Stringing along buyers

I've just heard a report from a very experienced member (more than 3000 feedback) that they are encountering an increasing number of sellers stringing them along when they encounter a transaction problem. For example, the sellers may say things like, "Oh, I sent the item, I can't imagine what's wrong..." or "I'll check what happened with my shipper, just wait a few days" or "it just bounced back through the mail, let me send a replacement." All of these things are fine to say if they're true, and they're just what you want to hear if you're a buyer with a problem. But the experienced member asserted that these sellers are stringing their buyers along for a more insidious reason: they want the buyer to lose their eligibility to file a dispute or claim.

Buyers can only file a dispute on PayPal up to 45 days after the payment is made, and up to 60 days on eBay after an auction closes or the buyer makes a buy-it-now purchase. As sellers are usually much more savvy about eBay and PayPal's rules and resolution processes, buyers often don't know what their eligibility window is prior to experiencing a transaction problem. That leads to a situation where an unscrupulous seller can mislead and distract their buyer for long enough that the buyer loses eligibility, and then the seller can act with impunity knowing the buyer is no longer able to file a protection claim.

Let me be clear: there is no excuse for a seller to engage in this kind of behavior. Even if the seller sugar coats their delays with apologies and empathetic responses it's still seller abuse if it's just an attempt to deny a buyer redress by waiting out the filing window. It's deception, pure and simple.

I've had some sellers come up to me and tell me horror stories about how abusive buyers had been to them in the past. They often present these as "once bitten, twice shy" scenarios, saying that they'll never be so foolish as to trust a buyer again. Each seller has to make their own choices, and if a seller wants to be very strict and firm in insisting upon terms for their transactions that protect them against unreasonable buyers, that's their call. But if a seller takes that mistrust one step further to justify this kind of manipulative behavior, then that's not acceptable. No seller has the right to deceive their buyers, and it is unreasonable to punish future buyers because of the unreasonable actions of a previous buyer.

All buyers should get this message loud and clear: if your seller has not addressed your concern, and the end of the filing window is approaching, you should file a dispute to preserve your eligibility for protections. Even if the seller seems responsive by email and friendly, buyers must be aware that they should still file. The dispute can be easily canceled later if need be, and no action will be taken against the seller's account. Also, buyers should know that if a seller pulls this on them, they should make sure to leave the seller a neg and to clearly explain what happened. That may protect a future buyer from being "seduced" by the same tactic the next time around.

The experienced member who informed me about this issue ended their message by asking, "Without trust can eBay even exist?" My answer to that is an emphatic no. eBay is based on the premise that people are good. Trust is the lifeblood of our marketplace. There is no avoiding the truth that this kind of cynical, strategic behavior on the part of some sellers cuts to the heart of eBay. I think all of us should have zero tolerance for this kind of thing, for while it may benefit the seller who does it in the short term, it harms all of us (buyers, sellers, and the marketplace) for the long term.

 

Window Shop on eBay

Here I am with another Sneak Peek update. The old adage "A picture is worth a thousand words" is never truer than when you're shopping for shoes or jewelry (or items like them) on eBay. Hilary Holmquest, one of our product managers, can speak with feeling about this, from her own personal experience. As a 7-year eBay veteran, and someone who loves to buy all things Art Deco, she's been looking for a way to quickly look through the zillions of Art Deco collectibles on eBay and zero in on something that would look great in her dining room (an Art Deco martini bar is her latest quest).

She says that she and her husband disagree over the need to introduce yet another Art Deco collectible in their home, but they both agree on the need for buyers to have the ability to quickly look through eBay items by focusing on the pictures, rather than reading the descriptions. This way, you'll be able to make quick decisions about whether you think an item is worth a closer look, or whether you should keep on looking for the right treasure.

[UPDATE: Window Shopping is now available on our Finding Playground! Check out this example for "orange Nike shoes," and then do some searches of your own!]

Coming soon! Window Shop on eBay
Fortunately for us all (though maybe not for Hilary's husband), Hilary and a team of people at eBay are working on a project they're calling "Window shopping." Here are some of the cool things that you'll be able to do with Window Shopping:

• When you search for items, eBay will display pictures of the items that match your search results query. You can then hover your mouse over these pictures to see more detail about the items that interest you. Click through the list, and you'll see even more pictures matching your query.
• Tan shoes or beige? You won't have to click through different listings to compare colors. Instead you'll be able to filter your results by color, just by sliding a color slider along on the screen.   
• Figuring out how much you're willing to pay for that collectible gets easier with a new price slider that the team is developing. No more typing in ranges, just slide your mouse along the price slider.

