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EBay Drops Charges for Developers Network

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the free-does-seem-to-be-more-popular dept.

Rob writes "Seeking to make its presence in third-party rebranded commerce applications more ubiquitous, eBay Inc is lifting all of its API and transaction charges for developers. It's the latest action a series of moves to expand the eBay developer community. Last summer, the company opened up a collaborative website, the eBay Community Codebase, to provide a hosted project developer site for anyone willing to open source their code."

101 comments

  1. They were suing? by SirChris · · Score: 0, Insightful

    I didn't even know they were suing them. Not a great way to get developers to help you out.

    1. Re:They were suing? by Red+Flayer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      RTFA.

      Not civil charges, not criminal charges. No lawsuit. Usage charges, you know... fees. What it costs you to access, use, or purchase something. In this case, FTA: "Its now-discontinued fee schedule ranged from $1.25 to $2.90 per thousand calls to the eBay engine, and annual membership fees ranging from $500 to $5,000"

      As opposed to Amazon.com, FTA: "Amazon does not charge for use of web services interfaces to its core merchant site. Instead, it incentives such as customer referral commissions."

      Though it should be noted that Amazon does charge "$0.00015 for each hit to the search engine beyond the 10,000-free transaction per month threshold" via Alexa Internet Services.

      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    2. Re:They were suing? by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · · Score: 1

      That's what I thought when I first read the headline too.

      --

      Technoli
    3. Re:They were suing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With the state of western society today, it's not hard to misread a title like that...

    4. Re:They were suing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, there's no excuse for posting a comment without RTFA, or at least RTFS. The OP was chasing a FP, I know, but what a waste.

  2. A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by Shayde · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is a huge plus for everyone involved. Much of eBay's usefulness as a remotely accessible database resource has been nullified due to these annoying charges. Without having a fee associated with access to their very own information, eBay is really opening up for third party developers to generate decent applications, rather than hav eto depend on scraping the HTML to get functionality. I've used JBidWatcher a lot for sniping, which relies on HTML scraping, and I'm glad we can move away from that.

    And before folks start going on about sniping, eBays very own policies make sniping the -only- way to do business on ebay with any effectiveness. Becaused they won't implement the simple policy of extending an auction based on most recent bid (a very simple solution to the problem of sniping, and one that would be an elegant, simple, and beneficial solution to eveyrone), sniping is now 'de rigeur' for any auction.

    --
    Event Management Solutions : http://www.stonekeep.com/
    1. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by ergo98 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Without having a fee associated with access to their very own information, eBay is really opening up for third party developers to generate decent applications, rather than hav eto depend on scraping the HTML to get functionality.

      Shouldn't these "decent applications" have enough of a revenue model to pay for the access fees? I don't know what sort of coin Ebay was charging, but such a "barrier to entry" often keeps the standards high - every dimwit that knows how to call a webservice can toss together some piece of junk to waste everyone's time. Instead it's usually built around even a marginal business, and it's just a cost of doing business in that market.

      If Ebay is doing this, it's likely because they're worried about auction competitors, so they want to lock as much of the development community in.

      and before folks start going on about sniping, eBays very own policies make sniping the -only- way to do business on ebay with any effectiveness. Becaused they won't implement the simple policy of extending an auction based on most recent bid (a very simple solution to the problem of sniping, and one that would be an elegant, simple, and beneficial solution to eveyrone), sniping is now 'de rigeur' for any auction.

      Totally offtopic, but all of this sniping nonsense just proves how ridiculous people treat an auction like ebay (which usually leads them to grossly overpay). I've bid, and won, a couple of Ebay items through the magical technique of deciding how much it's worth to me, and putting that amount in their little autobidding system. If someone exceeds my amount - well that's more than I would have paid anyways, so it's no skin off my back. I'm certainly not going to get into any competitive BS and overpay just to win an auction. There is no logical explanation for last-second bidding except for irrational competitiveness undermining rational valuation.

    2. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by JFitzsimmons · · Score: 1

      The point of sniping is that you put your maximum bid into your magical sniping program, which refrains from bidding until the last 30 seconds. It bids the minimum amount, or your maximum, whichever is lower.

      --
      Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. -Anonymous
    3. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by Shayde · · Score: 4, Insightful

      RE: the sniping argument. What you said is totally accurate, but in reality doesn't work quite that way.

      People like buying things for less than they're willing to pay. That one fact alone is why sniping works. "I'm -willing- to pay $50 for this item, but damn I'd be excited as git out to pay $35." - if that $35 bid holds, I'll be a lot more interested in getting the item than I would be if it were $50. That's why sniping works. The difference between 'willing' and 'excited about'.

      If sniping were removed, this dynamic would change, and things would work as you suggest. Prices would walk up to the comfort level and stay there. I'm comfortable paying $50, you're comfortable paying $45. Things end, I win.

      --
      Event Management Solutions : http://www.stonekeep.com/
    4. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by lowrydr310 · · Score: 1
      Why bother to snipe? Why don't people enter their actual maximum bid in the max bid box. Use your brain when you are buying something and determine how much you really want to pay instead of trying to snipe just because you become attached to a particular item.

      I really don't understand the mentality of a lot of eBay bidders. I sold a one year old DJ mixer ($250) and a well used Ham radio ($200) on ebay for only $20-$30 less than what brand new units were selling for. I'd rather pay extra and buy something brand new from a reputable retailer.

    5. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by ergo98 · · Score: 1

      People like buying things for less than they're willing to pay. That one fact alone is why sniping works. "I'm -willing- to pay $50 for this item, but damn I'd be excited as git out to pay $35." - if that $35 bid holds, I'll be a lot more interested in getting the item than I would be if it were $50. That's why sniping works. The difference between 'willing' and 'excited about'.

