eBay.com.au forms new partnership with Realestate.com.au
eBay.com.au forms new partnership with Realestate.com.au
ALLIANCE MADE
An alliance has been made between property site realestate.com.au and eBay. The partnership will result in all property listings made on eBay to be shown on the real estate site, opening up the window for the 5.8 million Australians who browse eBay monthly to also access the newly refurbished property website. A similar deal was made recently with Yahoo7.
BLACK AND DECKER
Black & Decker, the world’s largest producer of power tools and accessories have launched their first eBay store on the U.S version of the site, selling the majority of their most popular products.
eBay continues to grow
eBay TRUMPS AMAZON
After losing out to Amazon.com for years, eBay has finally stepped up to grab its rightful place at the top of the Mobile Commerce sector. As consumers are increasingly using their mobile handsets – iphones, Blackberries and handsets powered by Google Inc’s Android software to purchase everything from takeaway food to cars, eBay’s applications are at the top of their game. While eBay’s mobile sales may still only account for a small part of their $8.7 billion in total revenue for 2009, that figure is expected to increase globally to a $119 billion industry by 2015. So far, eBay has produced 14 mobile apps that let users buy, sell, and hunt for deals. A feature that alerts mobile shoppers on the status of Auctions was a great success when launched, and there are many more applications on the way. John Donahoe, eBay’s CEO, says the company will roll out apps tailored to specific product categories. The first of these, eBay Fashion, will display popular items and deals in a slide show that users can browse through by swiping their finger on a touch screen. The app will also offer a virtual dressing room, where shoppers can use a phone’s camera to superimpose images of clothing on themselves.
COOKIE STUFFING CRIME
A Las Vegas man has been charged with a crime against eBay known as “Cookie Stuffing”. Between January and November 2009, Christopher Kennedy, 28, sold a cookie stuffing program on his website known as “sauce kit”. This program enabled advertisers to deposit fraudulent Internet code, on the computers of people who used eBay’s website for online auctions. This resulted in the advertisers collecting referral fees from eBay, none of which they were entitled to. Kennedy pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit online fraud and will be sentenced in November.
eBay’s GREEN SIDE
eBay has teamed up with Zem Jaoquin of ecofabulous.com to design a “green” focused environmentally friendly show home. As well as using organic materials and a green roof, many of the items used were found on eBay. The house will be auctioned off on the eBay site with a large percentage of the proceeds going to www.globalgreen.org that will benefit the Green Schools project in New Orleans.
MOTHER AND SON SCAM TEAM CAUGHT
A mother-and-son team that advertised cars for sale on eBay and took money without handing over vehicles were caught.
Garifilia Athanasiou, and her son John, 42, of Burwood East, who advertised 13 cars for sale on eBay and misrepresented that they were licensed traders. Both were ordered to pay $500 compensation plus $1000 costs.
JESSE GETS DESPERATE
It seems that without ex-wife Sandra Bullock bringing home the bacon for him, Jesse James has had to turn to eBay to keep the cash rolling in. James has reportedly been listing West Coast Chopper memorabilia, rare pre – war bicycles and a mini hand painted coffin! One of his buyers has even left some encouraging feedback for the reality TV star – ‘and the Oscar for best eBaying goes too….thanks”!
BEWARE OF FAKE PSYCHIC OCTOPUS PREDICTIONS
The success of Paul the German psychic Octopus has already sparked rumors that some fake ‘Paul’s’ might pop up on eBay.
So be warned, if you spot a listing offering a question answered by Paul the Psychic Octopus, you can be reasonably sure that it’s a scam. Octopi are not computer literate.
HAIR JAM
Jam supposedly made from one of Princess Diana’s hairs has gone on sale.
The creepy condiment, called Occult Jam, is available at a surrealist art show in London for £5 a jar.
Maker Sam Bompas, of catering company Bompas and Parr, says the preserve is “both art and food”.
He claims it is made by infusing a tiny speck of the late Princess of Wales’ hair with gin, which is then combined with milk and sugar.
The hair used in the jam was bought on eBay for $10 from a US dealer who collects what he says is celebrity hair.
