As reported yesterday, eBay announced a deal to acquire Skype, a service that allows users to make free phone calls over the Internet. We touched upon whether eBay would allow Skype contact information in eBay listings given its concern over off-eBay transactions (called "fee avoidance"). eBay spokesperson Hani Durzy cleared up a few of our questions yesterday.

eBay has a "Links Policy" to help control the way buyers and sellers communicate with each other and to prevent sellers from using eBay as an advertising medium for their own websites (http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-links.html).

Durzy said that sellers are allowed to include telephone numbers and email addresses in the auction description, but not URLs or hyperlinks. Also banned are links to live-chat windows.

Durzy said that it would be okay for sellers to include a text reference to their Skype name for potential buyers to contact them with questions about the product, but sellers are not allowed to include links to Skype connections.

As we noted yesterday, eBay CEO Meg Whitman seemed to indicate eBay would charge sellers to include Skype links in listings. Durzy said eBay would be working with the community for the best ways to balance everyone's needs in integrating Skype into the marketplace.

In a message from Whitman on the eBay Announcement Board announcing the Skype acquisition Monday morning, Whitman told users, "You can include your Skype ID in your About Me page. For now, however, Skype links may not appear in View Item pages. We'll be working with you, our Community, over the next few weeks to thoughtfully work out the details of how eBay and Skype will interact, including any policy changes that may be required."

http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m09/i12/s00