eBiz Briefs: eBay Layoffs, Mick Jagger Rocks the Roundtable

This week eBay continues to dominate the headlines with rumors of layoffs and speculation about jettisoning StumbleUpon. In Web 2.0 news, a new Facebook gift registry service debuts and a customer-review service partners up with a security vendor. Finally, proving he indeed leaves no stone unturned, Mick Jagger struts his stuff in the name of e-commerce. EBay Briefs: Layoffs, Sales, CEO SouringReuters, the L.A. Times and other news outlets are reporting that eBay is expected to layoff as many as 1,500. "It all began with an article in Barron's on Monday that cited a report from a Colorado investment research firm, suggesting that eBay would cut 10 percent of its 15,000 employees. Wedge Partners' Brian Blair and Ryan Hunter wrote that the company's business was 'deteriorating,'" according to the L.A. Times. Meanwhile, the blog TechCrunch, is dishing on a rumor that the auction giant is looking to unload StumbleUpon, a Web site recommendation service. The blog quotes a source "with knowledge of the sale process" as saying eBay has hired Deutsche Bank to help find a buyer. And, finally, where is the love for CEO John Donahoe? A Wired blogger writes that, according to approval ratings on Glassdoor.com, a site where employees rate employers, that Donahoe is one of the least popular on the site. Donahoe's approval rating is a mere 30 percent, according to the post. Sortprice Service for FacebookSortprice.com this week announced the launch of its new application, The Wishlist, on the Facebook Platform. Designed much like a traditional gift registry, the application allows users to browse and compare prices on millions of products on Sortprice and then post their favorites to their individual Facebook pages. With detailed product descriptions and photos, shoppers are able to search for specific items or narrow by category, price, or merchant, then 'drag and drop' items to their individual wish list, which can be kept private or posted straight to their page. Users can assemble a list of comparable items to find the best deal on their own or post some suggested products that friends and family can purchase for birthdays, anniversaries or special occasions. Each product snapshot added to The Wishlist includes options for customer reviews and further price comparisons on everything from electronics to house wares to clothing and apparel.To learn more, click the The Wishlist page. VeriSign and RatePoint Partner UpFacing online security threats, abandoned transactions and the emerging influence of social networks, e-tailers looking to boost confidence and trust among consumers now have a new solution that helps them protect customers while offering a way to monitor and improve their reputations. Available this week, the bundled solution combines Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates from VeriSign, a provider of Internet infrastructure security services, with customer feedback capabilities from RatePoint, an online reputation management and customer feedback platform provider for e-tailers. VeriSign secures more than 1 million Web servers worldwide with SSL encryption and rigorous authentication, according to the company, while RatePoint allows customers to rate their overall satisfaction with an online business and its offerings. As a result, online businesses not only can secure their sites, they also can leverage the combination of VeriSign SSL and RatePoint reputation management to help reduce abandoned transaction rates and boost consumer confidence, the companies claim. Rockin' the RoundtableRolling Stone frontman Mick Jagger, according to numerous news reports, joined consumer and IT industry experts earlier this week in Brussels to draft a report on e-commerce trade barriers for the European Commission (EC). Jagger was invited by European Union (EU) competition commissioner Neelie Kroes to share his views at a roundtable discussion on copyright issues as they pertain to online music sales.

Michelle Megna is managing editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.


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