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Mark Carges Joins eBay To Lead Global Platform Development

eBay announced that technology executive Mark Carges has joined the company in the newly created role of Senior Vice President, Platform. Carges will be part of the company's executive management team and will report to CEO John Donahoe. He will be responsible for accelerating eBay's company-wide platform innovation and further opening eBay's platform to outside developers.

Carges most recently was Executive Vice President, Products and General Manager, for the Business Interaction Division of BEA Systems, a leading provider of enterprise application infrastructure solutions that was acquired by Oracle in April 2008. During more than a decade at BEA, Carges held a variety of other senior technology leadership roles, including CTO.

Please join the eBay Developers Program in welcoming Mark to eBay!

New Skype Prime API: Get Paid for your Advice

Skype is pleased to announce the release of the Skype Prime Web Services API.

Skype Prime is a directory of advisors and experts who offer  advice or  training over  Skype. Need an Algebra tutor? Want to practice your Portuguese? Want a custom horoscope? You can find them all through Skype Prime. Advisors set their own rates and Skype handles all the transactions.

Developers may want to integrate the Skype Prime features into their applications to give their customers an easy way to make money sharing their expertise. For more details visit the Skype Developer Zone.

New View Item Page in Sandbox

Want to see how your listing will look in the new View Item page? Head on over to http://sandbox.ebay.com!

The new View Item page is now live in the Sandbox for all listings. This lets you test your listing templates to make sure they'll look good in the new page.

The domain split for the item description is also live. We suggest that all developers and template creators list in the Sandbox so you can test how your template works. You'll be able to catch any unexpected interactions with the iFrame.

For more information see:

• View Item page: Developer Impact: New View Item Page.
• Domain split: Developer Impact: Domain Split on the View Item Page.

Product News

Get A Boost In Best Match! Relist Your Multi-Quantity Item

Recent sales will start to factor into Best Match  sorting in mid-September, but the tracking starts now.

We think recent sales is a great way to tell a great listing, so we're going to start boosting those listings in search. If you start listing in multi-quantity  now and then  continue to relist those items when they expire,  you'll start accumulating a "recent sales" score reflecting the recent purchases of that item. When the feature is turned on, you start reaping the  rewards.

For more information on Recent Sales, see Developer Impact: Recent Sales and Best Match.

Developer Impact: Recent Sales and Best Match

Here's another great reason to list in multi-quantity!

A fixed priced item's best match ranking will also be based on the number of recent sales that an individual listing has had.

Recent Sales Overview

Recent Sales measures the number of sales an individual listing has had recently. This is one of the many factors used in Best Match sorting. The recent sales factor is most evident for multi-quantity listings.

Success strategy for sellers

• For items that should be listed in fixed price (for example, lots of inventory, seller knows the price, listing may need to be on site for longer than 7/10 days), sellers should list in multi-quantity (for the same low insertion fee 35 cents) for long duration
• The more sales you have per listing, the greater the opportunity for better visibility and standing apart from the competition

Developer Impact

To support this feature we suggest:

• Single-item listings: If single-item listing has ended and it has not sold, automatically relist the item and get the relist credit.
• Multi-quantity listings: If the listing has ended and ANY quantity remains (and the item has not been relisted before), automatically relist. You will not get a relist credit, but your recent sales score will carry over.

To support this feature we suggest:

• Regardless of time remaining, allow revise of price and quantity.

Release date for Recent Sales is targeted for mid-September.

Categories Where Return Policy or Handling Time Is Not Required

As we announced earlier, Return Policy and Handling Time will be required for most categories starting October. Here is the current list of categories that will NOT require a Return Policy or will NOT require Handling Time.

Return Policy NOT required:

• Baby - Toys for Baby - Blocks & Sorters -100225
• Baby - Toys for Baby - Crib Toys - 100226
• Baby - Toys for Baby - Developmental Baby Toys - 100227
• Baby - Toys for Baby - Plush Baby Toys - 146543
• Baby - Toys for Baby - Rattles - 19070
• Baby - Toys for Baby - Teethers - 134289
• Baby - Toys for Baby - Other - 2291
• Cameras & Photo - Wholesale Lots - Vintage - 45088
• Real Estate - Commercial - 15825
• Real Estate - Land - 15841
• Real Estate - Manufactured Homes - 94825
• Real Estate - Residential - 12605
• Real Estate - Timeshares for Sale - 15897
• Real Estate - Other - 1607
• Specialty Services (L1) - 316
• Partner (L1)  - 10159

Handling Time NOT required:

• Real Estate (L1)- 10542
• Specialty Services (L1) - 316
• Gift Certificates (L1) - 31411
• Business & Industrial - Businesses for Sale - 11759
• Computers & Networking - Web Domains & Services - 58059

As always, we suggest you call GetCategoryFeatures to confirm that Return Policy or Handling Time is not required for your feature.

Early September 2008 Category Updates

The category structure will be updated in early September 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.

Updated Categories:

• ANTIQUES
  New categories for pre-1930 Bed & Bath Linens.
• COLLECTIBLES
  New categories, including restoring Vintage Bed & Bath Linens and a new section for Souvenirs & Travel Memorabilia.
• JEWELRY & WATCHES
  Last month we created a new Fine Jewelry section for items made of solid precious metals and naturally mined stones. This month, a new Fashion Jewelry umbrella category is being added and existing (non-Vintage) Bracelets, Charms, Earrings, Hair Jewelry, Jewelry Sets, Necklaces & Pendants, and Rings categories will move under it. If you sell in this area, we encourage you to view the category changes on Seller Central.
  
  For an overview of the August and September jewelry changes, please visit this page: http://pages.ebay.com/categorychanges/Jewelry-2008.html
  
  In Vintage & Antique Costume Jewelry, we'll be making changes to the Retro, Vintage 1930s-1980s structure so that sellers will be able to classify by jewelry type. Many items will be moved into "Other" categories during this transition, so we do encourage sellers who list in this area to evaluate the upcoming changes and move their listings into the new categories as soon as they become available.
• SPECIALTY SERVICES
  New categories
• SPORTING GOODS
  New categories
• TOYS & HOBBIES
  New categories