Take a look at this picture (and also watch the video below) to get an idea of what Hilary and her team are doing. I love the big pictures and the clean look-and-feel. It gives me just the right amount of info I need to look through a lot of items quickly.

Hilary told her team is working hard to release a test version of Window Shopping in late August. When it launches, you'll be able to "window shop" from a link on your eBay search results pages. We're hoping to make it more widely available by October. Feel free to send your questions or comments to Hilary and her team at sneakpeek@ebay.com. And, get ready to Window Shop on eBay!

eBay fun with Widgets

There's lots of buzz going on these days about widgets and how they can be useful for online commerce. eBay sellers and buyers in particular can make use of the eBay To Go widget to feature their store, their listings, a particular keyword or even those fun and wacky items for sale that are part of that "only on eBay" experience - maybe you even want to brag online about how you won it on eBay!

If you're not familiar with widgets, make sure to check out this recent BusinessWeek article featuring our own Max Mancini, head of Disruptive Innovation and the Developers Program here at eBay. In addition, Rob Cross also recently attended WidgetCon  in New York City, and had the following recap to share about the conference.

Widgets -- they can make your online shopping experience that more compelling and help reach buyers in new places.

---

I was in New York City on Wednesday to attend the WidgetCon Conference, the first conference designed specifically for widget marketers.  My goal for being there was to better understand the widget marketing ecosystem and how eBay can better meet the needs of developers and technology platforms.  I see a huge potential for this segment - the modularized web - and want to make sure eBay is positioned to effectively participate.

Compared to most conferences I've been too lately (including ours), this was a much smaller event, with about 100 people attending and only one agenda.  However there was a lot of great discussion as everyone shared how they participate in the space and the issues they're facing.  The full agenda is here.

One the main themes I heard was that widgets represent a unique opportunity for you to create an effective and lasting dialogue with your users.  This is different from search engine marketing and traditional online marketing.  Users have offered to put your widgets on their page - don't waste that opportunity!  Keep the content fresh, interesting and useful.  For eBay developers, this is actually easier because most of our content is listings and you can always put new information in front of people.

Another key theme was that companies are having challenges effectively measuring and tracking their success in this distributed environment.  When a developer creates a widget for Facebook's network, how do you measure success - viral spreads, click-thrus, user interaction, longevity of the user connection?  There are a lot of unknowns here.  For eBay, we compensate developers for bringing users to our site through the Affiliates Program, but we'll have to continue to investigate the value of a widget.

I continue to believe that eBay is on the right track to help developers take advantage of widget marketing.  Our Shopping Web Services platform is specifically designed for this type of development and our Affiliates Program offers great monetization opportunities.  We still have a lot to do to put all the peices together and expand our offering, but we recognize this and are trying hard to fill the gaps.

On a personal note - one pleasant surprise was that some old friends were also attending.  Ro Choy, now with RockYou!, and Sean Crotty, now with Mpire (an eBay developer), were both there and it was great to catch up.  Best of luck guys!

- Rob

Everything You Wanted to Know About The "Playground"

It's been a couple of weeks since my first blog post about the Sneak Peek page, but I'm back! Just after eBay Live!, Jeff King (he of the Finding Nemo vs. Searching for Nemo fame) introduced our  Community to the Finding Playground, a site that allows anyone to try out our new Finding experience (that Jeff's team is working on).

Now Jeff is back with more information on exactly what we're trying to achieve through this project. He recently posted this in one of our discussion forums, and I thought I'd share it again here.

It's a bit long (and sometimes it gets technical), but it's well worth reading to get an idea of how we're improving the Finding experience. Here goes:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello all,

Thanks for all of your continued comments on the Playground and the test. We’re committed to getting your feedback and engagement. I thought it made sense to outline again some of the issues with the current search that we’re trying to address with the new system.

So, what are some of the major things we’re trying to improve?

