After a stint in San Jose on Thursday, eBay's mobile boutique will visit holiday shoppers in San Francisco on the 15th, continuing its nationwide tour. Bay Area residents will be able to visit the boutique, its shopping kiosks, and its on-site personal shoppers and experts from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm at Justin Herman Plaza on Market Street at the Embarcadero. For socially conscious shoppers, donations made at the Mobile Boutique will be matched (up to $200,000) with proceeds going to well-known charities including Oxfam, Global Giving, UNICEF and Toys for Tots, amongst others.

After its stop in the Bay Area, the Mobile Boutique continues on to serve shoppers in Los Angeles on December 17th and 18th. More at:

     • The Mobile Boutique Home Page
     • InsideBayArea.com
     • Daily News Los Angeles

  Image:
  Noonie /
  Dreamstime

The opening weekend of the 2009 holiday shopping season is now behind us. How did eBay, PayPal, and their buyers and sellers fare this year? Not badly at all, particularly given the lukewarm stoicism that seems to be raging throughout the traditional retail world, where tepid results were the rule.

Check inside for factoids and stats summarizing the weekend activity, as well as information about holiday programs and promotions from eBay companies PayPal and Bill Me Later.

See Also

     • Give Through Giving Works
     • Embrace Mobile eBay

Though exact details haven't been made public, eBay's PayPal sounded a positive note this weekend, saying that it had processed some 20 percent more transactions on Black Friday than it did on the same day last year, with sales through mobile platforms up some 650 percent. This is positive news for eBay heading into "Cyber Monday" (the Monday following the Thanksgiving holiday) tomorrow, which is traditionally the biggest day of the season for online retail. More at:

     • PC Magazine
     • The Wall Street Journal
     • TechCrunch

As Thanksgiving Day diners in the U.S. let their stomachs settle and retailers make last-minute Black Friday preparations, eBay shopping is already humming along. According to eBay, Thanksgiving Day saw about $50 million in gross merchandise volume last year, with sales most brisk from 5:00pm to 8:00pm Pacific time—during core eating hours.

Shoppers this season have been busy all week on eBay, with the most popular items including albums by Susan Boyle and Carrie Underwood, gaming consoles by Nintendo and Microsoft along with recent gaming release "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," DVD editions of classic childrens' animated features, and merchandise associated with the "Twilight" series of books and films. More from:

     • eBay via BusinessWire
     • The Wall Street Journal

Sales are no doubt being helped by Tuesday's release of eBay's new "Deals" app for iPhone and iPod Touch users, available on Apple's iTunes store, which eBay hopes will contribute to a projected $500 million in gross merchandise sales through mobile platforms this year. More at:

     • The Washington Post
     • CNet News

For the complete rundown on eBay's Black Friday and Cyber Monday results for 2009, visit the opening holiday shopping weekend wrap-up for eBay and PayPal.