A bad economy and competition from big e-tailers are challenging those who make a living via online marketplaces such as eBay, Craigslist, and Etsy.

Ann Wood was thrilled last January when her eBay (EBAY) store, Willow-Wear, had its best month ever, grossing around $33,000. In February, however, Wood experienced a sharp drop-off in sales. Since 2004, Wood has run the home-based business, listing and selling high-end jewelry, clothing, shoes, bags, and antiques for more than 40 clients around the country. She works four to six hours a day, and had sales of about $250,000 in 2007, she says.

"I've still got steady sales and I'm making money for my clients," Wood says, "but I've been seeing more caution from buyers on the items priced for $1,000 and over. People are being smart. They're acting like my husband and I are trying to act, which is to be more careful about purchases and not buying everything we want."

"Pay to Play"
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Overstock.com told users on its discussion boards it would be naming a new Director of Auctions in 1 to 2 weeks. The announcement will coincide with the relaunch of the discussion boards, which will become available to all members of Overstock.com sitewide. Overstock will integrate the Auctions Forums into the new community site and will condense the existing discussions into six forums. In addition to the new Director of Auctions, there will be a new Community Moderator.

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US Representative Brad Ellsworth of Indiana introduced legislation on Tuesday that would make organized retail crime a federal offense and would make marketplaces like eBay more accountable for stolen goods listed on their sites. The National Retail Federation (NRF) issued a press release applauding legislation and said this week's ruling in the Tiffany-eBay counterfeiting case, which eBay won, demonstrated that current laws are not adequate to police online marketplaces.

NRF Vice President for Loss Prevention Joseph LaRocca said, "A significant portion of this bill deals with on-line fencing of stolen goods. On-line auctions and other markets on the Internet provide a Wild West environment where thieves can re-sell stolen property to customers on a national or even international level with virtually no questions asked."

House Resolution 6491, the Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008, was introduced on Tuesday and was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. The text of the bill is not yet available online. According to the NRF:
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CNN: CEO Says EBay On Track Despite Auction Concerns

EBay Inc. (EBAY) Chief Executive John Donahoe said Wednesday the e-commerce giant was on track to boost growth in its core auction business, despite disappointing year-over-year growth in some key metrics that pushed the company's shares lower.

"We are seeing some early, encouraging signs from the changes we're making," Donahoe told analysts on a conference call after the company reported slightly better than expected second-quarter results, but issued a disappointing third- quarter outlook.

EBay, which earlier this year announced steps to restart growth in its main auction business, said second-quarter marketplace revenue was up 13%, half the growth rate from a year ago. The value of goods sold on eBay sites, known as gross merchandise volume or GMV, was up 8% to $15.7 billion, but down from a 12% hike last year.

The company said GMV was dramatically impacted by lower average selling prices, which fell in part because economic weakness was driving consumers to buy lower-priced items.

But eBay said new listings on its sites were up 19% year over year, and the number of active users grew 1% from the same period last year.

Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan noted the company increased guidance for the rest of the year and he stressed that it was focused on driving traffic to its sites, which it will be able to monetize not only through listing and sales fees, but also th ...

eBay profits up 22 percent on listing gains

It's not a bad week for eBay.

First the company defended itself successfully against a trademark lawsuit filed by jeweler Tiffany, and now the company has said that profits jumped 22 percent from last year. None of this impressed Wall Street much.

The Web's largest online auctioneer said after the close of trading Wednesday that second-quarter net earnings grew to $460.3 million, or 35 cents a share, up from $375.8 million a year ago. The boost came from an increase in item listings and sales growth at the company's PayPal division.

The company's share price closed up 4.5 percent to $28.10, but surrendered the gains following the earnings report. The stock fell more than 7 percent to $26.10 in in after-hours trading.

Apparently, investors were less than enthused with eBay's third-quarter outlook. Excluding some costs, eBay predicted that it will report a profit between 39 cents and 41 cents a share, on sales of about $2.15 billion.

Analysts had expected earnings of 41 cents on revenue of $2.17 billion.

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eBay UK pimps users' privacy for targeted ads
When opt out means locked out
By John Oates
Published Wednesday 16th July 2008 11:46 GMT


eBay users in the UK will start seeing adverts targeting them based on the kind of items they view and bid for while browsing the online tat-house.

And if they don't want their info being used to target ads, their only option seems to be to leave the online marketplace altogether, according to an email announcing the changes.

The Phorm-style service is dubbed AdChoice in the US, where it is provided by Tacoda, which also works with various other sites including Ebookers, AP.com, CNN, HowStuffWorks.com and WallStreetJournal.com.

AdChoice is launching in the UK this month, though it is not yet clear whether Tacoda will be the supplier here.

From 13 July, new users, will be served "relevant" ads. The service is opt-out - if you don't like it you must change your eBay account preferences.

Existing eBay users should already have received an email warning them of the changes, which will come in from from 13 August.

The change comes in the last paragraph of a lengthy marketing email from eBay.

Under the heading "*Customising Your eBay Experience*" the email said: "You'll notice a new preference now available in My eBay -: named AdChoice -: that lets you tell us whether you want us to use the information we have about you to customize the ads you see. You'll be able to sign in and change your advertising preferences in My eBay at any time. In some cases, we may also use information from other companies to select the right audiences for our promotions."



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