      This makes no sense. If two people are competing for an item, and they both rely on sniping, and one is willing to pay $45 and the other is willing to pay $50, then the sniping $50 person will win. If, on the other hand, you bid a max of $50, but the current bid is $35, and no one else bids, then it will sell for $35.

      In fact the snipers are often shooting themselves in the foot with their technique (I've watched this quite a few times) - an item unnaturally low up until the end, such as what happens with several snipers, invariably gets a LOT of attention: Everyone notices that super video card "going for" $20. Suddenly you have 10 super-snipers all trying for their max, and in the competitive spirit usually more, in the last seconds. Compare that to simply bidding the item up to a reasonable level earlier - far less attention, and it's far more likely that you'll actually get it for less.

    6. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by sydb · · Score: 1

      If someone exceeds my amount - well that's more than I would have paid anyways

      eBay publish the current winning bid for the duration of the auction. There is a temptation on bidders to bid more than the current winning bid. This can drive up item price.

      Sniping is about reducing this effect to the benefit of the best sniper (who bids the maximum they are willing to pay as close the end of the auction as possible). It's not about paying more than your maximum It's about controlling market information to the benefit of the buyers. All buyers should snipe. May the best sniper win!

      --
      Yours Sincerely, Michael.
    7. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by mopslik · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In fact the snipers are often shooting themselves in the foot with their technique ... - an item unnaturally low up until the end

      Again, this is why sniping works. With a few exceptions, other snipers aren't putting in their max bids. They're putting in bids a few bucks more than the current price, trying to get the best deal. The one or two people that put in the max bids at the last second are the winners, barring any overly-competitive bidders as you suggest.

    8. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by Misch · · Score: 3, Informative

      I've looked through their web services API specification and there's no automated bidding possible.

      FAQ
      We currently don't allow bidding through the general API. Although it is possible to look into that on a case by case approach. If you are interested contact [cut address] with some background information on your company and what you want to build.

      --

      --You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
    9. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by B3ryllium · · Score: 1

      I read something in an article a few weeks ago wherin the average (not too bright) eBay bidder was likened to a bidder at an "English" auction, where the bid continually creeps up to the final selling price once no one is willing to pay more for it.

      However, that's *not* the kind of auction that eBay is. eBay is a sealed second-price auction/Vickrey auction. That means that the highest bid wins, regardless of when it arrived. If something had an opening price of $1, and someone bid $100 for it, they would still win even if someone tried to snipe at $50 for it.

      However, when people fail to realize that eBay bids on their behalf, they choose to befuddle their lives by continually re-bidding in small increments. Sometimes they get caught up in the perceived passion of The Hunt for The Win, and that just leads to all kinds of Stupid. These are the victims of Snipers, simply because they were playing the wrong kind of auction strategy.

      People who use a strategy befitting a sealed second-price auction don't become victims of snipers, they simply become a victim of a higher sealed-price bid. The timing of the bid is irrelevant. If they feel maligned in any way, they can be comforted in the thought that they forced the winner to pay one bid increment higher than their maximum bid.

    10. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by addbo · · Score: 1

      I've been sniped on auctions of high priced cameras for 5 cents... There really should be a minimum bid increment that they have the surpass instead of just having the luck of outbidding your maximum bid by pennies for items worth thousands... (In fact their maximum should have to be at least one bid increment higher than my maximum for them to get it... )

      Addbo

    11. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by B3ryllium · · Score: 1

      As a sealed second-price bid, you never know what *their* maximum bid was. The selling price will always-always-always be one ebay auto-bidder bid increment higher than the second highest bidder's maximum bid. Anything else should probably be reported to eBay as a bug in their bidding code. :)

    12. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By my definition, those people who bid late but still try to outbid others, and maybe even bid multiple times because they themselves were outbid, aren't snipers, but just late bidders. Essentially they are the ones that not only make sniping efficient, they turn it into a neccessity. Real snipers put in their maximum bid, submit that at the latest time possible and do not start any bidding wars with others.

    13. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by pr0nbot · · Score: 1

      Yahoo auctions (remember them?) had a system whereby an auction would be extended by 5 minutes past the most recent bid. This would kill sniping to a large extent. I can only assume that eBay have done the maths and decided they will make more money by allowing more auctions to be sniped than fewer items to sell for more.

    14. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by Kitsuneymg · · Score: 1

      Doesn't the autobid system do this for you? I say my max bid is $50. The current bid is $25. If someone bids $35, then autobid bids $36 (or whatever) for me up until $50. If no one else bids my low bid of $25 stands and that's all I have to pay. Correct?

    15. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by DDLKermit007 · · Score: 1

      Yes it can and I personaly never put in my max. A person may put in thier "hope bid" of $35 and if they don't get it? Big whoopty-do. Theres certainly going to be another item ending in an hour or less thats the exact same thing. Why not try again then? If I wanted to pay too much for something I'd just go down to a B&M and just pay what they are asking.

    16. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      About 5 years ago as a freshman in college I began writing what would become, in a matter of 6 months, the largest commerical sniping website available (still is). We made gobs of money and life was good (for a short while). Now there are about 50 of them -- and they still use (and will continue to use) screen-scraping to place bids. The eBay Developers API _DOES NOT_ contain bidding functionality (or, if it does, it's new...and I'm surprised). Their API is primarily oriented towards seller tools. I have been using eBay's API for development since about 2001. The best sniping sites will be able to do is use the GetItem() API call to better verify the status of a snipe. This tended to be problematic from time to time when scraping, especially when eBay changed their HTML and your regexs broke.

    17. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What you said doesn't make any sense. Using the Ebay Autobid feature does the same exact thing as sniping so sniping is pointless.

