Further News
+ Apple’s voice recognition feature, Siri will eventually be used for online shopping according to it’s patent.
+ Will e-commerce be caught in the crosshairs of SOPA and PIPA?
+ According to a survey, mobile shoppers prefer browser-based commerce to apps.

Posts From the Week
+ NRF 2012 Mobile Payments Panel Recap; [VIDEO] 5 Minutes with PayPal’s Don Kingsborough
+ eBay Inc. Reports Strong Q4 and Full Year 2011 Results
+ PayPal mobile payments pilot at 51 Home Depot stores
+ [VIDEO INTERVIEW] eBay CEO, John Donahoe, on CNBC
+ Check out the all-new Green.eBay.com!
+ A full recap of eBay Inc. at NRF 2012

Looking Back on eBay Ink
January 19, 2010: eBay Improves on Top 20 NRF Ranking for Customer Service in 2009. According to the fifth annual NRF Foundation/American Express Customers’ Choice survey, eBay is ranked #12 overall for customer service in 2009 (up 2 from #14 in 2008).

Consumers answered the open ended question, “Thinking of all the different retail formats (store, catalog, internet, or home shopping), which retailer delivers the best customer service?”

Like I said when I wrote about this last year, it is the individual sellers on the eBay marketplace that should be commended for achieving this high ranking. After all, they’re the ones providing the customer service to consumers on a daily basis.

eBay Ink Weekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

Further News
+ Bodymetrics is a new 3D mapping system lets you try on clothes virtually.
+ Experts weigh in on the impact of mobile shopping on online sellers.
+ Women are more likely than men to purchase electronics.
+ Why is Monday e-Retailers’ favorite day of the week?

Posts From the Week
+ At a glance: eBay Inc. at NRF 2012
+ [VIDEO] 5 Minutes with eBay Inc. CEO, John Donahoe
+ eBay Inc. at NRF 2012 – The floor plan
+ John Donahoe: “eBay Mobile GMV will surpass $8 Billion in 2012”
+ eBay Inc. at CES 2012 – Day 1 recap
+ At a glance: eBay Inc. at CES 2012

Looking Back on eBay Ink
January 6, 2011: Notes from the Road: eBay Ink at #CES. The Lounge is set up for demos of our barcode scanning tools and the integration of RedLaser with eBay Mobile. It is great to see so much RedLaser activity happening at the show. Even the coffee cup sleeves from Starbucks have QR
Codes on them for use with the RedLaser technology…The RedLaser SCANenger Hunt

An interesting promotional activity to attract more attendees into the booth for demos and education is the RedLaser “SCANenger Hunt” that invites attendees to download the RedLaser app onto their mobile phone and then scan special QR codes located throughout the three main convention halls as they follow a QR Code scavenger hunt. Upon the successful completion of the hunt, attendees are then entered to win a free Apple MacBook Air. It took me approximately 60 minutes to complete the hunt (there are 5 clues along the way) but I think 30-40 minutes is a more realistic timeframe given that I kept stopping to say hi to folks along the way.

The PepCom Digital Experience Demos
Last night was the annual Pepcom Digital Experience. Held each January on the evening before CES opens, Digital Experience! showcases the latest innovations in consumer electronics and computers. eBay Mobile was on-hand to demonstrate a number of its apps including the RedLaser application. Here is some behind the scenes footage from the event…

eBay Ink Weekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

PayPal Offering Location-Based Deals
PayPal will be entering the daily deal marketing in early 2012. The product will focus on mobile deals with alerts sent to smartphones when in close proximity to stores hosting deals that day and will cater to the customer. Scott Thompson, PayPal President, promises, “We’ll only give you something that we think fits the category of unique and relevant. Everyone else is going to bombard you.” The company will partner with some of the country’s top merchants such as, BestBuy and Target, who already use PayPal for transactions. [via Bloomberg]

Further News
+ Free shipping has become a necessary evil for online retailers and could boost shipping companies.
+ Psychologists have identified six elements to social shop.
+ Holiday shoppers ride the rainbow with black Friday, green Monday and more.
+ What happens when smartphones and smart shoppers combine?

