instead of looking just for listings with the words "red," "size," "12," and "shoes," the search engine will find all of the items in the shoe category that are size 12 in the color red. In the end, the buyer should see more relevant items. Plus they'll see a new way to narrow their listings results according to important details such as size, color, type, etc.

Because Finding is so important, you can continue to expect extensive testing like this as we work to ensure our designs and technology work for the marketplace. We expect this particular test to run about six weeks to allow us time to collect data and member input.

On behalf of my entire team, we appreciate your feedback and support.

Sincerely,

Jeff King
Senior Director, Finding

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Jennifer Lindh

Beginning today, visit eBay's special Spider-Man 3 site, where you can bid on props from the movie, find Spider-Man 3 merchandise on eBay, vote for your favorite Spider-Man-related eBay Match-Up, and enter the "Swing On Over to The Set Sweepstakes." Every day from May 2nd through May 8th, we’ll be giving away a private screening of the movie for you and 30 of your friends. You could also win the grand prize - a trip for four to Los Angeles for a VIP tour of the Sony Picture Studios and Imageworks facilities where Spider-Man 3TM was filmed.

How to Qualify for the Sweepstakes
Qualifying for the sweepstakes is easy. First, you'll need to register to participate. You'll then get an automatic entry into that day's prize drawing every day you win an auction-style listing or use Buy It Now to purchase a Fixed Price or Store Inventory listing on eBay.com or eBay.ca (click here for the official rules). For a free bonus entry just visit the Spider-Man 3 site and click the "Enter" button every day!

eBay & Spider-Man 3 Sweepstakes starts today, so swing on over and you could win!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Lindh
eBay Marketing

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Artemisa Saucedo

Your eBay Stores subscription comes equipped with powerful tools and resources to help you drive buyers – from eBay, the general Web, and offline – to your eBay Store. Every other month, we'll pick one of these tools to be the feature of the month. All Stores sellers who use the selected tool at least once during the specified timeframe will be automatically eligible to win one of two $2,500 cash Grand Prizes!

Feature for May: Markdown Manager
Our highlighted feature for the month of May is Markdown Manager. With Markdown Manager, sellers can drive buyer excitement to their listing by offering discounted pricing. (For more information on Markdown Manager, see our Tutorial).

To qualify for the sweepstakes, simply create a Sale using the Markdown Manager feature between May 1 and May 31, 2007. Doing so will automatically enter you into the sweepstakes. At the end of the month, two Grand Prize winners will be randomly selected to receive the $2,500 cash prize.

For full details about the eBay Stores $2,500 Feature Passport Sweepstakes, see our information page.

Good luck, and thanks for using eBay Stores!

Sincerely,

Artemisa Saucedo
eBay Stores Marketing

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