On Monday, eBay announced it would lay off 10 percent of its 16,000 workers, including 1,000 permanent employees, and pay $1.35 billion to acquire the Web payment firm Bill Me Later and the Danish classified advertising companies Den Bla Avis and BilBasen.

EBay, based in San Jose, Calif., said most of the layoffs would be in its core marketplace division, which has suffered from declining single-digit growth rates while online commerce has been growing at a double-digit clip.

In an interview, John J. Donahoe, eBay’s chief executive, said the layoffs were the first significant cuts in eBay history, and that he would be communicating via webcast with eBay’s employees around the world to convey the bad news. “We are treating the affected people with the kinds of values you would expect out of eBay,” he said.

Meanwhile, the company is doubling down on what it sees as the most promising parts of its business, like online payments. Revenue from PayPal, which eBay acquired in 2002, is expected to grow at a 35 percent rate this year as large companies like Southwest Airlines and Wal-Mart stores offer it as a payment option on their Web sites.

PayPal got its start by allowing individuals and small merchants to send money to one another over the Internet from their bank accounts or credit cards.

EBay is paying $920 million in cash and options for Bill Me Later, an eight-year-old firm based in Timonium, Md. The company takes a different approach to online payments. It allows people to buy items on the Internet and then sends them a bill within 30 days, at which point they can either pay the bill outright or take out a loan.

Bill Me Later works by asking consumers for their date of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security number and then performing a rapid electronic credit check. Because it also knows what people are buying and where they are shipping it, Bill Me Later says it can conduct sophisticated analysis to determine whether purchases might be fraudulent and whether the buyer is capable of paying the bill on time.

Amazon.com, eBay’s main rival in online shopping, invested in Bill Me Later last year and has integrated the payment service into its site. It is unclear whether that relationship will continue. Amazon declined to comment on the transaction.

Shares of eBay fell on Monday along with the overall market, dropping $1.05, or 5.5 percent, to $17.89. Although eBay’s stock is at a five-year low, Mr. Donahoe said the company’s strong balance sheet and cash balance have allowed it to take advantage of Bill Me Later’s declining value in a market that has been rough on all companies in the finance sector.

“We feel a little like Warren Buffett. We are a strong company, and at times like this we can move to take advantage of the market environment,” he said in an interview.

EBay also announced on Monday that it was acquiring the popular Danish classified advertising site DBA.dk and the automotive marketplace BilBasen.dk for $390 million, from the Danish media mogul Karsten Ree. The deal is one of the largest in Denmark’s history. A local newspaper reported that the companies had negotiated on and off for four years.

EBay has been steadily building or buying classified Web sites and already owns properties like Kijiji, Gumtree, Marktplaats, LoQuo and mobile.de. EBay also owns a 25 percent stake in the American online classifieds leader Craiglist, but its interest in buying the firm outright led the companies to sue each other this year.

EBay’s attempt to stitch together a global network of classified advertising sites is partly intended to create an alternative to its sagging traditional business of auctions. For the first time on Monday, eBay disclosed some financial information about its classifieds holdings, saying they generated $260 million in revenue last year — which it described as three to four times the estimated annual revenue of the closely held Craigslist.

Source : Nytimes

From May, those selling on eBay will not be able to leave unfavourable or neutral messages about buyers.

The move, which will affect users worldwide, has angered many sellers.

Sellers say it will leave them unprotected.

‘Open forum’

The feedback forum was introduced by Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar in February 1996.

In a message then, he said: “By creating an open market that encourages honest dealings, I hope to make it easier to conduct business with strangers over the net.

“Now, we have an open forum. Use it. Make your complaints in the open.

“Better yet, give your praise in the open. Let everyone know what a joy it was to deal with someone. Above all, conduct yourself in a professional manner.”

Tricky customers

Critics of the changes argue that by taking away a seller’s right to complain about a problem buyer they will have very little recourse for action when a sale goes wrong.

And they complain that by still allowing buyers to leave dissenting comments about sellers, eBay has skewed the whole trading process.

When both sides have equal access and rights to leave negative comments about each other it is a well balanced trading process, they say. However, eBay counters that problem buyers can still be dealt with.

“If a buyer doesn’t pay, the seller can easily contact eBay, we will review any complaint and maybe remove the buyer,” a spokesman said.

The changes aim to “improve the overall customer experience”, eBay said.

It added that many buyers would not leave negative comments for fear that sellers would retaliate.

As a result, buyers and sellers may not get a fair picture of what is actually happening between trading parties.

It maintains that the majority of transactions go “swimmingly”.

EBay says that only a minority of sellers leave negative feedback for buyers.

Source : BBC News

Whenever someone typed in a search that yields no results in Ebay; Google would step in and show it’s search results. Ebay is hoping to get more sellers who are selling their services such as someone who is giving scuba diving lessons.

These two companies also shows that everything comes full circle. While you are trying to find other services, you can also use Skype to speak directly to a customer service rep right from your pc.