Posts From the Week

• StubHub Acquires Zvents
• eBay Launches its First UK Pop-Up Shop in London

Looking Back on eBay Ink
December 15, 2010: eBay acquires mobile app developer, Critical Path Software. Less than 2 weeks after the company announced the acquisition of Milo.com, eBay has announced it has acquired Critical Path Software, a leading mobile app developer that has worked with eBay for over 2 years on a wide array of mobile apps coming out of the company including the eBay for iPhone app, StubHub, eBay Classifieds and Shopping.com iPhone apps.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

I was fortunate enough to get Steve Romero, Critical Path president and founder, and Steve Yankovich, VP of eBay Mobile, together to chat about the acquisition and how the teams will be working together moving forward. Exciting stuff indeed…

eBay Ink Weekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

Online Shoppers Prefer PayPal
“The Converged Lifestyle”, a global report by financial advisory firm KPMG, found UK shoppers were more apt to use PayPal while purchasing online. Looking at online shopping habits of 10,000 adults from 31 countries, the study found that Paypal has surpassed credit cards as the preferred method of online payment. [via Finance Times]

Further News
+ Starbucks leads the mobile payment battle, with more than 26 million purchases have been made using Starbucks’ mobile apps.
+ Free shipping leads customers to break record online shopping numbers for three consecutive days.
+ How to use LinkedIn effectively for your e-commerce business.
+ Is “Free Shipping Day” more profitable than Black Friday?
+ Predictions for 2012 mobile commerce trends.

Posts From the Week

• Updates to RedLaser for Android; introducing RedLaser for Windows Phone 7; and Scan to Win with RedLaser Games

Looking Back on eBay Ink
December 8, 2010: Global Green USA recognizes the eBay Green Team with its 11th Annual Sustainable Design Awards. eBay CEO, John Donahoe, was on hand in New York on Monday at the Global Green USA 11th Annual Sustainable Design Awards to accept the Organizational Design Award on behalf of the eBay Green Team. The Organizational Design Award honors groups that take a leadership role in effecting positive environmental change.

The eBay Green Team started with 40 employees back in May of 2007 and grew to 2,400 employees in 23 countries by 2009 (I became an eBay Green Team member in 2008 and have enjoyed participating in a number of initiatives over the past couple of years). Since opening up to the public, the eBay Green Team has grown to nearly 300,000 volunteers. You can check out a full video overview of the eBay Green Team below.

eBay Ink Weekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

PayPal Launches App, Send Money
The PayPal Send Money app allows users to easily send money to Facebook friends. Facebook has more than 800 million active users, and a large percentage of them have active PayPal accounts. To make transactions, simply choose an ecard, a friend to send it to, and then select how much money to send. [via GigaOm]

Further News
+ Social shopping applications are going to change the way people shop online
+ What is the impact of social commerce on brands?
+ Are tablets and smartphones designed for couch potatoes?

Looking Back on eBay Ink
November 23, 2010: eBay Topaz Data Center Achieves LEED Gold. eBay opened its Topaz data center earlier this year. Topaz stands as a centerpiece of a multi-year plan to consolidate eBay’s data center footprint from a number of co-located facilities to fewer eBay-owned, operated, and managed centers. Our data centers make up more that 50% of our global power usage.

eBay Ink Weekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

PayPal’s Android App Receives Update
PayPal has updated its Android app to give those with a Near Field Communication (NFC) device a reason to use the new features. PayPal’s NFC money transfer feature has been the most talked about since first introduced at Mobile Beat 2011. The new feature allows users to transfer funds by bumping smartphones. To use the feature, the user must add the new PayPal Request Money widget, which comes with the new app on their Android home screens. The user then enters amount of money to be transferred and taps the two phones together. The other user will instantly receive a notification about the transfer and by entering their PayPal password, the transaction is finalized. PayPal has also added other new features its Android app, including a refined interface and address book auto-completion when sending money. [via Venture Beat]

Further News
+ Studies shows early adopters of social media are showing signs of fatigue.
+ Incentives become crucial for mobile device purchases this holiday season.
+ Retailers capitalizing on holiday crazed fans, releasing deals before this Black Friday holiday.

A Week Ahead
I will be hosting the first ever #eBayChat on Twitter with @Vistaprint‘s social media team, @jeffespo and @jaykeith. Join us on Twitter using #eBayChat on Tuesday, November 15 at 12pm PST to discuss e-commerce, social commerce, social media and more.

