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

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.

eBay always manages to make the news as the holiday shopping season begins, and it's clear that this year will be no different.

Seasonal traffic has already begun to hit and eBay has suggested that volume this year is significantly higher than last year. This led to a serious search outage Saturday that lasted much of the day. Sellers whose auctions were impacted by the outage can back out of transactions with no consequences, but must notify buyers of the cancellation by Tuesday if they intend to do so. More at:

     • The Consumerist
     • The Financial Times
     • AuctionBytes

Meanwhile, eBay has opened its first-ever "Pop-up Store" in Manhattan where shoppers can go in person for just over a week to see some of the most popular goods up for sale on eBay this season. The store is located at 57th Street and 5th Avenue in the heart of the midtown shopping district. More at:

     • Home Textiles Today
     • CityFile New York

An earlier article on sniping generated a lot of email feedback and posted comments, so with the holidays fast approaching, it's time to revisit the question of eBay sniping and address two of the biggest concerns readers had. First, the question of safety. Is sniping risky, or is it safe? Then, the question of value. Does sniping actually work?

The answers to these questions aren't necessarily clear cut and can vary depending on the service you choose and the competition you're facing. So is sniping worth it for you? Read on for thoughts that may help you to decide.

See Also

     • Sniping: Good, Bad, and Ugly
     • Understanding eBay Bidding
     • Signs Your Account Has Been Stolen

In another example demonstrating that anything can be bought and sold on eBay, teachers and educators are increasingly finding that they can increase their income by selling their lesson plans and exercises to other teachers using eBay listings. With the practice becoming more common, questions about ethics, legality, and academic integrity are being raised. More at:

     • The New York Times
     • UPI

Meanwhile, eBay continues to publicize the launch earlier this month of The Inside Source, a new eBay lifestyle and fashion magazine targeting readers of traditional glossies who may have an interest in shopping online through eBay. The magazine is being overseen by the former director of digital media at Lifetime, and will also include content related to trends and search numbers that may be of interest to some sellers. More at:

     • Min Online
     • Media Bistro

Your sales performance on eBay often depends on your search performance. If you're not aware of how well your listings are performing in eBay's search rankings, you may be missing out on sales. eBay's free Selling Manager service offers a tool to help you examine, on an item-by-item basis, your search results visibility. Find out where you rank in relation to your competitors and what they're doing that might help you as well. Read on to learn how to use eBay's the search visibility analysis tool.

See Also

     • Make Best Match Work for You
     • Understand Detailed Seller Ratings
     • Get Ahead with Selling Manager

eBay has reached a settlement in the dispute with Skype founders over intellectual property related to the Skype software. Under the terms of the detail, the founders will join the investment consortium in exchange for increased rights to the software for Skype, enabling the sale. More at:

     • The Wall Street Journal
     • The Money Times
     • The New York Times

Meanwhile, the list of things that can be bought on eBay has grown one item longer as iPhone app developer Brice Milliorn has decided to sell his entire iPhone app business, including the rights and source code to over 80 iPhone apps, using an eBay auction. Starting bid is a cool hundred grand. More at:

     • IT Business Net
     • Cult of Mac

If you're not already a mobile web junkie, you may think that your phone isn't feature-packed enough to eBay on the go, or that eBay on smaller displays like those of most mobile phones is an implausible proposal at best. In fact, most mobile phone users have some kind of eBay capability on the go, and some have it in spades. Read on for quick tips on bringing eBay to your mobile.

See Also

     • Get Mobile Notifications
     • eBay Services and Tools