• Improved ‘recall’
  • Recall is the term for the items that get returned for a particular search query. Try searching for something on eBay now and in Finding 2.0 (playground) and usually you’ll find more stuff.
  • For example, “size 12 puma shoes” on current search = 129 items, but in Finding 2.0 it’s 267.  We think that searching for “size 12 puma shoes” should show return ALL the size 12 puma shoes on eBay. 
  • BTW, I compare the two systems side by side all the time by having http://search.ebay.com in Internet Explorer and http://playground.ebay.com in Firefox. Since they use separate cookies you can keep each up and compare side by side.

Hairspray Welcomes us Back to the 60's

Do you remember those days back when ratting your hair to get it up as high as it would stand and then spraying it with half a can of aerosol hairspray kept you busy getting ready for school or work? If you answered yes, then you need to shimmy and mash potato on down to your nearest cinema house so you don't miss the new Hairspray movie. If you answered no, you should still watch the movie so you can make fun of your parents' (or maybe even your grandparents') hairstyles.

The much-anticipated remake of the John Waters cult hit movie from 1988, which was made into a musical for Broadway in 2002, opened this past weekend. I saw it on Saturday night, and I'm telling you --  it's a fantastic movie! 

 

The cast is made up of big name movie stars such as Queen Latifah, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Marsden, plus up-and-coming stars Amanda Bynes, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, and Brittany Snow. Last but not least is John Travolta, who stars as the main character's mother, Edna Turnblad. (Yes, JT in drag is a sight not to be missed.) And introducing Nikky Blonsky as ths star of the show, Tracy Turnblad.

Some even more exciting news for Hairspray fans is the opportunity to bid on exclusive items and props from the movie in numerous auctions hosted by eBay on the eBay Giving Works platform. 100% of net proceeds are targeted to benefit two charities, the City Meals on Wheels program and the Harry Holmberg Memorial Foundation.

eBay's very own Style Director, Constance White, sat down with different members of the cast of Hairspray to discuss the distinct fashions from the 1960's, the era in which the movie is set. You can watch her interviews and learn more about the Hairspray charity on our own very special Hairspray eBay page. You can even download cool Hairspray stuff like wallpapers and screensavers.

A quick check of the auctions showed that John Travolta's pink sequined dress worn during the movie has the highest bid amount of any of the auctions, with a current high bid as I write this of $2,125.00.  But if that's a bit out of your budget, don't fret, there are many other costumes and props that are more affordable for us thrifty Hairspray fans.  Check out Hairspray Charity Auctions on eBay.

This movie had me tapping my toes, snapping my fingers, and grooving right there in my seat to every song.  There are lots of laughs -- and an important message about US history during the 1960s when the Civil Rights movement was the hot issue of the era.   I give it 2 thumbs WAY up.  Go see this movie!

Harry Potter and the Impatient Chatter Blogger

I wish I had an Invisibility Cloak or some Polyjuice Potion. I'm only 150 pages into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and would like to continue reading it uninterrupted. However, pesky reasons stand between me and finishing the book (for example, having to earn a living, paying the rent, etc.). I did find some Polyjuice Potion on eBay, but my cunning plan to feed some to my cat so he can masquerade as me at work -- while I stayed at home to finish the book -- was thwarted by that smart creature's refusal to be turned into a clumsy, bumbling Muggle. I also found several Invisibility Cloaks on eBay but -- apart from the fact that it probably wouldn't fit me -- Laura, my boss, has a Marauder's Map which helps her see exactly where her team members are at work, and what they're up to. Curses!!

I haven't given up, though. There's so much Harry Potter stuff on eBay (including Marauder's Maps), that I'm convinced at least some of it is really magical and will help me finish my book in peace. At the very least, I'll try to find the Muggle coworker whose car I spotted in the eBay parking lot. Seems like their other car is a Firebolt! Perhaps I can borrow it to zip home quickly at the end of the day and continue my reading.

A good SJ Mercury News Story: eBay & SJ police team up to convict fraudsters

The San Jose Mercury News story Busting an Internet fraud ring: DOGGED POLICE WORK SENDS 4 TO PRISON would make the start of a great summer novel about how a smart, out-of-the-box-thinking, persevering good-guy detective brought a couple of sleazy, internet thieves to justice.  It would be a fun read, if only it weren't true, and if only the thieves hadn't been stealing from eBay members. 

