AJ, EBAY finally acts.
That means they still allow
Bill
eBay Bans Auctions Containing Links to Sniping Service
By David Steiner
December 02, 2002
Chuck Eglinton is feeling a bit singled out by eBay these days. Eglinton owns BidRobot (http://www.BidRobot.com), a company that provides tools to online auction buyers and sellers. One tool is a sniping software program called BidRobot that allows buyers to set last second bids on auctions in advance and have them go off automatically. On Wednesday evening, Eglinton began to receive emails from his customers whose auctions had been ended by eBay because they contained a link to the BidRobot Web site.
The customers received an email from eBay Customer Support (Trust and Safety Department) explaining the reason for pulling the auctions as, "This and other type of software sites are not permitted as they solicit eBay User Ids or passwords from buyers and encourage buyers to place their eBay bids through a site other than eBay."
eBay prohibits the inclusion of third-party hyperlinks in auction descriptions with some exceptions. One exception is if the link "gives acknowledgement to a company that provided services related to that listing (such as counters, auction management tools, or payment and mediation services)." Eglinton said his customers are in compliance because they were using the company's program called EZAd, which creates fancy eBay listings. The listing tool is available for free at the BidRobot site. "Thousands of users were left in the lurch unfairly and with no warning." Eglinton said.
eBay's Links policy also prohibits links to "sites that solicit eBay User Ids or passwords from buyers." Since most third-party services that access eBay - those using eBay's Application Programming Interface (API) and non-API services - require that an eBay user's ID and password be entered, it could be argued that any auction containing a link to these services are also in violation of this policy.
"Instead of contacting the few dozen vendors with links in violation, eBay chose to end the auctions of thousands of our users," said Eglinton, "It isn't just sniping services that ask for a user's information, but also payment services, auction management services, and I see plenty of links to them."
A spokesperson for a company that licenses eBay's API told AuctionBytes that although their service does require a user to enter their eBay ID andpassword, their API contract stipulates that the company cannot use the information in any way, and that is how the policy is circumvented. eBay did not return messages to comment.
Many vendors and users fear that eBay will some day ban sniping services. Others fear eBay will ban all non-API licensed vendor services from the site. Other sniping services have reported having auctions pulled by eBay in the past for containing links to their sites. They now tell customers not to include links in their auction listings. And in October, eBay Germany banned automated sniping services from their Site, citing that members who "used sniping services had an "unfair advantage" over people who were sniping manually."
eBay charges fees to vendors for licensing its API and requires them to sign a contract that contains rules and restrictions on what those vendors may do. eBay does in fact prohibit companies from interfacing with its site without a license, but has not widely enforced the ban. As it continues to sign up vendors to its API program, it may just be a matter of time for those vendors who choose to hold out.
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PayPal-Related Delays on eBay
By Nikki Ballard
December 02, 2002
eBay acknowledged on Saturday, via its System Status Announcement Board, delays in its PayPal Winning Bidder Notification and Automatic Logo Insertion services. Winning Bidder Notifications may take several days to restore.
According to the announcement, "Currently, PayPal logos are inserted before the end of most listings through Automatic Listing Insertion. This service is currently delayed. We anticipate that Logo Insertion delays will be significantly reduced over the next few days. In the meantime, members may avoid these delays by selecting PayPal as a payment option on the Sell Your Item form."
No explanation was given on the cause of the delays. eBay purchased the online payment company in October and is currently integrating the service into its site.
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Online Auction Sales Analysis: 'Heisey Glass' Statistics
By David Steiner
December 02, 2002
Online Auction Sales Analysis is a regular feature that takes an in-depth look at product sales on online auction Sites. Today's Sales Analysis revisits Heisey Glass and compares them with our results on March 23, May 15, and August 18, 2002. The information was obtained by scanning all of the auctions in the "Heisey Glass" category on eBay, the largest consumer auction site, going back 15 days.
Statistics include the total number of auctions in the category, total sell-through rate and average selling price. Analysis was conducted on December 1, 2002, using HammerTap's DeepAnalysis software program.
Heisey Glass - eBay Category #1024
Number of auction listings:
March 22, 2002: 4,164
May 15, 2002: 4,538
August 18, 2002: 4,036
Dec. 1, 2002: 5,002
Sell-Through Rate:
March 22, 2002: 58%
May 15, 2002: 57%
August 18, 2002: 54.51%
Dec. 1, 2002: 53.42%
Average selling price:
March 22, 2002: $46.66
May 15, 2002: $49.36
August 18, 2002: $49.10
Dec. 1, 2002: $49.71
Today's AuctionBytes "Auction Sales Analysis" feature is sponsored by HammerTap hammertap.com
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Breakfast of (Collecting) Champions
By Nikki Ballard
December 02, 2002
File this one under Unusual Collectibles for your Gift-giving Pleasure. For only $24.95 each (plus S&H), Cereal Adventure, a family theme park based at Mall of America in Minneapolis, can take your original 4 x 6 inch photograph and superimpose it on an original Wheaties box.
Billed as the opportunity to allow sports fans, collectors and everyday champions to join the ranks of legendary athletes, orders can still be placed in time for Christmas. Check out their Web site (www.cerealadventure.com) for further details. "Cereal Adventure - where your favorite General Mills cereals come to life." (Does anybody else find that kind of creepy?)
***
Other Stories
Compiled by Nikki Ballard, AuctionBytes Contributing News Editor
The EBay logic: Even in a sagging economy, people have time to buy and sell
tinyurl.com
An analysis of what keeps eBay ticking, even in the face of the economic downturn and less than stellar success on the part of other online businesses. Covers factors predicting success on eBay's way to a goal of $3 billion in revenue by the year 2005 and in spite of missteps (Butterfields, Billpoint) taken along the way.
Eminem's Former Home Hits $13 Million on eBay
tinyurl.com
Hot property in the Winter-Water Wonderland? The rapper's former home in Warren, Michigan is currently sporting a bid of $13 million, on an original estimate of $100,000, causing eBay to post a warning that fraudulent bids will not be taken kindly. Auction closes December 14.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Manuscript Up for Sale
tinyurl.com
Three rare manuscripts from James Bond author Ian Fleming will go on the auction block in London on December 12, for this children's classic.
America Online scraps teen shopping
tinyurl.com
Users 13 to 17 years of age have been disenfranchised from shopping on AOL partner stores, including eBay and Amazon, after too many complaints about teenagers having access to alcohol, tobacco and pornography via their "parentally controlled" AOL accounts. The move comes during the particularly critical holiday shopping season and is estimated to effect about 16 million users of AOL.
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