Check out the roadshow wrap-up, below.

DBO Wrap Video v04.0 from Peter Crocker on Vimeo.

PayPal Australia established DBO last year as a national initiative to educate the offline business population about online retail. A team of online commerce experts met with hundreds of regional businesses to conduct workshops and provide them with tips and tools to grow their business online. The 2012 campaign includes eight workshop seminars across seven states and territories, a series of webinars and an educational website.

Two hundred and fifty people attended this year’s kickoff event on Aug. 1 in Parramatta, Sydney. They met with senior leaders from eBay Inc. and partner organizations including Elena Wise, Director of PayPal Merchant Services, and Russell Zimmerman, Executive Director of the Australian Retailers Association.

“Driving Business Online proactively provides our local small- and medium-size businesses with the tools and guidance to link their business with the online world. We’re excited to work with thousands of new local businesses throughout Australia during our 2012 campaign,” Elena said.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard emphasized the importance of online commerce via a video link message for DBO.

“I know technology can be daunting for some businesses, just like the advent of things like shopping malls and television were challenging to retailers in a previous generation,” the premier said. “The message from the roadshow is: Don’t be afraid . . . I don’t want to see anybody miss the fantastic opportunities that exist in the digital age.”

For more information, visit https://www.drivingbusinessonline.com.au/.

The eBay-Terrafemina Observatory is a collaborative initiative that explores how women today are shopping, sharing and researching purchases online.

The study polled 510 women between the ages of 25 and 35. Among 25- to 35-year-olds, 95 percent reported that they typically share their fashion purchases online. Seventeen percent regularly use their smartphones to buy items, and 47 percent rely on their professional computers for shopping – reflecting a softer boundary between work and personal life.

For more on this story, check out ebayinc.com.

Enter the StubHub Bonnaroo Total Access Sweepstakes!
Enter for a chance to win an experience of a lifetime to the biggest festival of the year. The winner and 8 of their best ‘Roo friends get into the festival for an all VIP/Total Access opportunity, which includes backstage passes, limo, concierge service and more! Make this summer rock and enter here.

Further News
+ Facebook gains in public debut after record $16 billion IPO.
+ Starbucks brews loyalty with mobile payments‎.
+ Is Pinterest the next billion dollar company?

Looking Back on eBay Ink
May 23, 2011: Cheers to all small businesses out there! I just wanted to reiterate how grateful I am to the eBay Ink Social Media Sellers who contributed articles last week to celebrate National Small Business Week. The response I’ve received from folks has been really positive and I plan on making it more of a recurring feature on the blog moving forward. I’ve already received interest from additional social media sellers who’d like to contribute articles for the blog so, if you’re interested in either becoming a certified eBay Ink Social Media Seller or just have a cool story to share with readers, please feel free to email us.

eBay Ink Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

eBay On Location Around Corner
A quick reminder for those looking to join us in Denver May 24-25, 2012 for eBay OnLocation. Register now for your chance to find out what works best from eBay experts, business gurus and your fellow eBay sellers.

Further News
+ Will your Klout score get you hired?
+ Infographic showing five things we’ve learned about social sites, Pinterest and Facebook.
+ How to use social media for powerselling
+ Is the online shopping checkout harming or helping you?

Looking Back on eBay Ink
May 11, 2011: From The PayPal Blog: “PayPal leads, others follow”. You may have heard that Visa announced plans to launch a digital wallet in the US and Canada later this year. As the lines between online and offline commerce continue to blur, this is yet another sign that the payment industry’s model for success in our new digital world is looking more and more like PayPal’s.
While other companies are following PayPal’s business model, we’re already light years ahead. More than 98 million people around the world have already trusted us with their digital wallets. PayPal was built 12 years ago, because traditional payment methods weren’t designed for the digital world. We’ve offered mobile payments since 2006 and expect to do more than $2 billion in mobile this year. We’ve offered micropayments since 2005 and launched our solution for digital goods last year. We plan to be at retail point of sale by the end of this year. You can read the full blog post: PayPal leads, others follow.

eBay InkWeekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

Enter eBay Green Driving Contest
Who doesn’t love the smell of a new car? Enter for your chance to win a Toyota Prius, and learn how to save money at the pump with the wide variety of unique, green vehicles available on eBay Green Driving. eBay Green Driving is the latest in a series of programs and experiences designed to help eBay buyers and sellers make more sustainable shopping decisions. It offers user-friendly tools and resources, as well as eBay’s unique green vehicle and parts inventory, in a single location, to help people determine the best ways to “green” their daily driving routines – including information on electric vehicles, hybrids, clean diesels, compressed natural gas and ethanol vehicles, as well as high-MPG gasoline vehicles.

Further News
+ Take a look at this music video and get shopping.
+ Does mobile commerce encourage laziness?
+ A winning social commerce strategy: Don’t ask how, ask why
+ Ten habits of global online shoppers.

