Andale has been providing free, integrated counters for eBay sellers since 2000, but Andale President Linda Hayes said the company has decided not to renew its contract with eBay this year. She said it was an ROI (Return on Investment) decision. "We had to pay eBay to furnish them with that technology," she said. However, the relationship between the two companies is very sound and eBay's managers have been great to work with, she added.

Andale first signed an agreement with eBay in 2000 that allowed Andale to provide integrated counters and counter-related services to sellers directly from the eBay marketplace and eBay specialty sites. In 2003, Andale renewed the exclusive contract, which is up in June.

Hayes said Andale is working closely with eBay to make sure the migration goes smoothly, as eBay plans to present sellers with the option to use its own counters. However, it appears that some eBay international sites pulled the plug a little prematurely. eBay Australia replaced the Andale counters with its own in early April, and eBay UK, which did the same, is having problems with the new eBay counters, according to its message board (http://www2.ebay.com/aw/uk/200604131610232.html).

Andale will continue to offer eBay sellers free counters, and Hayes said to look for an announcement about new functionality to Andale counters in the near future.

http://corp.andale.com/x-counters.html