eBay announced the expansion of its Web services offering to software developers by adding SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and Java integration capabilities to the eBay software development kit (SDK) family. Available in the second quarter of 2004, this new offering will broaden the existing XML and .NET integration capabilities, and will give developers more ways to seamlessly connect to the eBay platform.

Web Services is the buzzword of the day for ecommerce sites like eBay, PayPal and Amazon. The concept of Web Services isn't new, but the emergence of Web Services standards allows for integration between sites and services like never before. Incamail and MSN are two companies that have integrated "My eBay" into their email and portal services. And eBay continues to integrate its online payment service PayPal into the auction site.

eBay said it has over 4,000 certified software developers compared to less than 200 just one year ago. These developers are creating innovative third-party software solutions that automate and accelerate business processes, and create greater efficiencies for buying and selling on eBay.

By connecting to the eBay platform, members of the eBay Developers Program are creating a broad range of solutions including: auction management, seller automation, buyer automation, category-specific productivity tools, as well as wireless and enterprise applications.

One eBay developer, SuperPawn, developed an application that linked its point-of-sale system to eBay and streamlined the process of listing, categorizing and fulfilling merchandise. SuperPawn created a second company, zTradingPost.com, to resell this application, called AuctionMonitor, to other retail businesses.

Another developer, TestMart, created specialized software that helps users sell in a specific category on eBay: test and measurement equipment. The solution enables sellers to include detailed specifications and photos extracted from TestMart’s database of test equipment information.

An overview of the eBay Developers Program and introduction to the new Web services offerings by eBay will be presented in a session at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego, California on Wednesday, February 11, 2004. eBay is a Gold Sponsor of the conference.

http://developer.ebay.com