eBay Main Street

eBay employees and visiting Stanford Law School students were treated this week to a presentation by renowned Internet scholar, author and Harvard Law Professor, Jonathan Zittrain, at the company’s San Jose, CA headquarters. The presentation entitled, "Minds for Sale," touched on issues raised in Zittrain’s recent book, "The Future of the Internet...and How to Stop It." eBay’s Government Relations and Privacy teams hosted the standing-room-only event. For more information on “the engine that has catapulted the Internet from backwater to ubiquity,” check out Zittrain’s website & blog.

Frontier Economics (Europe) carried out a study on behalf of eBay to compare the prices of a range of new consumer products sold on eBay against the price of comparable products sold in retail stores in the UK, Germany and France. The research indicates that buyers on eBay in Europe benefit from savings of around €1 billion per annum. Read more.

As part of our effort to expand eBay Main Street\'s international reach, we proudly announce our newest site - Brussels.

eBay CEO John Donahoe has brought eBay and PayPal\'s message of e-commerce consumer empowerment to Washington. Small business job creation was the highlight of Donahoe\'s remarks at a recent conference in Washington, D.C. entitled, "Empowering E-consumers: Strengthening Consumer Protection in the Internet Economy."

PayPal’s Michael Barrett met with Republican Senators Hatch, Bennett, Ensign, Isakson, Risch, Cornyn, Bond and Thune as a part of an industry discussion on cyber crime and cybersecurity. Click here to check out Sen. Orrin Hatch’s (R) comments on the importance of strong industry leadership when working with government to combat cyber crime and enhancing cybersecurity.

Stay up-to-date on the latest news and information from your friends on the eBay Government Relations team. Check us out and become a fan today!

The Reichstag, Germany: eBay Government Relations employees Wolf Osthaus and Nikolaus Linder with eBay sellers and entrepreneurs Julia Benda, Debbie Grossmann, and Andreas Müller; and eBay employees Stephan Zoll and Maike Fuest. eBay GR recently hosted 20+ newly-elected German Members of Federal Parliament and their staffs on the top of the Federal Parliament building (the "Reichstag"). Three successful German sellers (Benda, Grossmann and Müller) shared with lawmakers their personal success stories and their perspectives on both online consumer issues and the economic growth potential of the Internet.

A French court last week fined eBay Inc. 1.7 million Euros in a matter related to a 2008 injunction preventing eBay users in France from buying or selling certain LVMH perfumes or cosmetics on any eBay website. This anti-competitive ruling hurts consumers by preventing them from buying and selling authentic items online. Read eBay\'s full response.

Mark Lavelle of Bill Me Later gives tips to people looking to start a company. Click here to read his valuable tips.

Mobile payments were up 732% over Cyber Monday 2008, Click here for the full scoop at the PayPal blog.