eBay Announcement 8/15/07

[Marjie]

***Gallery Plus Extended to Self-hosted Pictures***

August 15, 2007 | 06:06PM PST/PT

Hi Everyone ... I'm Keith Wescourt with the Seller Experience team. Gallery Plus [http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/gallery_plus.html] displays a bigger preview picture of sellers' items when buyers move their mouse over their Gallery picture in Search results. Until now, Gallery Plus has been available only when using eBay-hosted pictures, but now sellers using self-hosted pictures can also use Gallery Plus to make their listings stand out in Search.

You can add your self-hosted Gallery Plus picture when you create a listing using the Sell Your Item (SYI) form, eBay tools like Turbo Lister, or third-party listing tools that support this change to Gallery Plus (check with your listing tool provider). You just need to provide the URL for your self-hosted picture during the listing process. The fee [http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html] for using Gallery Plus, whether you use a self-hosted or eBay-hosted picture, will remain the same.

For best results....
When you use a self-hosted picture with Gallery Plus, we automatically create and store a correctly-sized and compressed copy of the picture on our servers. To ensure that buyers see a good-quality and full-sized Gallery Plus picture in Search results, just make sure you provide us with the right-sized picture. For good results after eBay resizing and compression, we recommend submitting a URL for a high-quality self-hosted picture that is between 1000 and 1600 pixels in size. The Gallery Plus picture we create from it will be stored at a 400-pixel size for display.

I'm pleased we are now able to offer the availability of Gallery Plus when using self-hosted pictures so that all sellers are able to use this upgrade to boost the success of their listings on eBay.

Sincerely,
Keith Wescourt,
Seller Experience Team

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***Refer A Friend To Sell For The First Time On eBay – And Earn Up To $50***

August 15, 2007 | 03:18PM PST/PT

Hi everyone...I'm Zoulfia Moret from the Seller Marketing team. I'm here to let you know about a great new Refer a Friend [http://cgi4.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?RAFWelcome] program we're kicking off this week to help you share the fun of selling on eBay — and earn selling credits for yourself at the same time.

Here's how it works:
From today, August 15th through September 15th, we'll give you $5 for every friend you refer to sell on eBay (up to a total of 10 friends) via our Refer a Friend [http://cgi4.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?RAFWelcome] site. Note that your friend (or better still, friends) should never have sold on eBay before and should list an item during the dates mentioned. We'll credit your referral reward to your eBay Seller Account 6 weeks after the promotional period.

To qualify for the Refer a Friend [http://cgi4.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?RAFWelcome] program, you should be registered on eBay.com, be a registered seller yourself, and have a Feedback score of at least 10.

What's in it for your friends:
Besides discovering the exciting world of selling on eBay, your friends will also get the listing and Gallery fees for their first 3 listings credited to their Seller Accounts (6 weeks after the promotion ends). In order to qualify, your friends will have to list by clicking on the link in the email they’ll receive during the promotion period. (Cancelled listings do not qualify.)

We have terms and conditions [http://cgi4.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...Andconditions] for the Refer a Friend program. For instance – you can't refer yourself (duh!) or someone who has the same address or phone number as you. So please check out the fine print!

We hope you'll have fun helping your friends get started selling on eBay through the Refer a Friend [http://cgi4.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?RAFWelcome] program! Enjoy!

Sincerely,
Zoulfia Moret
Marketing

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***Powerful Giving for PowerSellers through the eBay Foundation***

August 15, 2007 | 02:43PM PST/PT

Hi there... I'm Edurne Jorda from the Seller Development Team. I’m here to tell you about a great program for PowerSellers made possible by the eBay Foundation [http://pages.ebay.com/aboutebay/foundation.html], a charitable fund that serves as the main channel through which eBay contributes to local community organizations.

Are you familiar with Powerful Giving, the special program for PowerSellers made possible through the eBay Foundation? Every year, under the Powerful Giving program, the eBay Foundation donates $5,000 each to several charities that are recommended by our PowerSellers. This year, the Foundation will choose 10 charities recommended by PowerSellers! That’s $50,000 in charitable giving chosen by PowerSellers. So, submit your favorite charity for consideration because it could be chosen!

It's really simple to nominate your favorite charity:

* Fill out the PowerSeller Recommendation form [https://www.grantrequest.com/SID_343/?SA=SNA&FID=35037] explaining why your charity should get the grant. Please provide your name, contact information, charity contact, and the reasons why you feel your charity should receive the grant.
* The eBay Foundation will then request the charity to submit a proposal.
* The eBay Foundation will review the recommendations and proposals and donate $5,000 grants to the 10 selected charities. Grant decisions will be made by the end of October, 2007.

The deadline for recommendations is August 31st, 2007. Go to the eBay Foundation Powerful Giving Grants [http://pages.ebay.com/powerfulgiving/] page to submit your recommendation and learn more about past recipients, and the Powerful Giving program!

Sincerely,
Edurne Jorda
eBay Seller Development

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Highlights from eBay's official blog (http://www.ebaychatter.com):

Live Coverage of Today's Town Hall [http://www.ebaychatter.com/the_chatt...verage-o.html]

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Sneak Peek: See what's in the works at eBay at http://pages.ebay.com/sneakpeek/