As Elise Ackerman reports, two internet thieves in the Bay Area were tracked down and eventually apprehended and convicted.  As you read about these "kids" who had many advantages others only dream of and who still stooped to such low-life practices as identity theft and other types of stealing, you may get the same feeling I did... Truth is stranger (or more "arresting") than fiction. 

On the bright side, though, the article does a great job of highlighting San Jose Police Detective Mike Niehoff. He represents the many diligent, hard-working detectives out there. These people are often the unsung heroes, so it's great to have stories like this give them a bit of recognition. Niehoff worked closely with Jeremy Roybal, one of our own Fraud Investigators, to nail this case. And that should make the eBay Community feel good, too -- to know eBay has crackerjack detectives who work along side law enforcement on cases like these and who share the long hours, give of their resources and information, and share their expertise to help keep the whole marketplace safe. 

Jeremy Roybal is a Fraud Investigator on Mike Rou's Global Law Enforcement team at eBay. The SJ Mercury News story doesn't mention Jeremy by name, but he worked very closely with Detective Niehoff in helping to convict the infamous Ma brothers.  In fact, building relationships with detectives like Niehoff and others around the world is a huge part of their jobs.  These relationships come in handy when there is a case to solve, as it did in this case.

The Chatter team paid Mike and Jeremy a visit so they could talk a little bit about what they do, and about this case in particular.  In the video, Mike reminds people to familiarize yourself with tips and resources available on the Security & Resolution Center , and to learn about other successful police cases by checking the Police Blotter, which gets updated every 6 weeks or so.

We're proud of Jeremy and Mike -- thank you for all you do to keep the eBay marketplace safe!

Filing disputes beyond the eligibility window

I just had an exchange with a very experienced eBay member who had a seller string them along so that they missed the filing window for an Item Not Received dispute. His question was whether it was still worth it for them to file the dispute (even though they knew they would not be able to follow through with it) just so that eBay would be aware of what happened. He also observed that some of the links to file disputes disappeared after the filing window closed, which made him even more curious.

It’s an interesting question, and I thought the issue would be valuable to raise on the Chatter.

We do in fact welcome Item Not Received (INR) or Significantly Not as Described (SNAD) reports even if you’ve passed the filing window. It’s also true that some of the links to report INRs and SNADs do disappear once the filing window has passed (such as the link in the My eBay drop-down menu next to the item).

The rationale for this is that if someone has missed the filing window it makes more sense to not to urge them to start the process as opposed to starting the process and then telling them they’re ineligible for it.

However, for savvy users who want to ensure eBay is still notified of the situation, it’s still possible to initiate the process to get the report into our system even if you are prevented from proceeding because you’re beyond the filing window. To do so, just file through one of the links that is not connected to a particular item. One such link is at the top of your dispute console – as it is not connected to any particular item, it never disappears.  Another link is available on the INR process help page.

You’ll need the item number to file on these pages (it’s automatically entered if you use the My eBay link, but if you use these links, you’ll need to enter it yourself, as the site won’t know which item you want to file the INR regarding). Once you enter the item number we’ll note the filing in our records even though you can’t continue in the process.

Folks often ask me why we limit the amount of time buyers have to report disputes.  There are some legal reasons – we have to resolve these issues before buyers lose their eligibility to file a chargeback through their credit card issuer, for instance – but we also think it’s appropriate to not make sellers liable for item disputes for all eternity after they make a sale.  In the vast majority of cases the buyer should know if they have an issue within a month or two after the transaction.

Video Interview with 2007 PayPal Star Developer E-junkie

"Developers and merchants participating in the PayPal forums are actual merchants who are going to use the features, so any feedback I get from them is very valuable."

-- Robin Kohli, development lead of E-junkie, on how his service to the community pays off for new feature development ideas and adoption

Robin Kohli of E-junkie out of Tuscon, Arizona joined us at DevCon in Boston to speak about his FatFreeCart application, and how he built his tool to sell software and allow independent musicians to sell their music.

Listen to Robin's thoughts in his PayPal Star Developer Award interview (clip is 5:10 in length):

-Delyn

A sneak peek at 1 click bid

1 click bid is for all those people who have always wanted an easier way to win an item in the last few precious minutes before an auction ends (yours truly included!). Hi Everyone!  My name is Subha and I'm excited to be the newest blogger on The Chatter! 

