Special $99 Offer for PayPal X Innovate 2009 -- Register by 9/15

Our friends over at the PayPal Developer Network are throwing their platform launch event, PayPal X Innovate 2009, over November 3 and 4 in San Francisco.

PayPal X Innovate 2009 is where you can learn how to leverage the new PayPal APIs to your advantage and easily monetize your ideas with more than 40 sessions, keynotes from technology leaders, hands-on labs, partner exhibits, and special networking events. Conference session descriptions and speakers now live on www.paypal.com/innovate2009.

Special offer to eBay Developers Program members that expires Tuesday, September 15th -- $99 conference registration for eBay API developers.  DON'T DELAY -- Use promo code 99EBAY915 and register now before this deal ends on September 15th.

For more information about the new open PayPal platform and the Innovate event – see the blog, news & announcements on www.x.com. 

- 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

New ProStores Release

eBay is pleased to announce the latest release of ProStores. If you’re an eBay seller, this enhanced version makes it easy for you to open your own web store. If you’re already a ProStores merchant, this upgrade means you can convert even more shoppers to buyers.

A few new features include:

• Smoother import of eBay listings into ProStores: eBay sellers who open a ProStores web store can import all eBay fixed price listings into ProStores and open a store for business in just minutes!
• Optimized product detail and product list layouts: A new tabbed design shows only the most important information up front. The product image, price and attributes, and a more prominent "Add to Cart" button are more visible.
• Improved Shopping Cart: A cleaner design leads shoppers on a clear path to the secure checkout.
• Better "No Search Results" Page: Keep shoppers on your site with a Featured Products display and an Advanced Search box that includes search tips.
• Check out the ProStores New Features page for more details!

To learn more about how ProStores can help you enhance your business with your own web store at your own web address, visit http://www.prostores.com. For API support, see the ProStores Developer Network.

PayPal Adds Support for eBay Coupons to Express Checkout

Update (10 Nov, 2008): The release of eBay coupon support has been slightly delayed. They hope to have it live tonight.

Also, here are two coupon codes you can use in the PayPal Sandbox. Note that they only apply to the PayPal Sandbox, and expire 31 Dec, 2009.

• CECTEST2008: 10% (Maximum discount $100) off Entire Transaction
• CECSINGLE2008: $10 off Single Item

For developers who provide Express Checkout to their customers, starting November 5 you can  add support for eBay coupons to the Express Checkout flow. Here is an example of how this might look to your buyer:

At launch, this feature will also be available in the PayPal Sandbox. PayPal is looking at providing a list of coupon codes that you can use for testing coupon support in your application. Those codes would only be valid in the PayPal Sandbox.

Here is the relevant excerpt from the Express Checkout API User Guide. For more details, you can see the full guide.

Integrating eBay Incentives into the Express Checkout Flow

  To integrate eBay incentives into the checkout flow:

1. Pass the following parameters and settings in the call to SetExpressCheckout.
   • PAYMENTACTION must be Sale
   • CHANNELTYPE must be eBayItem
     Note: For eBay auctions, you cannot set PAYMENTACTION to Authorization or
     Order. You must set PAYMENTACTION to Sale.
2. For each eBay line item, do one of the following (mutually exclusive choices):
   • For each individual eBay entry, pass the values returned by eBay when setting up the
     auction item descriptions in the parameters below:
     L_EBAYITEMNUMBERn and L_EBAYITEMAUCTIONTXNIDn
   • For multiple eBay items offered as a single order, pass the value returned by eBay when
     setting up the auction order description in the parameter below:
     L_EBAYITEMORDERIDn
3. The value of useraction must be commit so the Express Checkout flow displays a Pay
   button and the merchant can bypass any order review page.
4. It is recommended to pass the phrase "eBay item" in L_DESCn and the eBay Item Number
   in L_NUMBERn.

  Note: eBay maintains detailed information about each item sold in eBay auctions. If you set
the value for SHIPPINGAMT in the call to SetExpressCheckout, for example, you
do not need to be concerned about the shipping cost for individual items. eBay
calculates incentives based on its database, not from the values you pass in the
SetExpressCheckout call.