    18. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by mopslik · · Score: 1

      I say my max bid is $50. If someone bids $35, then autobid bids $36 ... for me up until $50. If no one else bids my low bid of $25 stands and that's all I have to pay.

      Yes, but see my other comment here. Essentially, if you enter your max bid right away, you have a greater chance of reaching your max bid than if you slip it in toward the end of the auction, because a large amount of bidders will bid low amount instead of their maxes. You'll never go over your max, and you have a greater chance of getting the item for cheaper.

      In your example, you bid $50 max, and can get bumped up pretty quickly. If you defer this to the end, there's a better chance you can get the item for, say, $40 after others try to snipe it for $35, $36, $37, etc.

    19. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by ergo98 · · Score: 1

      In your example, you bid $50 max, and can get bumped up pretty quickly. If you defer this to the end, there's a better chance you can get the item for, say, $40 after others try to snipe it for $35, $36, $37, etc.

      Honestly I think the sniping community is working on entirely unscientific guesses. To add my own unscientific guess, based upon auctions I've been involved with - the exact opposite is actually true. If two people hit a digital camera early, and one is willing to spend $250, and the other is willing to spend $275, then the bid will shoot up to $250. All of the sniping "super good deal" followers likely won't even notice this auction, and the ending will be a fairly quiet affair (I look for these sorts of auctions). Compare this to the auction where the camera sits at the minimum bid until 5 minutes before the close - It has 30 watchers, all of whom want a piece of this super rich deal. The probability that one of them is willing to spend more, given the high amount of attention, is vastly increased.

      Seriously, if someone did a real statistical analysis on it, I would wager - with a great deal of confidence - that "snipers" are fooling themselves, and that as a technique it is a disadvantage.

    20. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by dubl-u · · Score: 1

      Becaused they won't implement the simple policy of extending an auction based on most recent bid (a very simple solution to the problem of sniping, and one that would be an elegant, simple, and beneficial solution to eveyrone), sniping is now 'de rigeur' for any auction.

      Have they ever said why they won't do that? I've always wondered.

    21. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by JohnnyLocust · · Score: 1

      I've used JBidWatcher a lot for sniping, which relies on HTML scraping, and I'm glad we can move away from that.

      Unfortunately eBay's API is not allowed to be used for sniping software. (or at least it wasn't as of 2 months ago)

      --
      Havoc Video
    22. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by mopslik · · Score: 1

      Honestly I think the sniping community is working on entirely unscientific guesses.

      Well, yes. There's nothing scientific about it, just past experiences and an understanding of human nature. All from a limited sample, of course.

      Compare this to the auction where the camera sits at the minimum bid until 5 minutes before the close - It has 30 watchers, all of whom want a piece of this super rich deal. The probability that one of them is willing to spend more, given the high amount of attention, is vastly increased.

      I know that experiences differ from person to person, but in my case, it's the exact opposite. If something sits low for the longest time, I find that more people bid at the end, but they all place low bids. When something is slowly increasing in price, people tend to go with the flow, and steadily increase their own bids. Thus a $5 camera might jump to $200 in a few seconds, but the same $5 camera with steady bidding will creep to $300 over a few days.

      I have witnessed it several times, and sniping your max bid is almost invariably the way to win and save. If everyone bid their max amount from the start, what you say would be true. But they don't. I see on a regular basis auctions with bid histories that look like this:

      SUPER-MAGIC-VIDEO-CARD
      07-Nov-05 12:05 $ 1.00 user1 (starting bid)
      08-Nov-05 13:53 $ 2.00 user2
      08-Nov-05 13:55 $ 5.00 user2
      07-Nov-05 12:05 $ 6.00 user1
      14-Nov-05 11:58 $11.00 user2
      14-Nov-05 11:58 $12.00 user3
      14-Nov-05 11:59 $13.00 user4
      14-Nov-05 11:59 $14.00 user5
      14-Nov-05 11:59 $15.00 user2
      14-Nov-05 12:00 $16.00 user6 (sold)

      user6 wins by sniping a max bid of $40 at the end, and wins it for $16. user1 likely gave up after his max bid of $10 was exceeded. user2-5 are too inexperienced to enter max bids, and keep bidding $1 more.

      At least, that's been my experience ~95% of the time. I did, in fact, win my video card this way. YMMV.

      I think that this little comment by sydb gives a good explanation as to why this is the case.

      Seriously, if someone did a real statistical analysis on it...

      I'd be interested in that result as well, and how it compares to, say, an empirical study of N auctions, where N is some random sampling of high-ticket items. I'm curious as to whether my hunches are more applicable to certain items, or to certain price ranges.

    23. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by Teddy+Beartuzzi · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The reason sniping works is that bidder's idea of the max they will pay varies over time. For example, I am resolute, and do enter my max of $50 on day 1. Current price is $10.

      Some guy comes along with the same max in mind, thinks "hey, good deal, I'll try $20". They bid, price goes to $21, I'm still the leader. They think "Well, I'm willing to go as high as $50", so try again. They bid $40, price goes to $41, I still lead. Now it's "Damn. Ok, I'll go my max, $50..." They bid $50, I still lead because I was first, price is $50.

      And here's the problem. The guy's next move is invariably "Son of a bitch. OK, I REALLY want this thing, I'll go $55." Auction fever sets in, and he raises his high beyond where it was initially.

      Ok, in this case I didn't win the auction and can try again on a different item, but it's also just as common that a guy had an initial max of $40 in his mind, but lets the fever drive him up to $45 or $50, and I end up paying more. If I had sniped my $50 at the last second and the auction had been sitting at $10 all week, he'd have at best only put in his max of $40 (and likely would have put less hoping for a deal), and my snipe of $50 wins the item at $41 tops, because he never had time to consider raising his bid.

