Tag: eBay

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Is eBay planning something more with its advertising? Registers eBay ads domains

eBay ads

On December 23, eBay Inc. registered three domain names: eBay-ads.com, eBay-ads.net, and eBayads.net.

The domains, all purchased this week, hint at the possibility of eBay doing something more with ads that it displays on its websites, such as eBay.com.

In 2009, eBay replaced its Yahoo text ads with Google‘s ads. 

Though it’s fun to speculate, the domain registrations may be nothing more than part of the company’s IP strategy to keep others from using the names.  

As of today, eBay does not own eBayads.com.  The name, according to Whois records, is currently in Redemption Period, after its owner in China let the name expire.  

Redemption period usually means the name has about 30 days before its released by the registrar and either available for public registration or sent to one of the drop-catching services.

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Why did eBay register eBayMP.com?

ebaymp.com WHOIS information

eBay Inc. registered three domain names on October 7: eBayMP.com, eBayMP.net, and eBayMP.org.

In the last few weeks, eBay has acquired several domains such as Software Foundation names and “eBay Insights” names, none of which resolve to a website at the time of this story.

It’s possible the eBayMP domains were purchased to showcase the integration of PayPal and Magento, an open source e-commerce platform that was acquired by eBay over the summer.

The “M” standing for Magento and the “P” for PayPal.

It’s a slight stretch, but with the X.Commerce Innovate Developers Conference next week, eBay is expected to unveil how it is weaving together PayPal and Magento.

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eBay Software Foundation? Auction site buys eBay Software Foundation domains

eBay Software Foundation

It appears eBay is making plans to launch their own software foundation.  On September 28, 2011, eBay Inc. registered over half a dozen domain names related to: eBay Software Foundation.

The list of names includes: ebay-softwarefoundation.com, ebay-softwarefoundation.net, ebay-softwarefoundation.org, ebaysf.com, ebaysf.net, ebaysf.org, ebaysoftwarefoundation.com, ebaysoftwarefoundation.net, and ebaysoftwarefoundation.org.

Although nothing has been announced yet so it’s not official, one would imagine that the “eBay Software Foundation” might be a non-profit organization that provides support for the eBay community of open-source software projects, similar to the Apache Software Foundation. 

Less than two weeks ago, eBay Inc. registered six different ‘eBay Insights’ domain names such as eBayInsights.com and eBay-Insights.com,  following the company’s announcement it was building a new division to woo developers and attract merchants called X.commerce.

Here’s a look at the Whois record for eBaySoftwareFoundation.com.

Registrant:
        Domain Administrator
        eBay Inc.
        2145 Hamilton Avenue
         San Jose CA 95125
        US
     
    Domain Name: ebaysoftwarefoundation.com

        Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com
        Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com

    Administrative Contact:
        Domain Administrator
        eBay Inc.
        2145 Hamilton Avenue
         San Jose CA 95125
        US

    Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
        Domain Administrator
        eBay Inc.
        2145 Hamilton Avenue
         San Jose CA 95125
        US

    Created on…………..: 2011-09-28.
    Expires on…………..: 2013-09-28.
    Record last updated on..: 2011-09-28.

At the time of this story going online, none of the domains resolve to a web site.

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eBay registers ‘eBay Insights’ domains

eBay Headquarters

It looks like eBay wants to help people gain an even deep understanding of its auction website.

On September 19, eBay Inc registered six different ‘eBay Insights’ domain names such as eBayInsights.com and eBay-Insights.com.

eBay was recently in the news after it was announced it was building a new division to woo developers and attract merchants called X.commerce.  It appears these domain registrations may have something to do with reviving x.com.  If you pay a visit to the web site, you’ll see the word “insights”, for example, in the footer area of the home page where it says “Follow our insights”.

As X.commerce claims, “It provides merchants of all sizes and creative developers with easy access to the industry’s most cutting-edge technologies, and unprecedented power to innovate, compete and grow”.  eBayInsights will likely be a product of X.commerce.

At the time of this story going online, ebayinsights.com does not resolve to a web page.

Here are the six new names eBay registered.

http://whois.domaintools.com/ebay-insights.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/ebay-insights.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/ebay-insights.org 
http://whois.domaintools.com/ebayinsights.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/ebayinsights.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/ebayinsights.org 

(Photo of eBay headquarters in San Jose, California via Coolcaesar)