eBay DevCon: From Video and 3D to Coded Coupons

An eBay executive outlined three areas the company is focusing on in a presentation to third-party developers this week. During the fifth annual eBay Connect developers conference, Vice President of Buyer Experience Mohan Patt also revealed that eBay is looking at 3D features to create a more engaging shopping experience for buyers.

Patt asked developers for help in increasing adoption of video, which is supported through its APIs. It really helps with conversion, he said, and video is just a starting point. “We’re looking at more and more engaging ways to bring seller content to buyers – we’re thinking about 3D.”

In addition to a focus on the shopping experience, Patt also cited eBay’s vertical strategy, pointing to categories such as watches, sneakers, certified refurbished, and auto parts – helping sellers bring their inventory to the platform and providing capabilities like authentication and a great catalog to list from.

He also said eBay is working on how to be a trusted platform – “we want to be the platform of choice.”

Separately, in a blog post about the developers conference, eBay wrote, “Our third-party developers are some of our most important partners in creating an engaging shopping journey on eBay.”

Citing 20 million active sellers hosting 1.7 billion live listings, it called application program interfaces (APIs) “crucial to the success of our marketplace,” and highlighted some of them, including the Media API that enables sellers to upload video to listings. The feature is currently available in the US and UK, with more markets coming soon.

eBay also noted that its Marketing API will have support for coded coupons in the third quarter (sometime before the end of September). It said coded coupons have been the fastest adopted and most impactful velocity driver to date.

eBay said it was committed to investing in tools and technologies that sellers need to scale their businesses and thrive. “In the past months we’ve enhanced our API capabilities to help sellers highlight their inventory and increase their velocity.”

You can find the full post on the eBay Tech blog on eBayInc.com, and you can watch the eBay DevCon presentations on this page.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.