At a national small business summit, rumors swirl about the former CEO's political ambitions.

WASHINGTON (Fortune Small Business) -- Barely two months after Meg Whitman vacated the CEO position at eBay after a 10-year run, the executive's supporters are eager to see her step into a new power-broker role. Rumors of political aspirations have long swirled around Whitman, and for a brief moment Monday before her keynote address at the National Federation of Independent Business's annual summit in Washington, D.C., it appeared that she was about to answer the call. After an introduction filled with lofty praise for Whitman's leadership abilities and speculation about where the next stage of her career might take her, NFIB CEO Todd Stottlemyer boisterously welcomed onstage "the next governor of the great state of California," as the audience's front rows erupted with "Whitman for Governor" and "California Loves Meg!!!" placards.

By Stacy Cowley

Registration is open for the second annual Online Market World 2008 Conference in San Francisco. Speakers include Kathy Ireland, Tony Hsieh of Zappos, and executives from eBay, Google and Yahoo. Topics to be addressed include: SEM and SEO; Analytics and Multivariate Testing; Business Strategy; New Media; Social Media; Market optimization strategies; Advertising; Payment and Checkout; Marketing; Risk Management; Branding; Merchandising; and Customer centricity.

By Ina Steiner

USPS Increasing Postal and Shipping Prices May 12 and Offering Shippers Discounts When Buying Select Postage Online PALO ALTO, Calif., May 5 - When United States Postal Service (USPS) increases postal prices on May 12, consumers and businesses that frequently use the USPS for shipping can save money by purchasing postage online through authorized PC Postage vendors like Endicia. In response to the price change, Endicia, a USPS-approved online postage vendor, is announcing that its full line of Internet Postage shipping solutions will be updated and streamlined to support the new prices.
To that end, Endicia is hosting a series of educational, 30-minute webinars entitled "May 12, 2008 USPS Price Change -- Endicia Makes It Easy," led by Senior Product Specialist, Mike Colegate.  Colegate explains the new discounts, USPS offerings, shipping pricing and more.

HANGZHOU, Mar 17, 2008 - Alibaba.com Ltd. has become the an accredited registrar of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), said market sources on March 13, 2008. With the license, Alibaba can provide top-level domain names for companies and individuals. And it plans to launch a new project to add a new source of charges. The company might buy the nation's major domain name service providers to provide better and more diversified services for small and medium companies, said people closed to the company.

On tradingmarkets.com

On May 12 we will adjust prices for mailing services — First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services, and Special Services. The average increase by class of mail is at or below the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. A First-Class Mail stamp will be 42¢. Customers can continue to use the Forever Stamps that they purchased prior to May 12 at 41¢, even after the price change. We will have 5 billion Forever Stamps in stock to meet increased demand before the price change. Forever Stamps are widely available through Post Offices, Contract Postal Units, consignment locations, Automated Postage Centers, vending, and at The Postal Store®. We also will have a 62¢ stamp available shortly after May 12 for 1-ounce nonmachinable First-Class Mail letters, such as square greeting cards.

USPS Announcement

A British-led team of scientists have discovered three planets which are hotter and heavier than Jupiter, but with a little bit of help from internet auction site eBay. The planets, named Wasp-3b, Wasp-4b and Wasp-5b, were found by a team led by astronomers from St Andrews University in Fife. The team used a powerful instrument fitted with 16 cameras to produce the new images but as they assembled the equipment they discovered that they were 13 lenses short and that the camera's manufacturer had discontinued the product. Luckily the scientists were able to track down the crucial £4000 lenses from a dealer in South Korea by looking on eBay.

On dailymail.co.uk

Site is testing expanded use of Make An Offer system in inventory search results.

Garden City, New York - January 16, 2007 - TIAS.com the Web's oldest and largest online antiques & collectibles mall today announced that they have begun testing of a new "Make An Offer" feature on their inventory search results pages. This new option is now displayed in the site wide search results, giving shoppers the option to either purchase an item immediately or "Make An Offer" to sellers that offer this option.

A former executive at online auctioneer eBay Inc. has come out of a short-lived retirement to take a job leading Silicon Valley startup LiveOps, which contracts with companies to handle customer service and sales calls. Maynard Webb, 51, left his position as eBay's chief operating officer in August after seven years with the company. He previously served as chief information officer of PC maker Gateway Inc.

On businessweek.com

Online Electronics Wholesale is growing at a rate of 20% annually, and China Trade is exploding even faster. Portland, OR 11/4/2006 7:32 PM GMT (FINDITT) China is a planet of factories, smog and cheap factory workers. And, oh yea, trade companies that have websites. While many articles on the net have talked about the "limited" growth models of sourcing sites that link buyers with trade companies and not process or broker the final transaction, they don't provide another secure online payment wholesale website that fills the void that sites like Alibaba and GlobalSources.com do not.

Just when buyers and sellers online thought there were few alternatives to higher priced online auction sites, ejzBids Auctions comes to the rescue with the launch of our new low cost online Internet auction site.

Enables More Efficient Buying and Tailored Customer Service through Targeted Campaign Management Option

NARBERTH, Pa.-March 6, 2006--SteelSalvor, the only Web-based steel industry- focused auction and marketing solutions site, today announced the launch of its redesigned Web site. Designed in conjunction with Boston-based RainCastle Communications, the upgraded site will provide a more efficient mechanism for buying or selling desired lots of prime, excess, and secondary steel through online auction, and enable more direct customer service. Additionally, the site will enable direct customer service with a campaign management option, allowing users to complete a profile and receive targeted emails about auctions specific to their interests.

New York, USA- Payloadz Inc. announced today that it will take advantage of a recent announcement by eBay to ease current restrictions and allow for the download of digital goods and services. Payloadz will integrate seamlessly with any PayPal account to enable eBay sellers to offer digital goods for sale fro their web site or online auction.

Examples given by eBay of permissible downloads are: MP3 files of an original song, written and recorded by the seller, an eBook of recipes, or computer software created by the seller.