      That's why the snipe is effective: ultimately it works because it doesn't allow time for second thoughts. It also doesn't allow any time for shill bidding.

    24. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by Teddy+Beartuzzi · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nope, not true. If there's not enough to go a full increment, the item gets raised by whatever the difference is.

      For example, if you bid $21 on something early, and the current bid is $5, and I snipe with 2 seconds left and happen to outbid you by pennies, say $21.12, I win the item for $21.12, even though the next bid increment was $22.

      Which really is the way it should be, I was willing to pay more than you, I get the item. The alternative would be for eBay to award the item to you for $21, but those lost cents are going to add up in the long run with millions of auctions. And eBay wants their cut of those pennies.

    25. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      my experiance is if you don't snipe then you will just get outbid repeatedly until the current bid is moret ahn you are willing to pay whereas if you wait paitently and snipe you have a much better chance of actually snagging a bargin.

      imo the reason sniping works is because many of your competitors place a bid and hope they win but will pay more than thier initial bid when they get the outbid e-mail. sniping means by the time they get that e-mail its too late for them to compete with you.

      ofc if everyone snipes it becomes essentially like a sealed bid auction where you get one chance to bid and win.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    26. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by MrRoger · · Score: 1

      Sniping works against inexperienced bidders, but not against experienced bidders. eBay already has a simple solution: proxy bidding. Bidders can enter their "willing" amount and hope for their "excited" amount. Since many bidders are inexperienced, sniping works sometimes, so go for it. I like sniping for another reason. I can schedule bids in groups and the first one that wins unschedules the rest of the bids in the group. Sniping is just a bidding strategy; there is no problem to fix. I use it sometimes; I also use regular bidding (I'm the highest bidder on a reserve-met motorcycle right now!), and buy now, and sniping. So now I'm bidding against some snipers - no worries because I use proxy bid to bid my highest price as eBay clearly recommends. Solved. Next problem.

    27. Re:A huge win for everyone, just one more thing... by stanmann · · Score: 1

      That may be true, but you can block that by bidding 21.01. Then you can't be beaten under 22. :) It seems to be a "bug" in the proxy algorithm

      --
      Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
  3. Where was this a year ago?? by 0110011001110101 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Dammit, where was the FREE API and whatnot a year or so ago when I was deciding between paying their outrageous fees or developing my own custom solution (using ugly screen scraping techniques and whatnot) in order to grow my eBay based lingerie business...

    My custom solution worked fine, but nothing near as streamlined as it could have been using their API... too little too late eBay, you're allready on a downward spiral IMHO, and this won't save you from the fall. Oh well, at least I still have a box full of sexy outfits and vibrators in my closet somewhere gathering dust... someday I'll find a way to lure that sexy woman on the corner into my house and use them, but until then Mom will just have to stay on the corner.

    --
    Don't anthropomorphize computers: they hate that.
    1. Re:Where was this a year ago?? by nathan+s · · Score: 1

      "...someday I'll find a way to lure that sexy woman on the corner into my house and use them..."

      I believe "a way" is commonly called "cash" if she's on the corner?

      --
      picpix image polls. create - share - vote. fun!
    2. Re:Where was this a year ago?? by QuijiboIsAWord · · Score: 0

      Dude, you just called his mom a whore.

      whoah. I'm pretty sure this whole conversation can go nowhere but down.

      --
      -Hmm...I got a G+ invite, better remember to remove the request from my sig...-
  4. Sponsored Open Source Software? SOSS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "This open source program brought to you by eBay. Find more here!"

    I'm looking for a motive. Companies don't do things out of the goodness of their heart anymore.

    1. Re:Sponsored Open Source Software? SOSS? by djdavetrouble · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Companies don't do things out of the goodness of their heart anymore.

      Except Newman's Own who has donated over 175 million dollars to charity. That may be
      just be a huge tax scam though... ;)

      --
      music lover since 1969
  5. sounds like the auction model by external400kdiskette · · Score: 1

    "eBay has taken the hint, and is throwing off charges to spur adoption" start with cheap prices and then add lots of absurd fees and services later or I assume they'll do that with this to if they succeed in become the de facto standard like with their auctions business.

  6. Great news! by slowhand · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think this is a wonderful opportunity for some innovative but underfunded folks to develop cool apps to "enhance" my moneymaking schemes. I may start by developing a mechanism to auction off "first post rights" on specific slashdot articles.

    I, for one, welcome our new ebay developer overlords.

    --
    Busy aligning my non-linear thoughts.
    1. Re:Great news! by fakeplasticusername · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      You need to think bigger. Auction off mod-ups when you have points :P

      $1 for an insightful rating on my post? SOLD!

  7. Does anybody use Ebay anymore? by 0110011001110101 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I seem to remember in 1998, I made my first eBay purchase, and it was a fantastic deal. Great stereo receiver, fantastic price, easy transaction and no headaches... it still works great to this day.

    Anymore if I happen to hop on eBay, all I see are hundreds (if not thousands) of the same HOT TICKET, LIMITED AVAIL, CANT FIND THIS ANYWHERE regurgitated items being sold over and over again to the public and over-inflated prices (dont even get me started on shipping at ebay).

    It's less and less a viable place to do business, as a consumer or a retailer, as the site is flooded with the same crap, mostly imitations, be hawked as hard to find, rare items that are actually useless junk. I don't even want to start talking about all the dam *FAKE* items out there, where you can buy INFORMATION leading to a purchase...

    I'm done with you eBay.

    --
    Don't anthropomorphize computers: they hate that.
    1. Re:Does anybody use Ebay anymore? by slowhand · · Score: 1

      Perhaps some developer will take this input and create a new interface app that filters the trash words out and distills the ads into brief, factual text, and gives you the average sale price of the last N of these item.

