eBay has a verbal agreement with CollectingChannel.com to use its online appraisal service, according to today's Wall Street Journal. Look for Brooks Barnes' column in the Art & Money section of today's newspaper.

eBay has renewed its license with Thunderstone Software for its Texis search engine software. Texis powers eBay's "smart search" and "advanced search" pages, and also provides search functions for eBay's subsidiary Half.com, a fixed-price venue.

eBay security is lacking, failing to automatically encrypt customer data and leaving the information vulnverable to hackers, according to ZDNet. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-871061.html

eBay changed the way that event tickets are bought and sold on its site. Currently, eBay's ticket resale policy is based solely on the state where the event is held to determine at what price a ticket can be sold. If an event is in one of the 18 states that regulate ticket sales, the price is limited in accordance with the individual state's laws, regardless of the location of the buyer or seller. Going forward, the eBay system will apply the law only to residents of that state. The revised ticket policy can be found at http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-tickets.html

April Fools! Online auction users are vulnerable to viruses, and McAfee Consumer Products has published a public advisory outlining potentially damaging Internet threats and pranks along with useful tips to protect users in time for April Fools Day. Tips to avoid falling victim to online dangers can be found at http://www.mcafee-at-home.com