Remember to Vote & Join Main Street Members on Super Tuesday

What better day to talk about politics than on this Super Primary Election Day? As you may know, Americans registered to vote in 22 states are headed to the polls today, casting ballots for their respective party’s nomination to be President of the United States. Not only is this a great day to get out and vote (if you live in one of those 22 states), but it is also a perfect time to remind all eBay members about eBay's Main Street Member program.

The Main Street Member program is designed to keep you up to date on important political information and legislation that could directly impact eBay buyers and sellers. eBay's dedicated Government Relations team works fervently on behalf of the eBay Community. However, no amount of lobbying and elbow-rubbing can match the simple fact that elected politicians listen to and respond best to the folks who put them into office - their constituents. 

That's where you come in. You can add your voice to the thousands of eBay members who have joined the Main Street Member program, getting your message out to your elected leaders. It offers opportunities to tell your elected officials how proposed legislation could affect you if it were passed. For example, last year, Main Street members visited state capitals in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas, and met with lawmakers to let them know how legislative regulations in those states would impact their eBay activity.

Other topics like requiring auctioneering licenses, open ticket trade markets, and state sales taxes activated Main Street Members in other states. The eBay Government Relations team requested Main Street Members to take time to write their elected officials and let them know why they favored or opposed specific legislation.

To give you an idea of the impact Main Street Members have, they've successfully promoted legislation to exempt eBay sellers from undue regulations required of traditional auctioneers. Another campaign focused on removing price caps on the resale of tickets, increasing availability and allowing buyers and sellers to trade tickets in a free and open marketplace.

Finally, some Main Street Members have had the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. to oppose efforts to require eBay sellers to collect and pay taxes to the states (and thousands of local jurisdictions) where their customers are located. (Learn more about the State Stream-Lined Sales Tax)

Combined with some of the issues already mentioned, 2008 brings about new legislative challenges. If you'd like to let your voice be heard in Washington D.C. or in your respective State house, simply go to www.ebaymainstreet.com to become an eBay Main Street Member. As eBay’s Vice President of Government Relations Tod Cohen puts it, “No amount of money or highly skilled lobbyist can compare with the power of a lawmaker’s constituent explaining how a single vote could impact his or her livelihood.”

Oh, by the way, if you haven’t already voted today and you live in one of the 22 states holding primaries, be sure to get out there and cast that ballot! In my opinion, it’s one of the best parts about being a citizen of these United States.

The Best Stuff on eBay is now on Facebook

My wonderful colleague Delyn usually covers the eBay Developers beat on the Chatter, but she's taking some time off after becoming a mommy (for the second time!). So I've stepped in to give you a glimpse into what our intrepid band of developers are up to.

Delyn's previous post mentioned the eBay Marketplace for Facebook application, just one of the many ways our Developers program is trying to ride the popularity of social networking sites (like Facebook) in order to help eBay members find great deals or promote items they're selling.

But what does a social networking site like Facebook have to do with your items for sale on eBay or with that hard-to-find item you've been looking for? Here's Trisha Okubo from our Developers Program to tell you more:

Do you get frustrated trying to uncover the hidden treasures on eBay? It's OK -- it happens to the best of us. In eBay's crowded, bustling marketplace, it's often easy to miss the gems.

But now, if you're on Facebook, there's an easier way to find the cool stuff on eBay. Join the eBay community on Facebook, where you can see and share the best stuff on eBay with your other Facebook friends. Who might share it with their Facebook friends. Who, in turn, might share it with their Facebook friends. And so on. The business school gurus call it "viral marketing."

As you use the eBay Marketplace application, you'll find handpicked goods from your Facebook friends and the Community at large. You'll find stuff you and your friends care about -- anything and everything from the robin's egg blue 19th century teapot your BFF (Best Friends Forever in social networking lingo) has her eye on to your nephew's video game picks (Guitar Hero III, anyone?).

eBay Marketplace lets you share what you're doing on eBay with your friends on Facebook. Did you just list a gorgeous jewelry case for sale on eBay? Or are you itching to brag to your friends about the pair of Marc Jacobs round toe boots you just won? If you choose, eBay Marketplace can share the news with your friends on Facebook automatically. 