      --
      Busy aligning my non-linear thoughts.
    2. Re:Does anybody use Ebay anymore? by slackmaster2000 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yeah I don't buy on eBay anymore. Last time I used it, several years ago, it was definately a seller's market. Items were going for prices that were *higher* than regular online retail. So, a great place to sell something, but not a great place to buy something.

      That said, eBay can be a good resource if you know specifically what you're looking for. That way you can specify a good search and not be hit with so much clutter.

      I wish they'd make a "private seller only" version of eBay. None of this ebay merchant crap. When I use eBay it's to find second hand goods from real people at fair prices....not new stuff at retail prices from shady businesses.

    3. Re:Does anybody use Ebay anymore? by Average_Joe_Sixpack · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I've been using eBay since it's inception and watched it go from a site for collectors to a dumping ground for overstocked/bulk items. What they really need to do is crackdown on sellers like this prick who insists on crap flooding entire catagories with the same item instead of using the bulk option.

    4. Re:Does anybody use Ebay anymore? by j1mmy · · Score: 1

      check out amazon zshops.

      i buy used stuff from sellers through amazon more often than i buy new stuff. it's linked right from amazon's product pages. amazon does the payment handling, so need to futz around with paypal or the like.

    5. Re:Does anybody use Ebay anymore? by duffbeer703 · · Score: 4, Informative

      EBay doesn't give a shit. I discovered a scam, which is still going on two years later, where theives would build webs of bogus accounts and buy/sell stupid shit like $0.99 recipies and similar items between accounts. I found one account that was buying 50-60 <$5 items a day for a few weeks. They leave comments like "Great TV, supar ebayer A++++++" and "Laptop shipped on time A++++++ ASSET TO EBAY" for rolls of yarn or supermarket coupons.

      Then they stop all eBay activity.

      And then the thief doesn't do anything for about 3-4 months. At that point a regular user cannot get any details on the users history... Then the guy starts selling nonexistent laptops, iPods, etc.

      --
      Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
    6. Re:Does anybody use Ebay anymore? by pclminion · · Score: 4, Interesting
      And then the thief doesn't do anything for about 3-4 months. At that point a regular user cannot get any details on the users history... Then the guy starts selling nonexistent laptops, iPods, etc.

      A friend of mine got jacked for $4000 trying to buy a PowerMac and various accessories. The seller had spent 15 months building up a huge positive feedback (and she WASN'T scamming, but actually selling real items to real buyers!), then decided to "cash out" and skip town. She ripped off over a dozen people to the tune of about $250,000.

      Unfortunately, she wasn't that good at hiding, and she got caught. She got a suspended sentence and was ordered to pay back the cash, which has never happened. Almost four years later and my friend still hasn't seen a dime of the 4 grand.

      What baffles me is that this seller was running a successful eBay business and actually making a profit! Instead of scaling up her business and making a legitimate killing, she decided to steal people's money. Even if she'd gotten away with it, it is unlikely she could have repeated the performance without somehow giving herself away. It just doesn't make any sense. Some people just suck.

    7. Re:Does anybody use Ebay anymore? by one_bad_rover · · Score: 1

      I use it everyday, while I admit, it has gotten to be full of crap there is still some good stuff to be found and at a good price. Takes a little more time than it used to though.. however, for the most part, they have managed to weed out all the scumbags, the ones that take your $$ and run, not much risk of that with PayPal payments. I regularly buy x-box games new for $10-15 shipped. (granted they probably fell out of the back of some target store somewhere) And you can make a pretty penny if you know how to use ebay and sell all sorts of random shit. Not advocating Ebay here, but the following is huge. The few people who boycott it are showing themselves to be out of touch with the current technology and how to make $$ with it. That said, as soon as Google comes up with a replacement I will jump on that bandwagon and drop ebay like a sack of flaming poo...

    8. Re:Does anybody use Ebay anymore? by ksheff · · Score: 1

      I guess it depends on what you're shopping for. If you have a better source for old computer equipment, please share it.

      --
      the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
    9. Re:Does anybody use Ebay anymore? by tre4lien · · Score: 1

      I also used to love eBay but have been pushed away by the junk-product-spammers.

      Could this open API enable a good samaritan to create some kind of filter that removes all sellers with more than 5 items for sale?

      Gawd! I would LOVE to have the old eBay back!

    10. Re:Does anybody use Ebay anymore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      EBAY has no humans. The Police can't even get hold of someone capable of non-robotic responses where speed is essential.

      In Australia, A distressed user called the police to report 100's of discounted ipods being sold on her Ebay hijacked account. Don't have a number. Incredible. Unsatisfactory for all.

    11. Re:Does anybody use Ebay anymore? by bani · · Score: 1

      depending on the state, you may be able to get the local police to sieze their property in order to pay court ordered fines (criminal cases, not civil ones).

  8. Re:it's not just /. editors by Red+Flayer · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    "has a damn typo in it... are all editors just going to crap these days?"

    Editors cost money. Good editors cost more money. Spellcheck is free. Spelling errors are easily corrected in online publications.

    It's not the editors that suck, it's the companies who do not place high value on well-edited work.

    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  9. Re:it's not just /. editors by slowhand · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ... you're correct! There should be a "," after ion.

    --
    Busy aligning my non-linear thoughts.
  10. Re:it's not just /. editors by 0110011001110101 · · Score: 1
    Thank you obvious man.

    I just assumed /. readers would be smart enough to catch that on their own thank you.

    --
    Don't anthropomorphize computers: they hate that.
  11. EBay Drops Charges for Developers Network by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!

    Oh, wait...

  12. Preemptive strike against Google? by GreggyBUIUC · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I seem to remember reading somewhere last week that Google was thinking about opening their own E-Bay similar marketplace (a move deserving of FARK's "obvious" tag). I wonder how much of the decision to open the API has to do with the fact that Google will certainly open theirs when it gets up and running.

