It's April 30th -- Register today to get to DevCon for $99

Double digit pricing ends today, so don't miss out on your last chance to register for eBay Developers Conference 2009 for only $99.

Don't forget that Friday, May 15th is our deadline to receive your Star Developer Award nominations for the developers that we'll be honoring this year at eBay DevCon, June 16 - 18 in San Jose, CA at our eBay campus.

- Delyn

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

Last Chance to get to DevCon for only $99! Register by April 30th

April 30th is rapidly approaching -- don't miss out on your last chance to register for eBay DevCon for only $99! We know economic times are tough on all of us right now, so we're making it easy on your budget to get to DevCon this year, June 16-18, in San Jose, CA. Register now so you can relax and make plans to enjoy all the summer attractions in the beautiful Bay Area.

Next, don't forget to get your Star Developer Award nominations in to us by Friday, May 15th. We are excited to see the submissions starting to come in about the best tools and services being offered by developers working with the eBay API platform. You can nominate yourself, but we'd also love to see some nominations from your satisfied customers. This is a great opportunity to get the word out about your solution for small businesses on eBay.

Our technical and business sessions are filling in nicely - make sure you subscribe to our iCal feed so you can keep up to date with the latest sessions and speakers we are adding. We are especially excited about the new Pre-conference Workshops we have added on Tuesday, June 16th. If you are looking to get started using our eBay API platform for the first time, make sure to sign up for our eBay API Platform Jumpstart workshop. Or if you are wondering how to take advantage of the next generation of our eBay platform, sign up for the eBay Selling Manager Applications Jumpstart workshop. They'll be walking you through how to get your applications built, submitted for review, and embedded directly on My eBay in front of hundreds of thousands of professional eBay sellers. Don't forget to bring your laptop -- our Pre-conference Workshops are strictly B.Y.O.L.

Lastly, we know our developer community is a social bunch, which is why we've opened up our eBay DevCon Facebook event, LinkedIn event, posted on social Web calendars, and encourage you to follow us on Twitter @ebaydevcon to get the latest status updates about the event. And if you're already registered -- let your network and customers know with a little eBay DevCon flare to your website or blog.

Check back in a couple of weeks for our next DevCon update. Register now, so you don't miss out on our recession-friendly, double-digit deal of only $99 to get to eBay DevCon this year!

- Delyn

Send us your nominations for the eBay Star Developer Awards!

They're here! We’re opening up nominations for our annual eBay Star Developer Awards that we honor every year at the eBay Developers Conference, happening this June. Developers and their applications are eligible to be nominated if they build apps using the eBay API platform and if they have represented the very best of the eBay developer community over the past year in one of our nomination categories.

This year, we’ve got five categories for eBay API developers for our 2008-2009 awards:

• 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)

Please send your nomination to us via email to developer-relations AT ebay.com, no later than Friday, May 15th. Be sure to include:

• your name and contact info
• the nominee’s name and contact info
• the award category, and a brief explanation as to why you think the application is worthy of consideration.

Be sure to put “eBay DevCon Star Developer Award” and the category name in the subject line of your message.

Also be sure to registerby April 30th to get our recession-friendly pricing deal of only $99 for the eBay Developers Conference 2009, happening Tuesday -- Thursday, June 16-18, right at our eBay North campus in beautiful, sunny San Jose, CA.

Don't miss this great pricing, and get your nominations in no later than Friday, May 15th!

- Delyn

Developer Impact: Apr 14, 2009 Announcements

Today, Stephanie Tilenius announced several upcoming changes.

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

eBay opens up SM Apps beta plaform to gadget developers

eBay has always supported open standards for Web development. We have been an open API platform for over 8 years, but now that we've opened up Selling Manager as a beta platform for developers, we've chosen to embrace the gadgets specification as defined within OpenSocial. Using the concept of gadget containers, developers are able to take existing gadgets and re-mix and re-use them in innovative new ways across the Web.

Our platform architect, Farhang Kassaei spoke to Chris Schalk of the Google Code team at Web 2.0 Expo last week about eBay's decision to standardize our architecture for this platform to the OpenSocial gadgets specification. If you missed Farhang's session at Web 2.0 Expo with David Glazer, the Director of Engineering from Google, then make sure to check out Farhang's post on the OpenSocial blog or the video below.

Open standards allow developers to innovate more quickly across platforms, and that makes the Web better for everyone.

Enjoy the video!

-Delyn

eBay Trading API Documentation

• Release Notes
• eBay Web Services Guide (HTML) or (PDF)
• Call Reference

eBay Shopping API Documentation

• All Tutorials: Start working with the Shopping API.
• Getting Started Guide: A quick overview of the eBay Shopping API and what you can do with it.
• Call Reference: Browse all calls and the fields they use.