But you can do more than just share your stuff with your friends. If you run across the perfect vintage midcentury modern lamps for your sister's redecorated living room, you can share them with her with the click of a button. Or -- you could scoop them up and get a jump on your Christmas shopping, if you haven't finished it already.  :)

Just Say No to Internet Access Taxes

Hey Everyone!

Something good happened in Washington, D.C. last week for everyone who loves eBay and the Internet.

President Bush signed into law the Internet Access Tax Moratorium. After more than a year of lobbying, both Houses of Congress passed this seven-year extension of the moratorium, the longest extension since its establishment in 1998.      

Many of you shared with us your belief that Internet access should be tax-free. And we agree. Provisions of the Internet Access Tax Moratorium ensure, specifically, that stand-alone Internet services such as email and instant messaging cannot be subject to state and local taxation for the next seven years.

Preserving tax-free Internet access is vital to all of us as consumers. It is also especially important in fostering small business growth, including the hundreds of thousands of U.S. sellers who make all or part of their living on eBay. This victory will ensure the continued growth of Internet marketplaces like eBay and the U.S. economy as a whole. Of course, the Internet Access Tax Moratorium does not mean that large retailers and the states won’t push hard for Congress to adopt a distant state sales tax regime, but they will no longer be able to use the Moratorium as a way to achieve it.

A warm thank you and congratulations is owed to all the members in the eBay Community who have either written or called their Senators or House Representative to share their feelings regarding placing taxes on Internet usage. If you'd like to get involved and learn more about public policy issues of importance to the eBay Community, visit our Main Street website at http://www.ebaymainstreet.com/.   

Streamlined Sales Tax and Small Businesses – an eBay Seller Shares her Experiences

Every year, eBay's Government Relations team brings our sellers face-to-face with legislators in the United States Congress. Named "United States of eBay," the event is a great opportunity for our Community to let Senators and Representatives know how they and their eBay businesses might be affected by legislation being considered by Congress.

During this year's United States of eBay, the fifth of its kind, sellers from 21 states met with over 50 congressional offices, and also heard remarks from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL).

We asked one of the participants, eBay member golfingaddict, to share her experiences about the event and also explain why it's important that legislators understand the viewpoints of sellers like her, on issues like the Streamlined Sales Tax Proposal (also known as SSTP or Remote Sales Tax).

Here, in her own words, is what golfingaddict has to say.

---------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------------

Did you know that there are over 7600 state and local sales tax jurisdictions in the United States?  If some special interest groups have their way, eBay sellers, large and small alike, would be responsible for filing sales tax in each and every one of those jurisdictions if they sell to a buyer residing in one of those locations! That means 45 different states (excluding some that don't have sales tax), 45 different filing procedures and the potential for 45 different audits each year!

When I first heard those numbers, I found them to be very scary and quite frankly, a nearly impossible task for me, a small eBay seller and business owner.

Going to United States of eBay
On September 26-28th, I was one of approximately 25 eBay sellers from across the country that took part in the United States of eBay Washington D.C. Fly In. We visited key legislators with our message:

The Streamlined Sales Tax Proposal (to force you to collect and remit sales taxes in thousands of different taxing jurisdictions) is too complex and would place unfair costs and burdens on small business owners like you and me!

The US of eBay Fly In was the fifth annual event held about this issue. We represented sellers from our states and regions and spoke directly with legislators that can make a difference. We met directly with members of Congress, including Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) on Capitol Hill and spoke about the impact this issue would have on our businesses. The eBay sellers were accompanied by members of eBay's Government Relations team that helped us with the process. Our message was very clear: this proposal would be very harmful to small business owners on eBay. We oppose the Streamlined Sales Tax project unless it provides for an exemption for small business owners.

SSTP would be a huge burden to small sellers
Currently, the law requires sellers to collect sales tax if we sell to someone that resides in our own state. I collect sales tax from Washington State residents and submit that tax to the state each quarter. The Streamlined Sales tax proposal would require sellers to collect sales tax from all buyers in every different state that have sales taxes and submit that tax to the correct state or jurisdiction. This would be a huge burden to small sellers.