    1. Re:Preemptive strike against Google? by lowrydr310 · · Score: 1
      Google was thinking about opening their own E-Bay similar marketplace

      I didn't hear anything about this, but it would certainly be a good addition to the online community. eBay needs a real competitor. There are a lot of problems with eBay and the only reason so many people still use them is because there's no alternative.

      eBay/PayPal is a money machine and somebody else can certainly provide a better product and better service, grabbing a big piece of that pie.

    2. Re:Preemptive strike against Google? by Red+Flayer · · Score: 1

      FTA, it has more to do with Amazon giving free access to the API. Entrance of a third major player to the market would definitely make a difference, but IIRC, Ebay is losing marketshare to Amazon now.

      Also, postings on Ebay resulting from use of the API are up to 22%, I'd guess that Ebay figured out they'd have greater revenue from the per-transaction seller's fees than from charging sellers to use the API, since the volume is high enough.

      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  13. DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS!! by RandoX · · Score: 1

    ...Why wouldn't they want as many people as possible developing for their site, even if that means giving your API away from the start? If you're in the business of getting people to buy and sell things through your website, why wouldn't you want to get as much traffic as possible? eBay is not a software company.

  14. I'll stick to scraping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Do I still have to get my app "approved"?

    I'm not going to waste my time testing my app with their engineers, regardless of whether its free or not.

    Their API restrictions and fees were such a turnoff that I no longer care about them anymore. I will circumvent them as long as possible.

    1. Re:I'll stick to scraping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'll be much better off going through the API when possible. The amount of wasted data that you have to deal with through scraping is a pain in the ass. I wouldn't discount the API without trying it. Also, we're very interested in helping the developer community by extending and improving the API when possible. It isn't always possible due to business concerns, but if you want some help we are willing to supply it.

    2. Re:I'll stick to scraping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just think that EBay screwed up big-time when not only did they say, "Hey, if you're going to release a really popular app not only do you have to pay us for our API's, we are going to require you to test every major version with one of our engineers."

      So the more popular the app is, the more API calls the app will make, generating more revenue for EBay, but subsequently, I end up paying for the additional API calls?

      This is the type of control the cell phone carriers are trying to maintain regarding the deployment of mobile apps on their phones.

    3. Re:I'll stick to scraping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You still need to get your app certified if you make over 10000 api calls per month.

      I've been waiting and waiting for them to open things up before converting my app over to non-scraping - http://www.auctionsieve.com/

  15. "More" ubiquitous? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You cannot get "more" ubiquitous. It's like being unique. Or pregnant. You can't be a little, or more, of any of it. You either are ubiquitous/unique/pregnant, or you aren't.

  16. Codebase Link by GreggyBUIUC · · Score: 5, Informative

    Since its not in the headline:

    https://www.codebase.ebay.com

  17. Don't have the patience for it either... by FatSean · · Score: 1

    If I want something, I want it now. I am willing to pay a fair price. I don't care to wait 4 days only to findout that some douchebag snipped me at the last second. Maybe if you are poor, or your time is worthless, eBay is a valid place to acquire goods. For me, it's a waste of time.

    --
    Blar.
    1. Re:Don't have the patience for it either... by sydb · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Ever heard of Buy It Now? You don't have to wait. Also, if you have special interests (crafts and hobbies, exotic computer equipment) eBay is sometimes the only place you can find certain items. So maybe you have no use for eBay but other people do, and they don't need to be cash poor or time rich to make it so.

      --
      Yours Sincerely, Michael.
  18. Sniping simplified (one opinion) by mopslik · · Score: 4, Insightful

    all of this sniping nonsense just proves how ridiculous people treat an auction like ebay (which usually leads them to grossly overpay).

    While a good number of people do indeed overbid because they get drawn into the competitive spirit of winning the auction, there's a simple reason why sniping is still effective: savings. Sure, you can enter your maximum bid straight away. But there's also the psychological advantage of deferring your bid until the end, for items with no bids on them. As a simple example, let's say that I see some widget for which I would pay up to $20. I place that $20 max bid right away, starting at $1. Somebody else sees that there's action on the item, and places their max bid at, say, $10. Instantly the bids increase to $11. Is that someone else going to get caught up in the action and bid $21 or more? Possibly, and in that case, I simply walk away because my max was exceeded. Or I could win it at $11. Or at $12. Or up to $20. Whatever.

    On the other hand, I know that a great majority of eBay bidders are into sniping themselves. If there's no bids on that widget with only 30 seconds to go, that other person might try to snipe it for $5. Having sold a few items, and bought quite a few more, I know that the most activity usually comes in the last minute, and usually for fairly low amounts. Me, I'll be entering my $20 maximum in the last 10 seconds. In this case, I'll walk away with my widget for a paltry $6 after bids. I seldom get outbid by someone who has the same strategy as this -- everyone else puts in a low bid, and maybe one more marginally higher bid before the time expires.

    Sure, this is all relatively unknown info -- there's no guarantee there will be another bidder, there's no knowledge of what the bids will be, etc. But it's a pretty good approximation of how a lot of eBayers purchase items, so I'll try to use that past behaviour against them to get me the best bang for my buck.

    The only way bidding before-hand benefits you is if a second last-minute sniper enters the same or a lower amount as you have previously bid. If you enter your max right at the last minute, you're guaranteed to get the same results as early bidding, but with a greater potential to save a few bucks.

  19. ebay code base website by abradsn · · Score: 1

    Does anyone know what is the website link that has these code contributions?