Web 2.0 Keynotes: Mark Carges on Five Things That Matter for Developers Today

The keynotes were thoughtful and down to earth today at the Web 2.0 conference. The hall was packed, and you have never been in a room with so many iPhones in your life.

Tim O'Reilly opened, with a visionary presentation (viewable here) on the general themes of "Web 2.0 Five Years On" and "The Power of Less." He cited interesting ideas in Web 2.0 history (the web as a platform, the Google index as a "database of intentions"), Web 2.0 present (the web is growing up and learning how to use its data), and Web 2.0 future (your houseplants tweet you when their potting soil is getting dry; items are reflected throughout the web in "information shadows" that can be recognized even without global identifiers such as ISBNs ).

O'Reilly's view of Web 2.0 future takes in much that is less trivial than tweeting petunias. He addressed the state of maturity of Web 2.0, and looked forward to probable next stages. To illustrate the direction in which Web 2.0 is evolving, O'Reilly said, "Meaning does not have to be formalized. It can be statistically extracted." Don't worry. O'Reilly supplied examples and practical implications of that dense aphorism.

For example, just as the length and sequence of songs can identify a CD, a sensor's data about the heat and exhaust signature of a major appliance can identify the appliance's make and model. Sensors in homes, factories, hospitals and schools are even now being used to construct a "smart grid." The implication: useful information about things like our cities, global healthcare, and the state of the environment can be extracted from data that is already available to us, without the expense of sending a lot of people around with questionnaires and clipboards and measuring devices. In other words, we can afford the information we need, because we already have it.

Well-received presentations followed, from John Maeda (designer of a friendly inaccurate clock and foreseer of flattened hierarchies), Stephen Elop of Microsoft (who sat down with Tim O'Reilly and told him that Microsoft is becoming much more interoperable), Amanda Kosto (of salaamgarage.com), and Michael Abbott (of Palm).

Mark Carges, eBay CTO and SVP of Global Platform, wrapped it all up with a short, hard-hitting closing keynote (viewable here) entitled "Five things that matter to developers today." Given the economic crisis, his down-to-earth approach seemed the most tailored to the moment. "What do developers care about right now?" is a question that, in the immediate present, is probably not best answered by sweeping or visionary answers. This moment calls for thoughtful, practical measures that embrace new opportunities while minding the bottom line.

Mark's choice of subject matter demonstrates that eBay knows the value of its developer community. Each of his points (summarized below) demonstrates a strong vision of how the Developers Program both depends on developers, and benefits developers.

1. Making money

Of course. Since the first data-scraping and sniping tools... well, wait, make that since eBay first opened its APIs to developers, the eBay development ecosystem has grown with the volume of eBay transactions. eBay sellers sold $60B last year, and the 80,000 developers who helped sellers research, list, and service all those transactions also received their cut.

2. Useful technology

eBay has some of the greatest technology and data assets on the web.

The technology of eBay and PayPal is useful on a massive scale. PayPal has 70 million users. eBay sees 150 million unique visitors per month, and supports 70 million sellers worldwide.

The developer community that provides applications for eBay sellers and buyers uses the eBay APIs to drive as much as 60% of eBay transactions.

3. Accessible technology

Mark emphasized the importance of mobile applications.The eBay iPhone application is a strong start. It is clear that he believes eBay should make a powerful effort to enable mobile usage. eBay and its third-party developers still need to make some breakthroughs to enable accessibility.

4. Technology adapted to you

Today, your cell phone is a communications device, an entertainment center, a mall, and a social network. Tomorrow, it may also be your wallet. Already you can instantly repay a loan to a friend who has a PayPal account. Soon, In-N-Out Burgers may accept PayPal, and you will be able to pay for your burgers at the counter from your cell phone.

PayPal is uniquely adaptable for this kind of use, because it is a single global payment network, with end-to-end transaction visibility, good risk protection and fraud detection, integrated with more than 15k banks. PayPal unifies the world's disparate money systems to enable payments anywhere.

The big news in adaptable technology is that the PayPal Developer Program is opening up later in 2009. Third-party developers will use flexible APIs for sending money to create mobile payments applications that will change the way people pay for things.

5. Open platform

eBay released a new developer opportunity today.SM Apps lets developers embed seller applications in ebay.com, just as you can embed applications in Facebook. The difference is that with SM Apps developers can make money, charging a one-time fee or using a subscription model for use of their application.

Because the SM Apps platform uses the Gadgets specification, applications built for eBay can also operate elsewhere on the web, including on other portal pages.

The Selling Manager tool has 270,000 active, paying businesses operating in the U.S. alone. As Mark said, "While other platforms are trying to figure out monetization... we are set up for you [the developer] to take a cut, and we hope you will."