Atomic Mall announced that merchants may now sell Gift Certificates in amounts between $5 and $500. Once a seller has enabled the feature, potential buyers will see a box advertising that the seller offers gift certificates -clicking the box will allow them to add a gift certificate to their cart in a dollar amount of their choosing. Gift Certificates can also be transferred to other Atomic Mall accounts as gifts. There is also an option to print the gift certificate should the purchaser wants to physically present it to the recipient.
Atomic Mall also added the ability for sellers to have a cleaner-looking URL for their storefronts that includes their login ID instead of an ID number. (Current Atomic Mall's storefront URLs look like this: http://www.atomicmall.com/seller.php?id=12345, while now they may look like this: http://www.atomicmall.com/greendragon.) Old-style links will continue to work.
Bonanzle announced it has sets limits on certain areas of the site, including the number of items sellers can have in their booths. Bonanzle Booths are now limited to 10,000 items. "We think that this limit should help promote an atmosphere where no one seller could ever dominate policy (or hog buyers) on Bonanzle as we grow," the announcement stated.
eBid is running a Valentines Day contest for shoppers. Buyers who complete a purchase and leave feedback are eligible for the promotion in which they could win a $500 (£350GBP) gift certificate. The promotion runs through February 10, 2009, at which time the winner will be announced.
Etsy announced its 2009 site-maintenance schedule. During scheduled maintenance periods, site functions are unavailable and all Etsy users are directed to a page noting the scheduled maintenance. Etsy said it would use the monthly downtime to make its planned behind-the-scenes changes and improvements designed to enhance the stability and scalability of the site.