Posts From the Week
+ eBay Sellers Go To Washington
+ The Magento Imagine eCommerce Conference Kicks off in Las Vegas

Looking Back on eBay Ink
April 28, 2011: eBay sponsor Shazam App for Android giving users unlimited tagging. Shazam updated its Android App today bringing unlimited tagging sponsored by eBay for all “Shazamers” using the Shazam Free App and “Shazam Friends”, a real-time feed with the App of songs that Facebook friends have tagged. This essentially creates a continuously updating list for Shazamers to discover and share new music with their friends. The deal with eBay means that instead of just five free tags in a month, users can now tag as much music as they want between now and January 1st, 2012. This is the first exclusive App sponsorship deal agreed by eBay anywhere in the world, and the first time Shazam has selected a partner to provide free services to their customers.

eBay InkWeekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

Imagine is where merchants, partners, developers and Magento enthusiasts from around the world come together for three days in an engaging and exciting environment for collaboration, learning, networking, inspiration… and of course – Imagination!

Don’t worry if you weren’t able to make it down there (unfortunately, neither was I). There are a number of ways to stay up to speed on news and happenings down in Las Vegas:

* Subscribe to the Magento Blog.
* Follow @MagentoImagine on Twitter.
* Follow all tweets coming out of the conference, using the #MagentoImagine Hashtag.

To follow all content in real-time, check out the Imagine eCommmerce LIVE page.

Cheers,
RBH

Further News
+ E-commerce is driving up prepaid card usage as consumers have started to use them more to pay bills and make online purchases.
+ HTML5 is the latest version of the ubiquitous web programming language, and it’s especially important in mobile commerce.
+ There is a growing trend within the converging spaces of social media and e-commerce.

Posts From the Week
+ eBay Ink Wants You!
+ eBay’s Topaz Data Center Gets Even Greener

Looking Back on eBay Ink
April 18, 2012: eBay Instant Sale now offers $$ for broken devices. My 2 broken iPods may no longer be worthless. eBay has opened up its Instant Sale program to include new, limited-time pricing for broken or damaged iPods, iPhones and iPads, offering consumers more value for their broken gadgets than ever before in celebration of Earth Month. Additionally, eBay will offer every user that sends in their device – broken or not – a bonus $5 eBay gift card and a matching $5 donation to Global Green USA.

Through April 30, eBay Instant Sale will begin paying up to $150 for broken iPads, $100 for iPhones, and $50 for iPods. Until now, Instant Sale offered free shipping and responsible recycling for all broken items, but limited cash value. As a result, I now have two otherwise useless iPods that could translate into about 100 new songs from iTunes for my functioning one.

eBay InkWeekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

I’m working out of the eBay UK office in Richmond this week and have had some great meetings with a number of folks talking about all things social – from commerce to media to business. I’ve also been able to check out some cool stories coming out of the office here first-hand. Earlier this month, eBay UK launched its first-ever pop-up shop in London’s fashionable West End. The UK’s first-ever QR code shopping emporium, the eBay Christmas Boutique enabled shoppers to browse over 350 items provided by top-rated eBay sellers, who could purchase using mobile technology with just a few clicks.

Although there were physical items on display, all items were purchased on eBay using mobile devices. Naturally, I asked what was going to happen to all of the gifts on display throughout the shop. Turns out that many of the toys and gifts displayed in the Boutique have been donated to children’s charities.

The boutique was open Dec. 1 – 5 and although it meant it was only open for 5 days, they managed to attract over 2,500 walk-in customers. You can check out a full behind-the-scenes video below…

Cheers from the UK!
-RBH

Related Reads:
TameBay – Shopping at the eBay Christmas Boutique
techradar.com – In Pictures: eBay Christmas Boutique

X.commerce’s Matthew Mengerink Looks at Four Trends Commerce Trends
In a GigaOm guest post by X.commerce‘s Matthew Mengerink, he writes that mobile, local, social and digital are the four mega trends shaping the future of commerce. Merchants of all types—from brick-and-mortar retail outlets to non-profits, to manufacturers and even those selling online, need to ensure they’re ahead of the commerce curve. [via GigaOm]

Further News
+ Is social e-commerce in Facebook’s future? Mark Zuckerberg explained at the f8 conference this week.
+ Simple steps to building a strong mobile commerce foundation and generate success for your brand.
+ Is advertising on social media good for small business?
+ Retailers are looking for job candidates with e-commerce skills.

Looking Back on eBay Ink
September 22, 2010: eBay introduces the eBay tech blog – @ebaytechblog. The eBay Tech Blog was launched earlier this week and I for one am very excited at the possibilities. Partner this with our eBay Developer Blog and I think we’ve got some pretty cool information on cutting edge innovation coming out of our company.

eBay Ink Weekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.