Looking Back on eBay Ink
eBay launches holiday season campaigns all aimed at those of us who “Love to Give”. The campaign is centered around one thing – eBay and the Holidays. Specifically, the concept of “Love to Give” and this week, eBay has launched a number of ways in which people can shop, give and share their holiday experiences. For more information, visit eBay’s holiday homepage at http://gifts.ebay.com.

eBay Ink Weekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

PayPal Shows Off New NFC Payment Options
Last week we covered the opening of PayPal’s inspiration shop. This week, PayPal opened stations in the store to demonstrate how PayPal will enable multi-channel payments by its users in-store and on their mobile devices. PayPal’s head of mobile payments, Laura Chambers, stated “PayPal was pushing its own solution that didn’t require merchants to buy any new NFC hardware.” PayPal is working to provide comprehensive tools that help retailers and customers choose which payment option works best for them. [via GigaOM]

Further News
+ Small businesses get the chance to go school to learn social media.
+ Fashion brands are driving the next waves of innovation in eCommerce.
+ Social media trends to watch in 2012.

Looking Back on eBay Ink
November 4, 2010: The folks behind the VideoGame PriceCharts blog solicited questions from readers that they then sent to eBay for response. They then took all of the answers provided by eBay and put together the visually striking and informative infographic below:

eBay Ink Weekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

PayPal Opens Store in NYC
The PayPal Shopping Showcase is a pop-up store demonstrating the use of the PayPal payment card. The new technology allows customers to pay for merchandise in stores from their mobile devices. By a simple click of the PayPal button, customer’s can choose the option of mailing their purchase to their home from the store. Jamie Patricio, a PayPal spokeswoman said, “the focal point is to showcase some of the tools and technologies that are going to be debuting over the next few months.” [via The New York Observer]

Further News
+ Mobile phones are increasingly becoming the primary platform to access the Internet.
+ Industry analysts are predicting a good 2011 holiday shopping season for retailers.
+ Social media driving the growth of e-commerce in India

Looking Back on eBay Ink
November 1, 2010: eBay has launched eBay Group Gifts, a new way of shopping/giving on eBay allows users to pitch-in towards the same item together in an effort to give a “group gift” to a friend or family member. You can follow eBay Group Gifts on Twitter: @ebaygroupgifts and share personal stories using the hashtag #groupgifts.

eBay Ink Weekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

eBay and Jonathan Adler Launch “The eBay Inspiration Shop”
The Inspiration Shop, a shoppable eBay storefront open around the clock in New York City launched this week showcasing a variety of fall merchandise. Interactive store windows featuring new fall must-haves gives shoppers access to a “anytime, anywhere, anyhow” shopping experience. The store windows utilize eBay’s mobile technology, allowing buyers to shop instantly, shoppers can also download eBay’s mobile app to their phones and scan QR codes for products, which takes them directly to eBay’s marketplace [via Huffington Post]

Further News
+ Take a look at this infographic on what social commerce is and how it works.
+ Will online and offline commerce become one and the same in the near future?
+ Mobile commerce to increase by 55% in next five years.

Looking Back on eBay Ink
October 21, 2010: I interviewed Neal Sample, New VP of Architecture for eBay in a video series titled, “8 Minutes with…”. Neal Sample has joined the company as vice president of architecture for eBay Marketplaces. Neal will lead platform architecture strategy for the company, managing the design and delivery of eBay’s platform efforts and further integrating eBay’s range of components – including eBay mobile, Open eBay developer program, cloud computing and social commerce – into the eBay.com platform infrastructure.

eBay Ink Weekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

eBay Brings Image Recognition Technology to Mobile Phones
eBay users will soon be able to snap a photo on their mobile phone of items they wish to find on eBay. The feature which will roll out by the end of next year, will allow users to take pictures of items and scroll through similar items available for sale on eBay.com. [via USA Today]

Further News
+ Gear up for the holiday rush on your e-commerce website.
+ The rise of tablets has increased mobile shopping.
+ Steve Jobs changed the e-commerce landscape.

Looking Back on eBay Ink
October 18, 2010: Fox Business kicked off its “Three Days in the Valley” specials today and a number of CEOs descended on eBay’s North campus to be a part of it. eBay CEO, John Donahoe, was interviewed (below) and reiterated the assertion that PayPal will be bigger than eBay in the future… the “MINT” building (Building 17), “The Greenest Building in San Jose” also got some love.

eBay Ink Weekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.