EBAY LAUNCHES CERTIFIED PROVIDER PROGRAM WITH 17 CHARTER MEMBERS AT WEB 2.0 CONFERENCE 

eBay Certified Providers Offer Special Services and Solutions for Businesses
Seeking to Grow Through the eBay Marketplace 

SAN FRANCISCO – Oct. 5, 2004 – eBay, The World’s Online Marketplace®, today announced a new program that certifies organizations providing listing services, seller solutions and expertise to those companies interested in growing their businesses by integrating with the eBay platform. Announced at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, the eBay Certified Provider Program launched with 17 charter members, which provide services ranging from listing strategy and merchandising design to custom system integration and software development.

Charter members include Marketworks, As Was, Auctiva, Bandi, Borderfree, ChannelAdvisor, Channel Velocity, Dealtree, Infopia, Internet Business Skills, Kyozou, MyStoreCredit, SmartCollector, Truition, Wholesale Marketer, Worldwide Brands and Zoovy. 

“Some sellers lack the internal resources or expertise to effectively integrate with the eBay platform,” said Randy Ching, vice president, eBay Platform Solutions Group. “The eBay Certified Provider Program recognizes a distinguished group of service and solutions providers with the expertise and experience to help eBay sellers grow their eBay businesses.”

eBay is designating two types of certification: solution providers and service providers.  Certified Solution Providers offer technology or perform technology-based services (i.e., software development) along with non-technical services. Certified Service Providers supply solely non-technical services, such as consulting, responding to buyer inquiries, designing listing templates, and offering selling recommendations. 

To be eligible for either certification, individuals at interested companies must pass eBay’s challenging annual certification process, which includes exams covering eBay features, policies, best practices and technical backend.  In addition, at least 10 customer references must be provided, including at least one eBay Gold PowerSeller.  Once the exam is passed, program members have access to valuable educational and marketing resources, including use of the eBay Certified Provider logo on their Web site and other marketing materials. The logo also will appear on any of the provider’s listings in eBay’s Solutions Directory.

“We have helped many businesses grow by introducing them to eBay as a sales channel and are pleased that eBay is recognizing the importance of certification,” said Paul Lundy, chief marketing officer, Marketworks, a leading provider of sales automation software and marketing services for eBay merchants and the first member of the eBay Certified Provider Program. “This new designation signals to potential customers that Marketworks has a successful track record with providing services to the eBay community.”  Marketworks currently has nine consultants and six engineers certified through the eBay program.

About the eBay Developers Program

The eBay Developers Program, which encompasses the Certified Provider Program and Developer Education, enables third-party developers to create innovative solutions that tap into the power of eBay, The World's Online Marketplace®.  Members of the program gain access to eBay's platform and technical resources to create a wide variety of solutions to meet the diverse needs of the 114 million buyers and sellers on eBay.  To become a member of eBay's rapidly growing developer community, please visit http://developer.ebay.com.  A list of solutions and Certified Providers can be found at http://solutions.ebay.com.

Media Contact:
Elizabeth Crosta
Breakaway Communications (for eBay)