Looks like it is getting harder for someone to use one company over another, especially if they dislike one of those companies.

Now while this doesn’t sound like a lot to some, Ebay store owners know differently and a huge percent are not happy about and many want to hold a protest week which will include selling nothing for that entire week because they feel that Ebay does not listen to them and that only by hurting their bottom line will the auction giant finally glance in their direction.

A quick check of Ebay’s message boards and you will see everything from Greedbay to Feebay being tossed about as sellers express their anger. This is to be expected considering that fees are raised every January and the last fee hike took away massive profits from lots of sellers and also the fees were for every seller that time.

Some wonder if these fees are to cover the new Ebay Express which many don’t even understand. Express is supposed to be a sort of Ebay spin-off retail version. Most if not all of the items are new and you purchase as you would from an online store. No bidding or waiting for an auction to end.

Considering that this is precisely what the Ebay stores are supposed to do you have to agree with the sellers and wonder what is the point of Ebay Express? Lots of sellers say that they have removed their listings from EE due to the fact they are not selling much if at all their and do better with their stores.

I don’t see this fee increase breaking Ebay even though some hope that it will because those who get mad and run to other sites quickly realize that no one was kidding when they said Ebay is the ONLY game in town. So far in 10 years nothing has come to compete with Ebay. Sure Yahoo, Amazon, Overstock and many others have auction sites but none have had the success that Ebay has had.

However Ebay seems to have lost site of both buyers and sellers and many are feeling like cash cows as it seems that no problems are being addressed but Bill Cobb is just raising fees and this is causing major anger across the board.

Small though it may seem the fee hike is more than 200% more than sellers were paying. If someone listed 400 items at $0.02 in one week in the past it would cost $8. Now if someone did that same thing with products over $100 it will cost them $0.10 each coming to a total of $40 for that one week. Under a $100 and it would cost $0.05 which is still too much for some.

This adds to the $15.95-$499.95 that store owners are already paying monthly to have a store. Then of course they also have to pay final value fees (FVF) which were also raised. Final value fees is the percentage that Ebay charges you when your item sells. So if your item doesn’t sell Ebay still makes their money from you listing the products. If the item sells they make their money from you listing the products AND you pay them more money because the item sold.

The fees are getting out of control and it is getting to the point where honest sellers are not even making a profit on their items. A lot of store owners are deciding to just open up their own online store because the monthly fees are cheaper and they don’t pay fees to list each item and they keep 100% of what they sell. Less fees.

In what seems to be a bit of a confusing letter, Bill Cobb blamed the fee hikes on Stores overtaking auctions and that this fee hike is to make people sell less items in their stores and I guess put more up in auction?? Well if fixed listings are a problem what is the point of EE (Ebay Express)??

Of course dissatisfied store owners feel that this is just Ebay’s way to make an extra buck off of them and it doesn’t look good for them that they have been a little disappointing in the stock market.

Now everything has sort of been flipped. I see many still being wary but this new phishing scam will certainly net a lot more people than usual. You receive an email claiming to be from Paypal. They don’t want you to go to a link and give up info. They want you to be extra secure. Instead go to this phone number and then update your info.

While many would roll their eyes and say definite scam, be aware that this can trick newbies to pros who let their guard down. A real beginner to Ebay and Paypal are definitely more likely to fall for it, especially if they are unaware that these companies don’t practice that sort of service.

Paypal quickly had the number disconnected but it is sadly very easy to get your hands on a local phone number that isn’t connected to any address.

However some losers with too much time on their hands and lots of tech skills they refuse to use at a real job has wormed their way into flaws in Paypal’s website. It looks like the real deal, but after you login and give it whatever info they asked for, your information is sent to the scammer and you lose.

Just remember to NEVER click the links in your email and have the latest antivirus and antispyware on your computer.

This weekend only, sellers can can trade internationally on eBay.ie for just 5 cents. All fees apply, plus sellers must “make items available to buyers in any country outside Ireland and offer PayPal.”

For more information, try here and here.

(via AuctionBytes)

The company will do this by launching eBay Express in late April. eBay Express will be aimed at “busy consumers who just want to click and buy.”

Already, eBay offers fixed-price goods from individuals, small businesses, and retailers. But they’re scattered among auction search results and elsewhere. EBay Express will aggregate those fixed-price listings in a snazzy, picture-rich design quite unlike eBay’s plain-vanilla lists.

How does this help sellers? Besides attracting an entirely new audience, eBay Express “could get existing users to buy a wider range of products.”

The key to eBay Express’ success will be getting the word out, and thereby “getting reticent shoppers to give [eBay] a second look.”

For Seller accounts that have balances more than 180 days overdue, eBay may collect the overdue balance owed from that seller’s PayPal account. The vast majority of our sellers settle their balances on time or before 180 days. eBay will resort to a PayPal withdrawal only after the balance has been overdue 180 days and our other collection efforts have been unsuccessful. We believe this helps level the playing field for the rest of the sellers who pay their bills.

You can read more about this and other updates to eBay by clicking here.