PlasticJungle runs a safer marketplace for giftcards than eBay. I had a great experience with PlasticJungle last month. My $35 check arrived promptly. Check out the eBay widget below to compare giftcards on eBay vs. Plastic Jungle.

Well, now they are running a Twitter contest starting Aug. 3. View the details on PlasticJungle.com.

I just used the Etsy API to run some product searches. It was very, very easy.

The Etsy Developers need to add a few more sort parameters to the keyword and tag search, like number bought and number of favorers (yes, that’s a word). But I like it. I really like it!

Here’s a nice looking Etsy application called Craft Cult.

Etsy offers a nice community feature that is missing on eBay. Etsy shows sellers who is has marked their shop as a favorite. CraftCult.com runs a cron to show the history of new favorers. Cool!

Etsy also shows the Etsy user names who “heart” an item for sale. Love it! I don’t know why eBay doesn’t utilize their watch list to build their community like Etsy.

My eBay app, WatchedItem, shows the number of watchers of an eBay item. Watchers are anonymous on eBay.

Watched Item shows the top 500 most popular items on eBay. It’s a good way to find the most attention grabbing items on eBay.

Cool! There I am at the eBay Dev Conf in San Jose.

Yep, that’s the back of my head. I’m in the front/right wearing the BRIGHT pink shirt chatting with Kevin from Auctiva.

Next year, I might turn around.

Here is the angle to why Walmart gift cards sell over face value on eBay.

LordKronos said:From time to time, eBay offers members coupons for 10% off if you pay with paypal. In addition, for Buy It Now auctions, live.com often has promotions giving you a percentage back via a deposit in your paypal account a few months later. Right now it’s at 9%. The peak I saw was the day after thanksgiving when it reached 30%. At the time, eBay had also given out some of those 10% coupons which could be combined with the live.com offer giving a total discount of 40% (I got a few good deals on that one).

Response:

Just looked back at my MS CashBack records. In November, when the discount often went to 25-30%, we purchased around $7-8K of gift cards (Costco, WalMart, Target, safeway), all at a premium. The net price to us was around 80 cents on the dollar. We also flipped several of them for $100 or so net per card. As you point out, the discount is down to 9% currently, so paying a premium isn’t worth it to us at this point.

Take a look at the Walmart gift cards selling over face value.

I got a credited as a source on SmartMoney.com yesterday! Article

It’s an article about the surge in Michael Jackson memorabilia sales after his announced death. My part was on the pre-death sales of MJ items on eBay.

Still, during Jackson’s life, some recent signs suggested relatively little interest from the broader consumer market in his memorabilia. Before Jackson’s death, sellers listed an average 200 to 400 memorabilia items daily on eBay (EBAY: 17.35, +0.21, +1.22%), only 50 to 100 of which sold, according to market researcher eSeller Street. Of course, some items offered on eBay may not have been of sufficient quality to attract buyers.

I hope I get a link next time.

There were 17,350 Michael Jackson items listed on eBay in the 18 hours after his death was announced. This accounts for 93% of 18,680 total active MJ listings on eBay.com.

Over 5,000 MJ items sold during this same 18 hours.

This is 5,000% to 10,000% more than the average number of MJ items sold in the beginning of June.

See the most watched auctions for Michael Jackson memorabilia.

The Thriller LP is particularly hot.

I’m the first bidder on the Chicken nugget shaped like a bunny rabbit!!! Surprisingly, I will make a profit on it. I bid $.99 and eBay Bucks says I get $1.00 back.

Watch the fur (or feathers) fly on this auction at www.watcheditem.com

No doubt about it, interest in eBay is declining. I still love the platform even though eBay treats sellers and developers with a corporate coldness reminiscent of my former Fortune 500 employers. Brrrr…..like pool water cooled with liquid nitrogen.

eBay used to be about competitive bidding and fun auctions until fall 2008 when they incentivized sellers to use fixed price listings. Fixed price listings are pretty boring – no bidding wars, no outrageous bids, no emotion. But good for us, we can still find interesting stuff on www.watcheditem.com.

WatchedItem.com’s Hall of Fame top 500 most watched listings shows you the actual number of people watching popular listings. The eBay pulse hides watcher information. Why eBay hides watcher counts is both a mystery and an opportunity for me (the creator of Watched Item).

You’re probably already familiar with the eBay pulse. Once you start watching the most popular items on eBay, you will get TOTALLY ADDICTED – like me!

The home page of the eBay Pulse shows the top listings in each category. You can drill deeper into categories on this page: the eBay pulse
Viewing the most watched listings on eBay is like using a compass. You immediately see what’s valuable and worth buying. If you are a seller, then the most watched auctions tell you what to sell.

Watched Item vs the eBay Pulse comparison
1. WI shows you the actual number of watchers. eBay does not. There is a huge difference between the top few items and the average items.
2. WI lets you view pulse items by keyword. Example: Rat Rod
3. WI will give you an opinionated answer to your questions. eBay will give you a terse canned response.
4. WI lets you filter items by fixed price or auctions. Nada on eBay.
5. WI lets you find a seller’s most watched items. Zippo on eBay.

Try it out Watched Item in a niche market. Say you love one-of-a-kind (OOAK) Artist Dolls. Take a look at this page: watcheditem.com/search Art Dolls-OOAK

Here are some other cool markets:
Breweriana & Beer
ACEO
Reborn dolls
fantasy dolls
John Deere

BTW, Watched Item is also an awesome banner maker for eBay sellers.

$138.50, 8 bids, ends in 1d 20h 12m
Judith Ripka Gold & Silver Diamond & Pink Crystal Earrings

Poloblade is an eBay seller that sells commemorative coins.

Obama coins are hot. This one has 122 watchers and 825 were purchased.