Very soon, you'll be able to use 1 click bid in the last 15 minutes of an auction to re-bid with one click only (how fast and easy is that!). You don't have to keep refreshing the page in your browser and bite your nails as the page loads to see if you're still the high bidder. Instead you'll see a little layer appear on the item page displaying the information you need to plot your bidding moves in the last few minutes -- how much time before the auction ends, what's the current high bid, and most importantly, are you still the high bidder? Instead of refreshing the entire page, you'll just need to refresh the smaller layer. Much faster, and more convenient.

Take a look at the picture alongside to see what I mean. (Note - we're still tweaking the design so it may not look exactly like this when we launch. But you get the picture....).

One more thing. To use 1 click bid, you'll need to be signed in to eBay and have at least one bid on the item already.

Last month, at eBay Live!, Bill Cobb announced that we're working on a number of new ways to make bidding more exciting and convenient. This is just one of several projects that we have in the works for you. I’ll be back from time to time to give you updates and sneak peeks at other cool features.

We're planning to start testing 1 click bid in early August for a small percentage of members, and hope to have it available for everyone by the end of August. If you happen to be in the test group, I would love to hear what you think – just send me an email at sneakpeek@ebay.com.

I shared some plans with the Chatter team when they interviewed me recently (see the video they shot).

The Formula Behind Feedback Percentages

[Do you have a negative or two? Ever wonder when you might receive enough positives to push your Feedback score back up to 100% positive? Well, I thought I might share with you a recent email regarding exactly how eBay calculates the "positive percentage" displayed next to a member's Feedback score. Warning! 5th grade math ahead! -Griff]

Hi Griff,

I recently noticed a seller who has received 3 negatives this month yet his feedback still shows 100% positive. How can this be?

A concerned seller

My response:

Hello Concerned,

Nothing amiss here. Let me explain, step-by-step, how the percentages for eBay Feedback are calculated.

First, here is the section of the seller's feedback page for reference:

Feedback Score: 3254 
Positive Feedback: 100%
 
Members who left a positive: 3255
Members who left a negative: 1
 
All positive Feedback: 4161

The seller has indeed received three negatives but they are all from the same User ID. When calculating percentages, multiple feedbacks from the same User ID count only as one negative. That is why the page states "Members who left a negative: 1"

With this fact in mind, eBay uses a straightforward formula to calculate the number displayed as "Percentage of Positives":

Unique Positives ÷ (Unique Positives + Unique Negatives)= percentage

In this case, the seller has received unique 3255 positives and 1 unique negative. That results in

3255 ÷ 3256 = 0.99969287469287469287469287469287

In this equation, 100% is indicated by a score of 1. The rule is, we round up the number based on the amount of number in the fourth decimal place to the right of the decimal. In this case, the fourth place shows a six so round the number to 1.00000 etc.

By the way, if the seller had two unique negatives, the equation would have read 3255 divided by 3257 which equals 0.99938593797973595333128645993245. Since the fourth decimal place to the right of the decimal point is a 3, we would not round it up thus the seller's feedback percentage would
drop to 99.93%. Since we only show to the tenths of percentage, the number would display as 99.9%.

One of our intrepid members has actually created an online Feedback calculator that implements this formula in an easy-to-use format. Using it shows us some interesting facts. For example, if a seller has one unique negative, their percentage score will go back to 100% once their unique positives reach 1999. As for our seller, if he receives a second unique negative, he will have to earn a total of 3998 unique positives (and no other negatives) in order to reach 100% again.

Regards,

Griff

Getting MIPS into the Resolution Center

When I first came over to PayPal, I was flummoxed by some of the emails I received from members that told me that their PayPal claims weren’t appearing in their Resolution Center. The only way the members learned about the claims was through email. How could they not be appearing in the Res Center? I thought to myself. Could it be a bug?

I took a couple of the emails along with me on a trip out to PayPal’s operations team in Omaha
and had the folks in the know fill me in. In almost every case, the claim in question was over what was called a “multi-item purchase” (or MIPS). That’s where a buyer purchases multiple items from a seller on eBay and pays for them with a single PayPal payment.

MIPS resolutions are complex
From a resolution perspective, it’s not hard to see why resolving those kind of cases is complex. Say the buyer purchases 8 different items, and the seller ships them in 3 different boxes. Maybe one of the boxes doesn’t arrive, and one of the items that does arrive is different than what the buyer expected. So for one PayPal payment, we may have three INR (Item Not Received) claims, one SNAD (Significantly Not as Described) claim, and four items that have no problems.

