ebay

Buy it now, for real: eBay to refer sales to nearby stores

SAN JOSE, Calif.--eBay knows that half of all Christmas shoppers miss its December 16 shipping deadline for getting presents under the tree in time, and it wants to help the stragglers.

The e-commerce giant's idea is to make it easy for shoppers to find the item they're looking for--say, a Nintendo Wii--that's for sale and in stock at a store near them and to select and pay for it in advance through a mobile app.

The technology has been rolled into the latest version of eBay's RedLaser mobile app, which allows users to search for … Read more

eBay prepares for new fight over Internet sales taxes

eBay is preparing to battle an Internet sales tax proposal targeting small businesses that do even $1 of online sales a year.

The San Jose, Calif.-based auction site is alarmed by forthcoming legislation, reported yesterday by CNET, that would allow states to require taxes to be collected from even very small out-of-state Internet retailers--some of eBay's best customers, in other words.

While similar tax proposals have circulated for years, earlier versions exempted small sellers with less than $5 million in revenue. Then the exemption dropped to $1 million. Now the proposed cutoff in a draft bill from Republican … Read more

Yahoo's Levinsohn: What problems? Let's talk about U2!

SAN FRANCISCO--Considering all that's going on with beleaguered Yahoo, it's impressive that Ross Levinsohn even showed up here at today's Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco.

Not surprisingly, Yahoo's executive vice president for North America didn't say much about the hot-button issues in his interview with John Battelle, the founder and CEO of Federated Media, which puts on the conference: Will the company sell itself, for instance? And who will replace Carol Bartz, whom the board fired in September after a disastrous 2 1/2 years as CEO?

But Battelle tried.

Is Yahoo buying AOL? … Read more

eBay Motors launches car show online, and in mobile app

eBay's dedicated Motors mobile app is fast becoming a sort of entertainment channel for gear heads. The auction company launched an original automotive series to get car shoppers to spend even more time researching, dreaming of, and shopping for vehicles on eBay Motors online and on their mobile devices.

Hosted by former 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and FIA GT2 World Champion Justin Bell, the "World's Fastest Car Show" will tackle auto adventures, interview auto enthusiast celebrities, and take a peek inside crave-worthy car collections. A new show will premiere each week on eBay's Web site, and a shorter version will be available in the eBay Motors mobile app. But the app is expected to get additional exclusive content and sneak previews of future episodes before they're made available online.

It turns out that shopping for cars on mobile phones is quite a popular pastime, and by offering up even more car porn, eBay is attracting a growing base of current or future car shoppers. Approximately 2,000 vehicles sell on eBay's iPhone app every week, and as of this posting, eBay Motors is the most popular free Lifestyle app on iTunes, beating out Groupon and Victoria's Secret Pink. … Read more

British rapper nabs Marty McFlys--for $37,500

How much is a pair of real-life Marty McFlys from "Back to the Future II" worth? To Tinie Tempah, the answer is $37,500. That's how much the British rapper paid for the Nike sneaks during a live auction Wednesday night in Los Angeles, TMZ reports.

"It was a total spur-of-the-moment decision," the rapper told the publication. "I was really touched in the moment by the presentation and next thing I knew I owned these iconic sneakers."

Anyone with deep pockets can still bid on one of 1,500 pairs of Nike's new Air Mag 2015 sneakers up for auction on eBay's Fashion Vault. Proceeds from the 10-day auction will go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's research.

The man behind the famed Marty McFly character, actor Michael J. Fox, went on the "Late Show with David Letterman" last night to show off the rechargeable kicks (see the vid below). They look like the originals, but sadly don't sport power laces.

Most of the shoes being auctioned haven't come close to the $37,500 price tag yet and are instead going for $4,000 to $11,000. … Read more

Pulled eBay MacBook 3G sports magnetic antenna

Following this weekend's brief, but notable eBay listing of a MacBook Pro notebook with a built-in 3G antenna and SIM card slot, the seller has provided more details on the device, the sale of which never went through.

According to the seller, who posted additional details on the forums of Macrumors, the auction for the prototype machine was pulled at Apple's request for infringing on "copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights."

In a follow-up forum posting, the seller provided additional photos of the device, which sparked interest given that Apple has never shipped a notebook computer with built-in 3G networking capabilities. Of note is the exterior antenna, which in a follow-up photo, is shown to be removable, and affixed to the machine's display only with magnets.

"Reading through the thread the antenna seems to be the hottest topic, mostly how 'ugly' it is. Really in person it seems quite well designed, and not out of place with the rest of Apple's look," the seller, who goes by the name "Evilroot" wrote. "Also after reading the post earlier about the patent application I was surprised to find that the antenna actually follows that exact description: it is attached with a magnet and snaps off!" … Read more

Free books for your Kindle

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Amazon.com launches a library lending program for its Kindle e-reader

Toshiba's tablet will come out in June in Japan and shortly thereafter abroad

eBay purchases geolocation service Where

Google launches Earth Builder for cloud storage of geographic and geospacial data

Gamefly wins its case against the U.S. Postal Service

iPad tops iPod trade-ins 2-to-1 on eBay

New data put out by eBay this morning shows that consumers are trading in more than double the number of iPads than iPods as part of the company's gadget trade-in program.

The tidbit accompanied news that eBay is giving Apple owners a bigger trade-in value for broken iPhones, iPads, and iPods. As part of the promotion, which coincides with Earth Day, those who trade in their nonworking gadgets can get up to $150 for a broken iPad, $100 for an iPhone, and $50 for an iPod. eBay is also doling out a $5 gift card, and a matching $5 … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1435: Oh Symbian.. We hardly got to Nokia

Apple's WWDC announcement could signal the iPhone 5 is coming later this fall. Facebook's movie model is working, mobile phone payments will be the new black, and Symbian phones will be discontinued in 2010...*tear*. Plus, thanks to the Oxford English Dictionary "muffin top" will live forever.

eBay Motors app designed for browsing as much as bidding

Yesterday Steve Yankovich, vice president of mobile for eBay Motors, walked me through a demo of the eBay dedicated automotive iPhone app. The company is releasing a handful of vertical apps designed to engage the user, encourage frequent shopping, and increase sales. The eBay Motors app for iPhone is expected to be released in March or April, and Android and iPad apps are also in the works.

The app contains all the typical search features you'd find on the site, enabling users to search for specific vehicles by make, model, and year, and filter based on color, condition, price … Read more