Dinesh Lathi’s New eBay Toy: I Got An App Store Too Apple?!?
To little real fan-fair eBay’s VP of Seller Experience, Dinesh Lathi announced the eBay Selling Manager Application launch. And the world of eBay sellers did not even really make mention of it. It was treated, at best, as a "bi-line" news item by most eBay news outlets.
Even though it was mostly overlooked by the rest of the eBay blogger and think tanks, personally I think this could be the "IT" story of the YEAR for eBay. Below is the full announcement from the eBay boards by Dinesh…
If you are looking for ways to make your business more efficient, improve customer service or streamline shipping, solutions for these and many other critical areas of your eBay business are available starting this week. You can try them for free with new Selling Manager Applications.
All sellers can take advantage of these new tools – all you need is a subscription to Selling Manager (now FREE) or Selling Manager Pro. From within Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro, any new applications you subscribe to will appear under the Applications tab. (This tab will begin rolling out today; all subscribers should see it in My eBay by the end of this week.)
From sourcing product to shipping your items, Selling Manager Applications are designed to make your business easier to run. Best of all, every application is available with a free trial (usually between one week and 30 days) – so you can try it out before you subscribe. Most Selling Manager Applications charge a subscription fee; however, you will find many free applications as well.
Here’s how you get started:
1) Subscribe to Selling Manager (now offered for free) or Selling Manager Pro. (Skip this step if you are already a subscriber.)
2) Go to the tab labeled “Applications” and continue to the Selling Manager application directory. You can also view all the applications directly at http://applications.ebay.com.
3) Browse or search for the applications that interest you the most — customer support, inventory, research and reporting, and more.
4) Try out applications for FREE that will help manage your business on eBay. Remember, each application has a free trial period so you can try it out before you commit to purchase.If you have feedback about the new applications, or if you have questions, please drop by either the Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro discussion boards. We have special threads open on both boards where you can share your thoughts and ask questions.
Don’t delay … take advantage of the free trial offers to get the right application in place for the upcoming holiday selling season!
Sincerely,
Dinesh Lathi
VP Seller Experience
Now for my take on this… Why do I think this is substantial? Well, this change has moved eBay into a new possible market position. eBay is no longer "just" a selling platform, it is now becoming an application platform. That simple change in the business could mean substantial increase to the bottom line in the future of eBay.
Sure you can just pile on applications that make it easier to sell on eBay. Yeah that is one way to look at this addition to eBay, BUT the API calls used to make these apps are now financially viable for eBay. The benefit of opening the API for developers and then dropping the code INSIDE of eBay is a game changer. Similar to Apple store for the iPhone, now eBay is putting together a "application store" for eBay. The apps are delivered directly inside of eBay and that allows eBay many options on where they can take this thing next.
Where will they take it? How will they monetize it? How far will new application go to making selling and transacting on eBay easier? DUDE the sky is NOW the only limit. Let me be one of the first to acknowledge that this could really be a game changer for eBay and the future of the platform.
Game on, playas 
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