The PayPal claims process just wasn’t able to handle a complex case like that. The process was all based around a single item – so for instance, the claim had to be either INR or SNAD, not both. And what about multiple tracking numbers for the three packages?  The process couldn’t handle that.  And what if one item was a bowling ball and the others were beanie babies—there’s only one shipping amount, so how do we figure what portion of the shipping should be refunded to cover the return of one item out of the eight? You start to see how complicated it can all be.

The way PayPal handled MIPS in the past was to work the claim manually. So when the buyer filed the claim, we’d look it up on eBay and see it was a multi-item purchase, and then pull it out of the automated queue. Then we’d work the case by hand, notifying the members of progress through email. Of course, this led to much frustration, as emails can get blocked by spam filters (which lead to time outs and claim defaults), and members couldn’t see MIPS cases in their Resolution Center, so they always had to keep one eye on their inboxes to ensure they didn’t miss a MIPS case.

We needed a better way... and it's here now
Everyone realized that this could not go on.  It was causing frustration and dissatisfaction for our members, and it was giving customer service a headache working all these cases by hand. So we decided to make fixing this problem a top priority, even though it was obvious to us that fixing the problem correctly was going to be an enormous challenge.

I’m very pleased that now, two years later, we’ve finally done it. Last week we launched the MIPS flow on PayPal, a dedicated flow that can handle even the most complex multi-item purchases without batting an eye. It took hundreds of days of development and quality assurance testing, and we thought through every little edge case we could devise. All of that work has paid off, too, as we’ve had no major bugs reported since the launch, and we’ve had hundreds of these cases come through without a hitch.

All your disputes are visible in the Resolution Center
Now sellers can rest assured that all of their disputes are visible in the Resolution Center. There’s no need to obsessively check in-boxes for wayward disputes or claims. (The other flows that used to be worked manually, ACH returns and fraud reversals, were also brought into the Resolution Center earlier this year.) This also means that all disputes and claims are also now visible in your Downloadable Dispute Report, so the DDR is now complete as well.

Huge kudos go out to the team that made this happen, from the pioneers who wrote the first specifications document back in 2004 to the developers, QA engineers, UI designers, and Project Managers who made MIPS a reality this past week. This closes a big hole in PayPal’s functionality, and while it will never get a splashy mention on the front page, it represents a real milestone for the platform.

Put ME in coach, Look at ME, I can be Centerfield!

So, I'm sure most of you weren't aware, but I grew up playing baseball and it's my overall most favorite sport out there. 

However, I'm sure many of you know that tonight is the 2007 Major League All-Star Baseball Game, right here in our backyard in San Francisco at AT&T Park where the San Francisco Giants play.  In case you didn't know, MLB's finest and usually most deserving players will be battling out in what is coined as the "Midsummer Classic."  I'm biased toward the American League being the faithful Yankees fan that I am. 

Of course tickets to get into the event will be a hot commodity since having so many stars playing in one game is rare.  If you want to attend tonight's game I suggest checking StubHub.com to find tickets to the All Star game.  (Game starts at 5:00 PM PST)

You may want to put some pine tar on your seat if you want to purchase All Star game tickets so you don't fall out when you learn that the prices range from $215 - $8,999.  By the way, the $215 price is for standing room only. 

There are also 5 listings on eBay for tickets to the game, but nothing a low as $215. 

I think instead of purchasing tickets, I'll just remember that classic John Fogerty song, "Centerfield" and say, "Put me in coach, I'm ready to play today! Look at me, I can be Centerfield." That will definitely be one of the best spots for viewing America's National Pasttime. 

Oh, by the way, in case you were wondering, there are about 111 eBay Stores items returned with the words "John Fogerty centerfield" typed into the search box. 

Good luck with purchasing tickets, but if you're on a budget, then maybe a CD with the Centerfield song by John Fogerty is a better idea. 

Whether you're racing to buy tickets (good luck with that!) or, like me, on a budget (I'll watch the game on TV and be content with the John Fogerty CD), you can find tons of All-Star Game and MLB memorabilia under the eBay umbrella. I hope saying umbrella doesn't jinx the game with rain (hey it's Fog City, and rain in summer is just a base hit away). 

