Save The Date & Call For Papers: DevCon 2009 is Coming!

Save The Date! The eBay and PayPal Developers Conference 2009 is being held June 16-18. This year, we are opening our doors and inviting developers to our campus in beautiful, sunny San Jose. Silicon Valley is a natural choice for this unique eBay and PayPal developer event -- where technical vision hits the road and becomes business reality every day. Industry speakers, code labs and sessions will enable developers to get hand-on with the next generation of our open e-commerce platforms.

We'd also like to announce that our Call for Papers is now open! Lead a conference session at DevCon this year -- submit your topic no later than February 27, 2009 to be eligible.

Our developer community has experience and deep knowledge about building applications on the eBay and PayPal API platforms. Selected speakers will get complimentary access to the conference, plus one night hotel stay on us. Get all the details.

Start making your travel plans early, and we look forward to your DevCon 2009 Call for Papers submissions!

-Delyn

No Immediate Plans to Block Active Content

As mentioned in June, we have been looking at ways to make it safer to shop on the site.

One of the things we've started doing is hosting user-generated content (the content in the Item Description) on a separate domain. This protects buyers from having their purchase interfered with, while still allowing sellers to provide a visually rich, informative shopping experience. You'll see the domain split on more and more pages as the new View Item page ramps up across the site.

We had also been looking at limiting sellers to a smaller, safer subset of HTML to minimize the possibility of interfering with the buyer experience on the View Item page. That project has been put on hold while we re-evaluate our plans. When we decide to consider it again, we will give you plenty of warning and will involve you in the discussion. This basically means that we do not plan to block user-generated active content at this time.

Important Update to Golf Club Item Specifics

On March 2nd, we plan to implement significant changes in Golf Clubs. We're removing the Club Type>Brand>Model dependency structure currently in place, and offering sellers more attributes and updated attribute values.

There are a number of issues we're trying to solve with this update:

1. Simplify the structure and remove restrictions on the Brand list by making it no longer dependent upon Club Type selection
2. Replace an outdated and limited Model list by allowing sellers to enter any model. (certain Brand selections do not offer any Model values at all)
3. Certain Club Type values are inaccurate: "Fairway Wood, Hybrid" is actually two separate types

Developer Impact

In order to remove the dependency structure described above, we will be removing or reassigning a considerable number Brand and Model value IDs on March 2nd. For example, instead of 30+ value IDs for the brand Ben Hogan, we will be reducing Ben Hogan to a single value in a new Brand list.

All Model values will be deleted. Model will become a free text field. eBay will not be replacing a seller's model selection into the text field, although developers may choose to provide this service.

Some renames will result in a listing being inaccurately described. A seller who selected the "Fairway Woods, Hybrid" value to describe their Hybrid will see the value is now named "Fairway Woods" The new value "Hybrid" should be selected instead.

The Condition value "Vintage" is being deleted. eBay will not map listings with "Vintage" to the Used value.

Summary of attribute changes:

• Brand attribute will no longer be dependent upon Club Type
• Model attribute will no longer be dependent upon Brand
• Model becomes a free text field
• Adding Loft
• Adding Flex

Summary of attribute value changes:

• Updating Brand values
• Separating Woods and Hybrids into two values
• Adding Club Type values for  'Woods Sets', 'Wedge Sets', 'Chippers' and 'Mixed Clubs'
• Adding Gender value 'Unisex'
• Adding Shaft Materials
• Removing Condition value 'Vintage'. Sellers of vintage clubs are encouraged to move their item to the separate Vintage Club category.

Once again, all dependencies are being removed. Most Brand value IDs and all Model value IDs will be deleted so it is important that sellers are able to access the new schema. Developers should note that in most cases, sellers who are relisting items will have to revise their listings.

Developers may also want to use this opportunity to encourage their sellers to adopt Item Specifics in Golf Clubs, if they have not already done so, and to take advantage of the new values. Item specifics are the primary means for buyers to narrow their search for clubs.

A detailed list of new attributes, new values, and their corresponding IDs is available for download, in order to accommodate these changes before the March 2nd release date.

New ProStores Release

eBay is pleased to announce the latest release of ProStores. If you're an eBay seller, this enhanced version makes it easy for you to open your own web store. If you're already a ProStores merchant, this upgrade means you can convert even more shoppers to buyers.

A few new features include:

• Smoother import of eBay listings into ProStores: eBay sellers who open a ProStores web store can import all eBay fixed price listings into ProStores and open a store for business in just minutes!
• Optimized product detail and product list layouts: A new tabbed design shows only the most important information up front. The product image, price and attributes, and a more prominent "Add to Cart" button are more visible.
• Improved Shopping Cart: A cleaner design leads shoppers on a clear path to the secure checkout.
• Better "No Search Results" Page: Keep shoppers on your site with a Featured Products display and an Advanced Search box that includes search tips.
• Check out the ProStores New Features page for more details!

To learn more about how ProStores can help you enhance your business with your own web store at your own web address, visit http://www.prostores.com. For API support, see the ProStores Developer Network.

Reminder: Hong Kong and Singapore Affiliate Programs Will Be Shut down on January 31st 2009

Please note that the Hong Kong and Singapore programs will be shut down on January 31st 2009. If you are still active on these programs, we recommend that you stop your campaigns now, as you will not receive any more commissions from February 1st onwards. There will however still be a payout for January activity. Other programs are not affected.

The eBay Partner Network Team

Early February Category Changes

The category structure will be updated in early February based on feedback received from the eBay Community and from experts in the affected fields.
If you sell in these areas, please be sure to take a look at the new category structure on Seller Central.

Changes this month are primarily generated from community suggestions. Categories with updates are:

• Coins & Paper Money
• Collectibles
• eBay Motors

We appreciate your input on how we can make categories better for everyone. Please submit categories suggestions here.

Thanks again to all our members who contributed to these changes!

Early February Item Specifics changes

We plan to update eBay Item Specifics year values in the following categories in early February:

• Sporting Goods: BMX, Mountain and Road Bikes
• Travel: Airline, Cruises and Vacation Packages
• Sports Mem.: Cards
• Gift Certificates
• Business & Industrial: Click here for category list.