  20. A New Era by trollable · · Score: 1

    This opens a lot of possibilities, like having reliable native clients. This will allow to have a better strategy for bidding, better tracking of the new and interesting auctions, ... It will smooth the whole process. I think it will also be interesting for the vendors, and even the spectators that are just watching the last seconds. Good move!

    --
    Million Dollar Screenshot
  21. Can you actually BID yet? by lorcha · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Can you actually BID through the eBay API yet?

    If not..... <YAWN>.

    --
    "Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
    1. Re:Can you actually BID yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yes, it is possible to bid.

  22. Ebay Developers Contest by hagrin · · Score: 3, Informative

    In tangential news, Ebay is sponsoring a developer's challenge. Information can be found here:

    Ebay Developer Challenge

    The text from their release:
    ***eBay Developer Challenge 2006*** November 14, 2005 | 10:33AM PST/PT The eBay Developers Program, in conjunction with O'Reilly and Associates, is offering a contest for software developers. Winners will be selected in the Best Original Application and Best Open Source Collaboration categories. Prizes include $5,000 in cash, Xbox 360(TM) game consoles, iPod Nano(TM) music players, and the chance to demonstrate winning applications at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego from March 6-9, 2006. To learn more about the eBay Developer Challenge, please see our information page. To learn about the eBay Developers Program, please visit http://developer.ebay.com./

    --
    Hagrin.com
  23. There's actually just cause for this... by HerculesMO · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Because Google has been rumoured to be releasing an eBay competitor, as well as a PayPal competitor into the marketplace. Combining their ad program with a simple and easy to use auction site can only increase their ad revenue because of the way the content is generated and who's viewing -- all by end users. Thus the AdSense program can adopt and learn market behaviors, as well as track buying habits, and only create more targetted ads.

    And since Google has released damn near everything (tm) for free -- including Picasa, WiFi, and today the Web Analyitics tools (which are awesome by the way) -- eBay is going to have to make their preemptive move against a Google entry. Google's name recognition and sheer dollar value will allow them to muscle their way into the market on this. But developers know that Google's API is lacking, especially compared to Yahoo and others, and eBay is already trying to capitalize.

    Either way, I look at this as a precursor for eBay to lower their auction rates and PayPal rates. Win-win for me. If Google does release what they are 'rumoured' to, then there's only more competition for my money and since I have good history with both companies, the lower price will probably win.

    --
    The price is always right if someone else is paying.
  24. A start, but not enough. by Crispix · · Score: 2, Insightful

    EBay is rapidly turning evil. Their fees are simply too high. Between the listing, final value, and PayPal fees, they're cleaning up, and not in a good way.

    They make it so damn hard to use anything other than PayPal for payment, and PayPal is a carefully-designed system that forces users to pay high credit-card rates on all transactions, even cash/echeck. Their "free" limits are so low they are a joke.

  25. Parent post gets it by Tetravus · · Score: 1

    There are many many ways to interact with the transaction/auction data that eBay generates. By cultivating a community of developers eBay is able to extend the functionality that they offer without having to pay for development. They're able to extend their reach onto portable devices or into pricing guides without needing to know or care about the interface required for any specific application space.

    I'm not sure that policies like this will give eBay user lock-in the way that MS's ISV network does, but it can certainly give them examples of new places to deploy their services and perhaps charge for access to said services.

  26. I snipe because by lorcha · · Score: 5, Interesting
    of the phenomenon that you mention. That people don't enter their maximum price when they bid like they are supposed to.

    Instead, they follow one of the following models:

    1. The emotional bidder: Bidding is war to this person. He bids and each time he is outbid he bids some more. He gets so caught up in the bidding that he doesn't realize he's paying 150% of retail for a used item and 200% of what he thought he was willing to spend on the item at all.

      Sniping helps deal with this problem by not allowing an emotional bidder to raise his bid once he is outbid. If he had truly entered his max bid like he was supposed to, and if his max bid is more than my snipe, then he's winning the auction anyway. But if he failed to correctly identify his max bid and my snipe is higher than what he entered, then I win and he can't get emotional about it. He should have bid properly to begin with.

    2. The minimum bidder: This person bids the minimum, gets outbid by the proxy system, bids the minimum again, and again, and again... then gives up. This drives up the price of the item unnecessarily, because the bidder was never serious to begin with.

      Sniping helps deal with this problem by not revealing my bid until it is too late for the minimum bidder to do his minimum bid cycle. He should have bid properly and entered his maximum bid into ebay, if he wanted to win. Instead, he just raises the price for me, which is not preferable.

    However, the biggest advantage to sniping has nothing to do with other bidders at all.

    Let's say that I want to buy a commodity item like a 1GB SD memory card. There are many auctions for such an item, which retails for about $60. Let's assume that I want to pay no more than $40 (~35% discount), but most auctions close for $45-50. Realize that there are hundreds and hundreds of auctions for 1GB SD cards, most of them end within one or two minutes of each other.

    How do you expect me to get my $40 SD card? I can't bid on one auction with 3 hours to go because I'll miss hundreds of auctions that close before the one that I bid on. And I can't bid on any of those hundreds of auctions that close earlier, because how will I know if I won the first auction? It hasn't closed yet! And I certainly do not need 2 SD cards. Just one. I can't even bid on an auction that closes in 10 minutes for the same problem.

    With sniping software, I group all the 1GB SD card auctions together, give it a maximum price including shipping, and then let it bid for me in the final seconds. It can see whether I won or not and if I won, it will quit bidding. If I lost, it will bid on the next one, and the next one, and the next one... until I win or realize that my price is too low and bump it up.

    I'm sorry if you think that I should sit in front of the ebay website all day and compulsively bid on each SD card auction, but I'm too busy compulsively hitting reload on the slashdot homepage, trying to get the coveted first post.