The following example passes order details and eBay incentives for two eBay auction items:

Sample 1.3 Setting the Express Checkout Order Details Parameters

Request [requiredSecurityParameters]&METHOD=SetExpressCheckout
&RETURNURL=http://coffee2go.com&CANCELURL=http://cancel.com
&PAYMENTACTION=Sale&EMAIL=jsmith01@example.com
&NAME=J Smith&SHIPTOSTREET=1 Main St&SHIPTOCITY=San Jose
&SHIPTOSTATE=CA&SHIPTOCOUNTRYCODE=US&SHIPTOZIP=95131
&L_NAME0=Photo&L_NUMBER0=32768923&L_DESC0=Plastic Frame-An EBay item
&L_AMT0=25.00&L_QTY0=1&L_EBAYITEMNUMBER0=32768923&L_EBAYITEMAUCTIONTXNID0=0
&L_NAME1=Nokia ND&L_NUMBER1=32768924&L_DESC1=Nokia Mobile-an EBay item
&L_AMT1=25.00&L_QTY1=1&L_EBAYITEMNUMBER1=32768924
&L_EBAYITEMAUCTIONTXNID1=7225687004&CHANNELTYPE=eBayItem
&ITEMAMT=50.00&SHIPPINGAMT=3.00&HANDLINGAMT= 3.00
&AMT=56.00&CURRENCYCODE=USD&ALLOWNOTE=1

Response [successResponseFields]&TOKEN=EC-2HX34015EC629990M

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. Callers and advisors must be over 18.

The new Skype Prime API enables you to query:

• Skype Prime listing categories
• Listings by keyword, category or language
• Listings of a specific advisor
• Customer reviews for a specific advisor.

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.

Only Skype Developer Program members can use the Skype Prime API, so sign up today! It's free to join,  and there are many other exciting opportunities  to integrate Skype services and to create software for the Skype community. 

Developer Impact: New View Item Page

At eBay Live we announced that we would be updating the View Item page to improve the buyer experience.

"Flex" design lets you size your template the way you want it

• May want to cap at 800 px anyway because 15% of eBay users are still at 800 x 600 px.

Larger images sizes (EPS automatically resized, self hosted are not)

• Base item picture = 300 x 300 px (current – 200 x 150 px)
• Larger item picture = 500 x 500 px (current – 400 x 300 px)
• No change in supersize image size

Here's an example of how images will look in the new View Item page image frame depending on how the image is hosted and what action the seller takes.

Original image in new View Item image frame	Original image in EPS automatically resized to fill View Item image frame	New image optimized for new View Item image frame
Self-hosted image. No seller action taken.	EPS-hosted image. No seller action taken.	Self-hosted or EPS-hosted image. Seller has provided new image.

We are continuing to study how buyers use the new View Item page. To check it out and learn more about the new design, visit this page: http://pages.ebay.com/newitempage/.

PayPal -- Scheduled Maintenance Notification

The PayPal site will undergo scheduled maintenance on Thursday, August 7, 2008 between 11:00 PM and 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time. The PayPal site will be unavailable during that time.

eBay Partner Network Migration

eBay affiliates who use Commission Junction must migrate to eBay Partner Network by May 1, 2008 or you will stop getting commissions

But relax, it's a very minor code update to use the new eBay Partner Network affiliate tracking values.

And as a reward for early migration, all eBay Partner Network members will get an extra 5% commission during the month of April.

1. Sign up with eBay Partner Network after April 1, 2008 to get your new tracking ID.
2. Use your new tracking ID instead of your old tracking ID
3. Update your tracking partner code

Please click here for details.

New and Improved ProStores Developer Network

ProStores has made some changes to the ProStores Developer Network that make it easier for developers, designers and individual merchants to start coding, get help, and gain exposure among our rapidly growing number of ecommerce businesses.

Developers and individual merchants can now:

• Get immediate access to the Software Development Kit, which has been greatly enhanced so that it is more secure, scalable and provides greater control of ProStores functions
• Access the newly developed Developer Forum, where you can get member-to-member help
• Get more visibility through the ProStores Solutions Directory and other ProStores marketing vehicles

The ProStores Developer Network is free to join, so sign up today!

To learn more about ProStores, visit www.prostores.com

To learn more about the ProStores Developer Network, visit www.prostores.com/developernetwork

PayPal Developer Days Coming to a City Near You

Beginning in November, the PayPal Developer Program is going to hit the road for PayPal Developer Days. Get training, business ideas, and a chance to take the PayPal Certified Developer exam for free ($150 value).

• Nov. 6: Miami
• Nov. 8: New York
• Nov. 9: New York (Brooklyn)
• Dec. 11: Dallas
• Dec. 13: Houston
• Dec. 14: Austin

See the PayPal Developer blog for more dates in 2008.