Auctioneer eBay presents data on popular offerings

Auctioneer eBay presents data on popular offerings
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Worried about flooding the market and devaluing your stash of "Shrek 2" DVDs? Curious about the street value of your rusting '82 C3 Corvette?
A new feature from online auctioneer eBay Inc. delivers a trove of data for buyers and sellers and could become one of the holiday season's hottest reference guides.
The free "Pulse" data aggregation site, at http://www.ebay.com/pulse, will be updated daily to reflect popular offerings in dozens of categories, including the day's most expensive listings and the most frequently used search terms.
Recently, the "most watched" listing was a 5-foot-wide parade float with a giant bust of John Kerry, built by Bush supporters in Ohio and dubbed "Project Longface Wafflehead." The top-selling CD was "Songs About Jane" by alternative rock band Maroon 5, with 78 separate listings ranging from $4 to $10 each.
Google, Yahoo, Amazon.com and other portals and e-commerce sites publish data about their listings, but eBay's aggregated data could dwarf those. At the end of September, eBay had a record 125 million users and 348 million items for sale.
The site is expected to help sellers, including small businesses that operate eBay Stores, manage inventory so they don't flood already saturated markets. The site could also spark buying sprees of must-have toys or video games for the holidays.
Mobile phones generate concern for companies
BANGALORE, India -- Mobile phones have now surpassed landlines in India, but mobile phone companies are still worried about low revenues and high taxes.
T.V. Ramachandran, secretary general of the trade body Cellular Operators Association of India, said service providers don't make enough to invest in infrastructure.
Average monthly revenues per user have fallen from around $40 in 1999 to $9 currently, while users are typically making more calls -- 309 minutes' worth in June, compared with 295 minutes in March.
Yet service providers have to pay up to 14 percent of their revenues toward license fees, revenue shares and charges to use wireless spectrum, Ramachandran said.
According to the latest figures from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the sector's watchdog body, there were 44.51 million mobile phones and 43.96 million landlines in India at the end of October.
In China, the number of mobile phones surpassed landlines last year.
U.S. Postal Service unveils holiday gift card greetings
NEW YORK -- Rain, snow, sleet or hail may not stop the postal worker, but it sure is a hassle for the rest of us.
So the U.S. Postal Service is letting customers go online this holiday season to design custom greeting cards with a gift card from a major retailer tucked inside.
Gift cards valued from $25 to $200 can be purchased from Bed, Bath & amp; Beyond, Circuit City, Lowe's home improvement stores and restaurants owned by Brinker International Inc., including Chili's Grill & amp; Bar and Romano's Macaroni Grill.
Other choices should be available by the holidays.
The cost is $4.99, plus postage and the price of the gift card. Cards sent without gift cards inside are cheaper, with discounts available for purchases of 10 or more.
Associated Press