Can you imagine the paperwork required to file 45 different states? Even more complex is the local jurisdiction issues. There are over 7600 different jurisdictions across the states, all with different tax amounts. What this means is that sellers would likely have to collect a different sales tax amount depending on which of those 7600 jurisdictions the buyer resides in. I think this process would put a lot of sellers out of business simply because the burden would be too much to ask of someone without the means and ability to hire a team of accountants to deal with the issue. I know that I would not be able to handle all this paperwork on my own and would have to reconsider the burden of selling online if this sales tax collection process was imposed on me.

I encourage everyone to sign up to be an eBay Main Street Member. When you sign up you will get updates on the legislative issues that affect you as an eBay member. I also encourage everyone to contact their local legislators and voice your opinion on this sales tax initiative. I urge you to oppose the Streamlined Sales Tax Proposal unless it includes an exemption for small businesses.

The Intrepid Adventures of The Traveling Lab Coat from eBay Live!

Hey everyone,

I'm here to warn you to be on the lookout for a traveling lab coat. You know, those sterile, white jackets doctors or scientists wear in their laboratory.  But this ain't your ordinary lab coat.  It's a very special lab coat because it's "Traveling on for Charity" and listed through eBay's Giving Works tool.

Since I'm a native of Salt Lake City, I wanted to blog about this fantastic, grass roots, idea to raise money for the Primary Children's Medical Center, located in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A big pat on the back should be given to eBay Community member danna who started the lab coat on its adventures. She's even written about the lab coat on her own blog. Please be sure to read her story, The Traveling eBay Lab Coat to learn how her idea came to fruition. In a nutshell: Lab coats like this one were worn only  by a few eBay employees during eBay Live! earlier this year. When the event ended, the employee who had worn this lab coat listed it, donating the proceeds to charity. danna won that auction, and then had a brilliant idea -- why not "pay it forward" by listing the lab coat again, and donating the proceeds from the second auction to her own favorite charity? Whoever won the second auction could re-list it yet again for their own favorite charity, and keep "paying it forward."

And so the lab coat's travels began...

danna says, "the goal is to keep the Lab Coat Traveling around eBay and for each owner to sign it and re-list it back on eBay as a 100% Charity auction! A company logo can be added, an autograph, a patch, pin... the ideas are endless!"

We couldn't agree more, so we're going to try to keep track of the traveling lab coat here on the Chatter Blog, and give you updates about its progress and the money that it is raising for various charities.

Fast forwarding a few weeks after danna listed the lab coat, here we are again to discuss the latest version of the eBay Live! Traveling Lab Coat.  The “pay it forward” torch has passed on to the winner of danna's auction, kompolt.

The Kompolt team created a clever About Me page for the coat as it narrates its short life span within the eBay Community.  You can read more about it here traveling_lab_coat.

For the non-profit organization that will benefit from this auction, kompolt has chosen the Challenged Athletes Foundation, in memory of the late Bob Hebeler, an eBay employee. Bob passed away suddenly last year and the Challenged Athletes Foundation was set up as a way for those of us who knew him or others that want to support this cause as a way to honor Bob and his love of outdoor sports and athletics. 100% of the proceeds from the eBay Live! Traveling Lab Coat auction will go to supporting and encouraging challenged athletes to achieve their goals.

There are still 7 days remaining so bid now, or maybe wait until the auction is drawing to a close and try to win with your best sniping finger. Who knows, maybe I'll be blogging about you and your favorite non-profit as you join in on the fun of "paying it forward" with the eBay Live Traveling Lab Coat!

A new tool for political pundits - eBay?

In keeping with the fine traditions of this blog, where we use eBay trends to predict sports results (and occasionally eat crow), I'm attempting to answer the question - were purchases on eBay leading up to the 2006 mid-term elections an indicator of overall US voter sentiment? 

Andy Veluswami, one of our resident marketplace analysts and math gurus, has the answer – "consistent with pre-election polls done by Pew, USA Today, CNN, Fox, ABC, Newsweek, and AP-AOL, and the election results themselves, the eBay "Blue Index" shifted resoundingly upwards - nationwide, and in most individual states."

In other words, Yes.