Video Interview with 2007 eBay Star Developer Mpire

"First and foremost, make sure you keep up to date with all the latest announcements. I recommend highly an RSS feed to the main developer community news ... they are very good about releasing good detail on the exact type of API changes that are forthcoming with plenty of advance notice."

-- Greg Harrison, co-founder and CTO of Mpire, on their advice for developers who are new to the eBay Web Services platform

Greg Harrison and Gary Kamikawa of Mpire out of Seattle, Washington joined us at DevCon in Boston to speak about their winning Shopwave application, and their integration with Shopping.com and eBay APIs.

Listen to Greg and Gary's thoughts in their eBay Star Developer Award interview (clip is 5:54 in length):

-Delyn

Blair Talks About My eBay

I hope you saw my previous blog post with some of the details about the new My eBay my team is working on. A few days ago I sat down with the Chatter team to give a quick update and some more information about the upcoming changes - check out the video to learn more!

Saying Goodbye to R Yank

Today is a sad day for the Chatter - we're saying goodbye to the legend that is R Yank (otherwise known as Ryan). And what a legend it is. Ryan started with PayPal almost 8 years ago, and was one of the first "pinks" posting to various discussion boards to answer PayPal questions, address issues, that sort of thing. The ID he commonly used was just his first name and last initial: ryank @ paypal.com. But most people read that the opposite way - R being his first initial and Yank being his last name. To this day, some websites still advise people to contact "Ryan Yank" with any PayPal problems, a nickname we've teased him about mercilessly over the years. But perhaps not as mercilessly as we teased him for the photo to the right (a perfect shot taken at eBay Live! when a member had talked him into wearing the tiara).

After living through PayPal's early days when they consisted largely of card tables in a warehouse, to their acquisition by eBay, to over 3 years with our Community Development team, he's decided it's time to try something new. Not only has he been a fantastic friend and colleague, The Chatter owes him a huge debt. He was the driving force behind bringing The Chatter into the 21st century by turning it from an online newsletter into a blog. He's overseen our Member Spotlight program, and has been our go-to guy for everything pop culture-related (he's our resident Seinfeld guru, my brother-nerd-in-arms for Transformers and Star Wars, and knowledgeable about almost any type of music and movie). The list could go on and on.

So as he rides off into the sunset, we at The Chatter raise a glass and say, "To you, Mr. Yank. May the wind always be at your back, and may you always have a clean Pizza My Heart shirt to wear to work."

Can't Get Near Joss Whedon at Comic-Con? Here's Your Chance

His shows have amongst the largest cult followings in television, and he gets mobbed at every Comic-Con. But now you have the chance to corner him for a private dinner (but be polite). 

Joss Whedon, creator of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly (which is possibly the greatest sci-fi series ever according to my brother), and the recent movie Serenity, is auctioning off 5 seats at a private dinner with him to benefit Equality Now, an organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of women around the world. The shindig is taking place on July 27 in San Diego, so you can indulge your sci-fi side and your sun & surf passion in the same weekend!

In case the dinner is too much, he's also auctioning off a bunch of other items from his shows - check out his hilarious information page for more details on all of these. The bidding ends on July 12, so act fast.

To learn a little more about Joss and the fantastic cause he's supporting, make sure you watch this video of his speech from when Equality Now recognized him for his contributions to women's rights.

Check Out Sneak Peek

Wow, my first Announcement Board post and first Chatter post in the same day! It's a good thing I have something important to tell you about. Make sure you check out sneakpeek.ebay.com - it's a page we've put together that shows you a lot of the neat stuff we have on the drawing board (or have already launched to the site).

You've been hearing us talk lately about how we're working to make eBay more fun, more exciting, and well, more "eBay" than ever. Because in a world where so many shopping sites look and feel the same, eBay is really the only place to come and have a totally different experience. We're looking to reinforce that by coming up with new products, features, and other things that really make eBay stand out. Our Sneak Peek page is a great place to start to see what we're up to, and to tell us what you think! As I said in my announcement, this is YOUR site - we need your help to keep it great.

I'll be behind the scenes a lot helping my colleagues to get out, put their projects on Sneak Peek, and come out and blog. But I'll stop by myself from time to time to give you an idea of where we're going. So visit sneakpeek.ebay.com, and I'll see you later....