    --
    "Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
    1. Re:I snipe because by spike2131 · · Score: 1

      So, what do you recommend in terms of sniping software?

      --
      SpyDock: Scientific Python in a Docker container
    2. Re:I snipe because by xintegerx · · Score: 1

      Spoof-Proof WinSnipe 2006 supports eBay, Yahoo!, and Overstock. www.spoofproof.com

      --

      Cover your eyes and click this link!
  27. What a litigious society we live in... by daVinci1980 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Was I the only one who read the headline and then tried to recall who EBay was sueing?

    --
    I currently have no clever signature witicism to add here.
  28. woot by Danzigism · · Score: 0

    thats freakin awesome... i remember seeing an excellent "Seller's Assistant Pro" cop-off for linux.. the developer discontinued quite a while ago just because of the APIs.. i stumbled across the software way too late and didn't even get to try it out.. I wonder if that developer is aware of this news.. i'd love to see an update.. if anyone knows of the particular Auction Management software for linux that I speak of, i'd appreciate a boot in the right direction..

    --
    *plays the Apogee theme song music*
  29. Lately, I've been using by lorcha · · Score: 2, Informative
    Lately, I've been using JBidWatcher. It has a multi-tab interface like firefox, so you can group auctions that way, automatic periodic searches, and the multisnipe functionality that I was describing. It'll even warn you if you attempt to do a "dangerous" multisnipe where the software wouldn't be able to determine if you won one auction before it had to bid on the next for you.

    Oh, and it's OSS, of course. I run it on Linux, but I'm told it works fine on Windows as well.

    I'm sure there are many other good ones out there. You may want to do a test snipe to make sure the software is actively maintained (ebay changes their HTML pages from time to time) and see how quickly your software can reliably do a snipe over your internet connection. You'll feel pretty stupid if your software and connection takes 3 seconds to execute a snipe and you set it to snipe with 1 second remaining. :-)

    --
    "Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
    1. Re:Lately, I've been using by spike2131 · · Score: 1

      Sweet! Thanks for the recommendation.

      --
      SpyDock: Scientific Python in a Docker container
  30. "They" make it hard???? by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    They make it so damn hard to use anything other than PayPal for payment

    You are confusing them making PayPal easy to use with making anything but PayPal hard.

    There are people that use other means of payment, but since to a service they seem to all suck worse than PayPal for a variety of reasons I stick by PayPal. I know people have had some problems with them but PayPal just makes it easy for the average low-volume seller to collect money.

    I accidentially once bid on an auction where I had a choice of check or Western Union. If you think eBay's fees are too high get a load of WU sometime!

    I don't begrudge eBay the fees because there's just no better place to sell things right now, selling on eBay for just about anything is going to earn you more than you would by using other auction services than you have to cover with extra fees.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  31. "Dropped Charges" by evanbro · · Score: 1

    Did anybody else read the headline and wonder if there was some sort of legal action going on?

  32. that website sucked by bxbaser · · Score: 1

    I tried reloading the page 8 times to try to get an ad that would let me read the damn page but i kept getting that damn xerox black add.
    Is it just my browser that shows the add under the text ?

  33. Bad Title by advs89 · · Score: 0

    Wow, i think they definitely could have written the title a little better... At first glance, i thought it was talking about a lawsuit.

    --
    Rirelobql xabjf gung EBG-13 vf gur yrnfg frpher rapelcgvba rire, ohg jbhyq lbh jnfgr lbhe gvzr npghnyyl qrpelcgvat vg???
  34. Check out Ebay's misdeeds and mischief by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://malfeasance.50megs.com/

  35. I HATE YOU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your comment was retarded and lame-brained if you were the only one to say it. But you are the THIRD PERSON to utter that shit.

    REDUNDANT + MORON + ASSHOLE = I HOPE YOU DIE.

  36. Have some balls man... by daVinci1980 · · Score: 1

    If you're going to attempt to flame, at least use your handle. AC flaming is just pathetic.

    First off, I filter all comments below 1. Second, I browse highest point value first. Third, I can use bold too!

    You win the internet. 0/10 on the troll-o-meter.

    --
    I currently have no clever signature witicism to add here.
  37. Re:Snipe on eBay for FREE at.... by iamcf13 · · Score: 1

    That's why the snipe is effective: ultimately it works because it doesn't allow time for second thoughts. It also doesn't allow any time for shill bidding.

    Stopping shill bidding is the BEST reasion to snipe on eBay.

    If eBay makes sniping impossible, they are as good as bankrupt....

    I lost my very first few ebay auctions but I came around quick to sniping, I only got outsniped a handfull of times in the past 100+ auctions whenever i bid on something.

    Dont pay for a sniping program, use http://www.auctionstealer.com/ instead and 'get on with your life.' :)

    I've used Auctionstealer's free service and it seems to work as advertised--still lost some eBay auctions but at least the bids were put in automatically in the closing minute of the auctions. Of coures, if you pay, you get more sniping abilities....

    I'm not a shill for Auctionstealer, just someone who heard about it and checked it out....

  38. How I browse eBay effectively.... by iamcf13 · · Score: 1

    In the past.

    Years ago I cobbled together some apps that screenscraped the HTML from one eBay category I was deeply interested in, rotated the 'marketspeak' to the end of the item
    description, and alphabatized the result.

    Very effective. It was essentially like (Amazon.com's hated, patented) '1-click shopping'.

    Along with sniping, I benefited handsomely from these 'tools'.

    Nowadays, I'm busy and haven't had time to update those proggies... :)

    Probably can't use them (and definitely cant sell them) as it would be a DDoS on eBay that would eventually drive them out of business due to low final bids in their auctions. Imagine such '1-click shopping' coupled with sniping and practiced ardently by (nearly) all of eBay's millions of members.... O_O;