AuctionWire

New Infopia Team Brings Extensive Service Offerings to Online Merchants SALT LAKE CITY, May 6 - Infopia, the industry leader in online, multi-channel selling solutions, announced today that it has launched a new Professional Services group. The new group offers services and solutions that address a wide range of eCommerce on-ramping and growth challenges faced by online merchants today. Infopia Professional Services works collaboratively with merchants to develop strategies that increase sales and foster customer loyalty across all online selling channels. The group provides assistance with multi-channel growth planning, online branding, and search marketing, as well as rapid implementation of Infopia's award-winning eCommerce platform.

Is it worth trying to sell domain names on eBay? An experiment with Headcase.com. Everyone knows that eBay's domain name auctions are full of junk. I personally don't spend any time looking for domains there. But recently there have been some high profile domain auctions on the site. There are also new tools to sift through the junky domains and find winners. I've decided to give eBay another shot, but this time as a seller. And with a good domain, not some piece of junk. My experience listing the domain - Headcase.com - reminds me why eBay isn't set up to be a domain seller.

On domainnamewire.com

Among the strange business bedfellows of Silicon Valley, none may be stranger - and more estranged - than Craigslist and eBay. Executives at the two companies have barely been on speaking terms for the past year. It's been called a David and Goliath story - except Goliath never accused his rival of cheating. "At investment conferences, people keep asking . . . how are you going to make lots of money?" Craigslist founder Craig Newmark told television interviewer Charlie Rose last year. "And we say, 'Hey, not interested.' Because once you are living well, and maybe providing for your future, what's the point in more?"

By Scott Duke Harris

If you wondered whether sellers had legitimate concerns over eBay's new PayPal-only policy in Australia, you need only read Kevin Tyerman's submission to that country's Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to understand the issues they believe are at stake. Tyerman's 7-page document - complete with footnotes and citations - is accessible on the ACCC website along with about 350 others, many of them from eBay sellers. Tyerman's concerns include fears that consumers who don't wish to use PayPal will stop making purchases on eBay Australia, leading to a negative impact on sales; and that sellers will not be protected in multiple-item and local pick-up transactions. Tyerman is also skeptical that PayPal is more secure than others methods, citing PayPal technical problems.

By Ina Steiner

eBay's unique visitors and page views were down in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the same period last year. However, time spent on the site per person increased, according to data provided by Nielsen Online. Page views on the site showed an 11.3% drop year-over-year (YoY) in Q1-2008, dropping from 42 billion page views to 37.2 billion page views. Unique audience declined nearly 7%, dropping from 182.6 million in Q1-2007 to 170 million in Q1-2008. Interestingly, the average time spent on the site per visitor increased nearly 12 percent YoY in 2008.

By Ina Steiner