AuctionWatch launched services geared toward manufacturers and retailers last week. Its "Business Solutions" offer larger merchants customizable services including channel management (placing inventory in auction venues and AuctionWatch Storefronts); fulfillment services (automated invoicing, payment handling, shipping); marketing support (preferred placement, direct mail, templates); and inventory management (online inventory database, integration with external product databases). Companies can choose the level of service and may choose to integrate AuctionWatch services with their own management and distribution systems.

AuctionWatch also announced it has become an eBay Preferred Provider and has purchased eBay's API programming tool. AuctionWatch disabled its auction search-engine, agreeing to disable its robotic access to the eBay site as part of the deal.

eBay has been aggressively promoting its marketplace to manufacturers as a new distribution channel to sell overstock, returned, or last season's merchandise directly to consumers. eBay kicked off the Business to Consumers (B2C) approach as a way to fulfill its promise to shareholders to reach $3 billion in annual revenue by 2005. Jeff Housenbold, vice president of eBay's B2C Group, was quoted in Forbes as saying, "If you go through the top 100 retailers, we're talking to most of them."
http://business.auctionwatch.com
http://forbes.com/2001/07/26/0726ebay.html