eBay is discontinuing its Anything Points loyalty program on the U.S. eBay site, though the program will remain in effect on eBay Canada. The two-year-old program allowed users to convert loyalty points garnered from participating partners (http://anythingpoints.ebay.com/getpoints.html) to eBay "Anything Points" and use them to purchase items on eBay or pay their eBay fees. The program was tied to eBay's online payment service PayPal.

eBay said the program will officially end on February 28, 2006 and the transition process would begin immediately. Participants will be able to use any points they have accumulated until August 31, 2006. All points that have not been used by August 31, 2006 will become invalid. eBay advised users of the eBay Anything Points credit card to contact their respective credit card providers.

In an AuctionBytes article about the loyalty program written last month (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m06/i29/s03), an eBay spokesperson was quoted as saying, "I would not point to the Anything Points program as a key driver of PayPal growth" but said the Anything Points program "has a role to play in continuing to bring buyers back to eBay."

eBay told Cnet yesterday the program wasn't providing the return on investment it had expected (http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-5793339.html).

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200507180925532.html