May 15th is the deadline for 2009 Star Developer Award Nominations

Remember to get your nominations in for our 2009 eBay Star Developer Awards that we'll be honoring again this year at the eBay Developers Conference, June 16-18 in San Jose, CA. The deadline is Friday, May 15th.

Send us your nominations for eBay API developers in the following categories.

• DSR Rockstar (improving customer service & buyer experience)
• Most Innovative
• Early Adopter
• Service to the Developer Community
• NEW: Rapid Evolution (boosting seller efficiency in a dynamic marketplace)

Check our original announcement for submission instructions and eligibility requirements. Get them in before our Friday, May 15th deadline!

- Delyn

Just Added: eBay DevCon Keynote with John Hagel

We're pleased to announce that John Hagel will be joining us as a keynote speaker this year at the eBay Developers Conference 2009, June 16-18 in San Jose, CA.

John will talk to us about the daunting task developers face of shaping product strategy as technology-driven infrastructures constantly change, and how Web services platforms can create growth and opportunity in today's economy.

John Hagel III has nearly 30 years of experience helping companies improve their performance by effectively applying information technology to reshape business strategies. John currently serves as co-chairman of the Silicon Valley-based Deloitte LLP Center for the Edge, which conducts original research and develops substantive points of view for new corporate growth. He is the founder of two Silicon Valley startups.

John is the author of a series of best-selling business books, beginning with Net Gain, and including Net Worth, Out of the Box and The Only Sustainable Edge. He has won two awards from Harvard Business Review for best articles in that publication and has been recognized as an industry thought leader by a variety of publications and professional service firms.

Register now for eBay DevCon to learn from John's insights about Web services, entrepreneurship and his decades of experience in Silicon Valley.

- Delyn

Coming to eBay DevCon? Let your network know!

Coming to eBay DevCon 2009 this year, June 16-18? Let your network know by posting one of our DevCon badges on your blog, website, HTML newsletter, email, etc.

Don't forget to take us up on our Early Bird discount - register by April 30th and get into DevCon for only $99.

"I'm going to DevCon!"

Large Badge (235x100)

Copy and paste this code:

<a href="http://pages.ebay.com/devcon/"><img src="http://developer.ebay.com/images/devcon/2009/ImGoingTo_Badge.jpg" alt="I'm going to eBay DevCon 2009" /></a>

Small Badge (125x125)

Copy and paste this code:

<a href="http://pages.ebay.com/devcon/"><img src="http://developer.ebay.com/images/devcon/2009/ImGoingTo_125x125.jpg" alt="I'm going to eBay DevCon 2009" /></a>

Join us this year for a special DevCon at our eBay campus in beautiful, sunny San Jose, CA -- Register today!

- Delyn

List Multiple Item Variations for One Low Fee

Help your sellers increase efficiency, save on fees, and improve inventory exposure to buyers. Using multi-variation listings, they can manage and market multiple SKUs in a single eBay item for only 35 cents.

Documentation for API changes to support multi-variation listings is now live in version 615. Multi-variation listings were announced on April 14th and details on availability for customer use, starting June 16, are included in the FAQ at http://pages.ebay.com/sell/variation/index.html.

Multi-variation item features will be enabled in the Sandbox starting early the week of 5/11, with two test auction categories, 37565 and 37566, configured for creating multi-variation items. One of these, 37566, is configured with custom item specifics data similar to the data that will be configured for Men's Shoes, one of the two categories to be enabled for customer use on June 16. The other, 37565, has been configured with more generic data compatible with other Clothing, Shoes, & Accessories and Home & Garden categories, which will be enabled for customer use in July.

In addition to API limitations described in the developer documentation, the current code version does not include specific multi-variation support in GetAccount, GetSellerEvents, and GetSellerList. GetSellerList support will be added to the documentation and Sandbox in the 617 release. Plans for adding specific support in GetAccount and GetSellerEvents will be announced at a future date.

Add unique value to your solution: be one of the first to offer Variations. Check out the API Docs today!

Important Updates to the eBay Partner Network

As we announced on the eBay Partner Network blog post on Apr 22nd, we will be rolling out the newest feature and tool release with several upgrades for eBay Partner Network on May 1st. This upgrade includes:

• New functionality for the Link Generator tool
• The ability to link your eBay account with your eBay Partner Network account
• A new way to calculate earnings per click (they are now calculated as earnings per one click vs. per 100 clicks)
• New business model descriptions (to help us provide you with better customer service tailored to your model when possible)

Please read more about each of these enhancements in this post.

Please note a few more things about this release:

• Conversion data may update a bit later than usual in the day during the rollout and a few days after (from May 1st to May 5th)
• The category report will be unavailable during the afternoon of May 1st as we roll out the upgrades (from approximately 1pm to 6pm PST)
• We will be updating some our click filtering system to include a few additional known bots. This will not affect most publishers, although a few may see a drop in their click numbers

Finally, please note that as of July 1st, we will be winding down our partnership with publishers who directly promote eBay through three types of business models: tier-2 paid search, ad networks, and sub-affiliates. Please read the details about our decision and exactly who it will impact here.

If you have any questions on this, please contact customer service through this link: ePN-cs-english@ebay.com.

The eBay Partner Network Team