To get to this answer, Andy and his team examined all Political Party-affiliated purchases made on eBay for both Democrats and Republicans during the month of October 2006, and created a "Blue Index." They compared the Democratic share of the total number of party-affiliated items purchased (both Democratic and Republican) with the share from two years ago, just before the 2004 general election.

As you can see from this picture, there was a significant increase in the purchase of Democratic Party related purchases. The graph shows the shift in the "Blue Index" for the 25 most active states on eBay in terms of political-party affiliated purchases. Click on the graph itself to bring up a larger version.

(Incidentally this would work just as nicely with a "Red Index" – the graph would just be inverted).

Andy explained some considerations in the team's methodology: A Democratic-party affiliated item was any item that had the word "Democrat" in its auction title (and did not contain the word "Anti") - such as this "Kiss me, I'm a liberal" t-shirt. A Republican-party affiliated item contained the word "Republican” and not the word "Anti", such as this handsome GOP necktie. Items containing both words "Republican" and "Democrat" were filtered out. Around 17,000 listings that were live in October 2006 were examined.

Admittedly, the model isn't perfect, but we'll probably try it out again for the 2008 Presidential Election… stay tuned!

I went to take a picture of Andy for the blog, having ascertained that that there was a nonzero probability of finding him in his cube. He looked over my blog post, and had this to say:

"I'm Andy Veluswami, and I approve this blog post."

Vote and let your voice be heard!

With a third of the U.S. Senate and every seat in the U.S. House of Representatives up for grabs, there's a lot at stake - for the country, as well as for the eBay Community. Government regulation directly affects our buyers' and sellers' ability to trade on the eBay marketplace. We're a Community of many voices -- and today, on Election Day, every voice counts. So make a point of voting today.

If you're at your computer on election night, keep an eye on eBay's Government Relations website. You can watch real-time election results, starting at 4 p.m. PST and continuing through the night until the last race is called. The results will remain on the Web site until Friday, Nov. 10.

Your vote does count!

More Power to the People – Awareness about Legislative Issues is Increasing

With the November elections right around the corner, it's no surprise that voters across the country are paying more attention to the issues that concern them. For eBay sellers, two of the biggest issues are Net Neutrality and the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP).

Back at eBay Live! in June, I'd met Carrie Murchison from our Government Relations (GR) team. Carrie is based in Washington D.C., but this week she's visiting our corporate headquarters in San Jose, organizing a Get Out The Vote event aimed at reminding employees to register to vote in time for the November elections. I caught up with Carrie and asked her about the latest from the world of GR.

One of the things Carrie and the GR team are really excited about is the extraordinary increase in members' awareness of Federal and state legislative initiatives that can potentially affect their eBay businesses. This is becoming increasingly evident at the "Main Street Meetings" that the team regularly conducts in towns across the United States. At the latest one, held last week in Lansing, Michigan, the sixty or so eBay sellers who attended were full of well-informed questions about the legislative issues that could have an impact on their online businesses.   

One of these was Michigan's Single Business Tax (SBT), which has become a hot topic of discussion in the business community of that state. Complying with the rules around this tax poses problems even for the largest corporations, so you can imagine how it burdens eBay sellers. Barry Murphy, one of the experts on this issue from eBay, fielded a lot of questions from sellers on this complex issue. (I'm planning to talk to Barry as well, and blog about eBay's position on SBT.)

Also present at the event was Aashish Tripathi from our Top Seller Management Program, there to listen to sellers' issues in general. A lot of the questions they directed at him had to do with eBay's Trust and Safety Policies. He endeared himself to the crowd by putting a "human face" to a lot of eBay’s policies, and explaining the rationale behind some of them. I hear from our very own Jeff that Aashish (he's on the left in this picture, talking to a seller) is shortly going to be a guest blogger on The Chatter, so stay tuned for his posts. 

The Long Arm of eBay's Fraud Investigations Team

I've talked before about eBay's relationships with Law Enforcement agencies around the world (you may also like to read a more detailed story from the old Chatter archives). Did you know we have a Police Blotter on the site that has details of some of their successes? For instance, recently our Fraud Investigation team helped the Chicago FBI press charges against four people for aggravated identity theft.

