Buy It Now? Skype Me! Or Just Send PayPal Payment While Chatting

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

eBay announced Tuesday that certain categories of auctions would soon have a “Skype Me” button that would allow users to communicate directly with sellers. On June 19, the button will be added to 14 categories of products which eBay determined would have sales facilitated by instant communication, such as automotive GPS devices, NBA basketball cards, diamond solitaire rings and cars and trucks.

Those who push the on-screen button will be able to contact sellers by voice, text chat or both to request more information about a specific item in real time, the online auction pioneer said at a convention in Las Vegas. “Skype represents a tremendous opportunity for our sellers to connect even more closely with their buyers,” said Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, in a release. Source: ABC News

We Say: Finally some real integration of Skype into eBay’s auctions, as eBay continues to move slowly with usage of the company it bought last year, into its core business.

Alice Adds: I don’t ever want to talk to the person on the other end of an auction, but maybe that’s just me. What I find intereesting is the integration of PayPal into Skype. Using my porn theory of tech success, this could be a gold mine. The integration makes it easy to pay people while on a Skype call. As Gizmodo put it:

The upcoming Skype version 2.5, seen at the eBay Developer’s Conference, apparently will let you send or request money to other users directly from the client software. Since eBay, Paypal, and Skype are all one big happy family, you’ll be able to Paypal money easily while chatting with the person you’re talking to. Camwhores: Paypal $3 for another 5 minutes of show? Source: Gizmodo