eBay links US buyers and sellers via Skype

eBay links US buyers and sellers via Skype

June 15, 2006
Updated 09:48am (Mla time)

Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO -- eBay pressed its bid to bolster trading at its online auction site by announcing Wednesday it would enable US-based buyers to connect with sellers using its Internet telephony service Skype.

Beginning this month, eBay will test giving US sellers in 14 categories the option of having postings include "Skype Me" buttons that prospective buyers could click on to call them instantly via the Internet.

The new feature was among those revealed by eBay Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman at an annual eBay Live conference in Las Vegas.

Since buying Skype last year, eBay has integrated Internet telephone call features into its auction sites in Belgium, China, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, according to eBay spokesman Hani Durzy.

"The goal is to accelerate trade on eBay," Durzy told Agence France-Presse. "Most are free Skype to Skype calls. We are not looking at this as a way to gain revenue from Skype calls."

China is the country with the greatest number of Skype users, and sellers there have added the Internet telephone call option to 25 percent of the postings, Durzy said.

"In China, they love Skype," said Durzy.

Categories in the US test will include high-priced items such as cars, cult collectibles such as vintage television show memorabilia, and complex technical gear, according to eBay.

"We wanted categories that we felt the buyers would most benefit from speaking with sellers," Durzy said.

"It is all about removing friction in the bidding process," Durzy said. "Friction being anything that might prevent someone from making a bid."

EBay-devoted blogs and a wiki, a website where visitors can combine their collective wisdom into a definitive how-to guide for online auctioning, have also been created as community forums for buyers and sellers.

"I don't think blogging and wiki technology could be put in better hands than the eBay community," said eBay North America President Bill Cobb.

"There are lots of online communities, of course, but only eBay's can boast such a huge diversity of passions, interests and expertise."

EBay also announced that, beginning in July, it would roll out an eBay Alert service that would alert people on their mobile telephones to let them know when they were outbid on an item and give them the option of upping the ante.

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