The long arm of the eBay's Fraud Investigation team extends overseas as well, as some fraudsters in Romania discovered recently. They were committing eBay fraud from an Internet café in Rimnicu Vilcea, Romania, when the Rimnicu Vilcea County and Financial police descended on them in a surprise raid.

Two individuals were arrested after police witnessed them conducting fraudulent transactions on eBay. An hour later the police returned to the Internet café, where they found three more individuals committing eBay fraud. At this point the Internet cafe was shut down and all computers were seized including twenty PCs and one server. The operation was filmed and all five individuals confessed to using eBay to defraud foreign victims.

eBay's close relationship with Romanian Law Enforcement, both at the National and county level, helped us put these bad guys away for a long time. eBay had representatives on the ground, along with United States Secret Service agents at the time of the arrests.

Operations like these should send a strong message to the fraudsters out there who try to exploit the Internet's global reach to find fraud victims across international borders. Watch this space for updates on more of our Fraud Investigation Team's successes!

Net Neutrality – the Grassroots Campaign Gathers Momentum

If you're passionate about keeping the Internet open and accessible and a place where commerce and innovation flourish, then you know about the ongoing debate on Net Neutrality (we’ve also blogged about it before). Right now, the telephone and cable companies, who control over 95% of the Internet, are trying to use their enormous political muscle to change the way the Internet works. If they succeed, ordinary users may find themselves paying much higher costs and have far fewer choices in the types of online content they can access.

Fortunately, a grassroots movement against these maneuvers has been under way for some time, showing that the power belongs with Internet users, not the big phone and cable companies. It's making the collective voice of millions of netizens heard in the corridors of power. Sites like itsournet.org are a great resource for people to find out how they can contact their Senator or Representative to express their opinion about keeping the Internet open and accessible.

eBay's Community is in the thick of this grassroots campaign. Earlier this summer, when Meg Whitman, eBay's President and CEO, wrote a personal letter to a large number of eBay's top sellers and active users, urging them to write their elected officials in Washington, it resulted in more than 300,000 letters from our members!

This week Meg is reaching out again to even more members of our vast Community. Look for an email from Meg this week. It will also appear in your My Messages (within My eBay). 

I've seen a preview of Meg's email - it makes no bones about the grim scenario that could be likely if the telephone and cable companies have their way, and asks members to write to their representatives in Congress before it's too late. Meg's warning about the attempt to divide the Internet into two tiers is starkly compelling:

"The bottom tier -- the slow lane -- would be what is left for everyone else. If the fast lane is the information 'super-highway,' the slow lane will operate more like a dirt road.

Today's Internet is an incredible open marketplace for goods, information and ideas. We can't give that up. A two lane system will restrict innovation because start-ups and small companies -- the companies that can't afford the high fees -- will be unable to succeed, and we'll lose out on the jobs, creativity and inspiration that come with them."

Network neutrality is just one area of legislation where eBay's Government Relations team is working to make our Community's voice and viewpoints heard in the Federal and State legislatures. You can find more information about the GR team's other efforts at the Government Relations page.

Meg Whitman Urges Consistent National Framework for Federal Privacy Legislation

Today's Internet privacy related laws are a veritable mishmash – the range includes federal and state laws, some laws that focus on specific business sectors, other technology-specific laws, and many more. And the costs of complying with all these laws are growing. Most small or medium sized businesses, including millions of eBay sellers, probably won't be able to devote their valuable time or resources to making sure that their privacy practices are in compliance with every single privacy law in the land.

The need for a national privacy legislation framework is blindingly obvious.

Yesterday, Meg Whitman, our President and CEO, expressed her support for comprehensive federal consumer privacy legislation. In fact, she's been an industry leader in the call for a national solution to this problem, and eBay is one of the founding members of an industry group supporting "a simplified, uniform but flexible legal framework" to protect consumer privacy.

I knew that Meg was on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. yesterday, speaking before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, so I spoke to some of our Government Relations and Privacy folks to see how her testimony went. Scott Shipman, eBay's Chief Privacy Counsel, was at the hearing, and told me that Meg emphasized the need to have a national privacy protection framework, with federal legislation that establishes consistent national standards.

Meg urged the Congress to lay the foundation for a long-term approach to privacy protection. She put forward four principles to guide the drafting of thoughtful legislation:

• A strong unified national standard – Such a standard would "occupy the field" and preempt state laws. Legislation without preemption, Meg pointed out, would create additional uncertainty and compliance burdens, making the current situation worse.
• Federal standards must be enforced – Meg explained that eBay and many other tech companies are committed to employing strong privacy practices to protect their members, but she also pushed for something to be done to "hold the bad actors accountable for failing to put the safety and security of their consumers before other interests."
• Legislation must be applied broadly – Making the case for broad legislation, Meg noted that the law shouldn’t burden any single sector or technology. This is very important in today's scenario, where all companies are increasingly handling growing volumes of consumer information. Legislation that discriminated against a specific sector, such as e-commerce, would be unfair.
• Legislation must be in accord with international privacy protections – Businesses selling internationally to consumers around the world benefit from consistent trading rules, including consistent privacy protections.

Meg concluded her testimony by saying that a comprehensive approach to privacy protection needs to be based on the idea that industry, government, and consumers must work together to protect privacy. After hearing her testimony and that of other privacy advocates, Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) announced his intention to draft legislation on this important issue for consideration in his Committee before the year's end.

It will be interesting to see how the debate over federal privacy legislation shakes out. Other companies are also concerned about it – for instance, Google blogged about it yesterday. I plan on hitting up our GR folks regularly for the latest developments and I'll share the latest scoop on this blog. 

Questions on Net Neutrality at the Government Relations booth

It's clear that Network Neutrality is going to be one of the hot topics of discussion this year. As I lurked near the Government Relations booth, I noticed that almost the first question members asked the GR team was "What's going on with Network Neutrality?" Evidently people are beginning to realize how the issue could affect their eBay businesses, and even the freedom to access the Internet.

Meg's recent email on Network Neutrality seems to have increased awareness on the issue, and spurred people to join eBay's Main Street program and write their representative in Congress. One of them is ssiliva91vl, a seller from Palm Springs, CA, who wrote to her Congresswoman promptly after receiving Meg's email. "It's great to see an email from Meg - it shows how important the Neutrality thing is for eBay - and for us!" she said.

About six months ago, ssiliva91vl became a full-time seller on eBay, so it's not hard to see why she, like so many others, wants Congress to support Network Neutrality, and keep the Internet easily available to everyone. "I believe in the trickle-down effect, so I signed up for Main Street right away, and wrote Mary Bono, my Congresswoman. I think when we all speak with one voice, Congress is sure to hear us."

I'll swing by the GR booth again later to talk to members about other legislative and public policy issues that could potentially affect their eBay activities - like state auctioneering regulations and secondhand goods laws.

Speaking of net neutrality...

The recent email about net neutrality from Meg (eBay's CEO Meg Whitman, to be precise) prompted a lot of good discussion among our members.   In reading some of the posts in eBay's Community forums, it's clear that this is a new subject for a lot of people.  Not surprisingly, there are also members who are already well-educated on this topic and who are helping others on eBay understand the issues at hand better, which is great.

This week, eBay member slavebay shared a video on the Comics board on net neutrality.  It's about 6-1/2 minutes and offers a very quick course on the case for net neutrality that I recommend as a "net neutrality 101" lesson.  Watch The Death of the Internet?  posted on YouTube.com earlier this month by COAnews.

Among all the questions, answers, and debate, I've also seen comments from people who are already taking action to make their voice heard by sending emails/letters to congress....that's fantastic...let's keep those emails coming!

And by the way, if you're going to eBay Live!, don't forget to stop by our Government Relations booth for more information (I believe it's booth #1106).

Net Neutrality and a letter from Meg

Last week, eBay Community members began receiving an email from Meg Whitman, eBay's CEO, about a subject called "network neutrality."  We've seen some members on the boards question whether this is a legitimate email.   

It is,

I've been in touch with Michelle Peacock from our Government Relations team, and she let us know that depending on your geographic location, you may have already received (or may receive by week's end) this email from Meg asking you to contact Congress in support of network neutrality. 

There is a lot of information available about the net neutrality debate.  (Some Google links.) www.itsournet.org is also a good place to start.  You are under no obligation to get involved, but this is an important issue that could impact ecommerce.   Thank you for making your voices heard!