eBay

About: eBay is a company organization based out in Dublin, Ireland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Listing (computer) & User interface. The organization has 2694 authors who have published 3035 publications receiving 55526 citations. The organization is also known as: eBay Inc..

Location-based services

Abstract: Provided herein are methods and systems relating to location-based services such as social networking, providing demographic information, tracking mobile devices, providing business information, providing an adaptable user interface, remotely effecting a change on a portable electronic device, providing a geofence, outputting location-based information on a mobile device, varying transmissions to and from a mobile device, providing location-based alerts, verifying transactions and tailoring information to the behavior of a user.

The value of reputation on eBay: A controlled experiment

Abstract: We conducted the first randomized controlled field experiment of an Internet reputation mechanism. A high-reputation, established eBay dealer sold matched pairs of lots—batches of vintage postcards—under his regular identity and under new seller identities (also operated by him). As predicted, the established identity fared better. The difference in buyers’ willingness-to-pay was 8.1% of the selling price. A subsidiary experiment followed the same format, but compared sales by relatively new sellers with and without negative feedback. Surprisingly, one or two negative feedbacks for our new sellers did not affect buyers’ willingness-to-pay.

Information presentation and management in an online trading environment

Abstract: A method and apparatus for information presentation and management in an online trading environment are provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, person-to-person commerce over the Internet is facilitated by providing prospective buyers the ability to quickly preview items for sale. Images are harvested (455) from a plurality of sites based upon user-supplied information. The user-supplied information (420) includes descriptions of items for sale and locations from which images that are to be associated with the items can be retrieved. Thumbnail images are created (430) corresponding to the harvested images and are aggregated onto web page for presentation at a remote site (470). According to another aspect of the present invention, a user may submit a query to preview items for sale. After receiving the query, thumbnail images corresponding to items that satisfy the user query are displayed, each of the thumbnail images previously having been created based upon a user-specified image.

Fish can infer social rank by observation alone.

Abstract: Fish are not famous for being smart, yet they can be added to the list of animals that show the rudiments of logical thinking. Transitive inference, the ability to deduce unknown relationships from knowledge of known relationships, is essential to logical reasoning. This ability is seen as an important step in a child's development, and similar capabilities are found in nonhuman primates, rats and birds. Astatotilapia burtoni, a territorial fish in which reproductive success of males depends on their status in 'fish society', can learn an implied hierarchy among other unfamiliar fish by watching fights between them. Remarkably, fish do this indirectly, as 'bystanders', with no direct reinforcement. This behaviour calls into question previous models of transitive inference and suggests that these fish have evolved distinct mechanisms for making inferences in situations specific to their survival and reproduction. The cover image shows an A. burtoni male. Transitive inference is demonstrated in fish populations by showing that they can learn the implied hierarchy among other unfamiliar fish by watching fights between rivals. Remarkably, fish can do this indirectly, as 'bystanders', without any reinforcement; they also make sophisticated use of contextual information available to them. Transitive inference (TI) involves using known relationships to deduce unknown ones (for example, using A > B and B > C to infer A > C), and is thus essential to logical reasoning. First described as a developmental milestone in children1, TI has since been reported in nonhuman primates2,3,4, rats5,6 and birds7,8,9,10. Still, how animals acquire and represent transitive relationships and why such abilities might have evolved remain open problems. Here we show that male fish (Astatotilapia burtoni) can successfully make inferences on a hierarchy implied by pairwise fights between rival males. These fish learned the implied hierarchy vicariously (as ‘bystanders’), by watching fights between rivals arranged around them in separate tank units. Our findings show that fish use TI when trained on socially relevant stimuli, and that they can make such inferences by using indirect information alone. Further, these bystanders seem to have both spatial and featural representations related to rival abilities, which they can use to make correct inferences depending on what kind of information is available to them. Beyond extending TI to fish and experimentally demonstrating indirect TI learning in animals, these results indicate that a universal mechanism underlying TI is unlikely. Rather, animals probably use multiple domain-specific representations adapted to different social and ecological pressures that they encounter during the course of their natural lives.

System for supplying automatic status updates using electronic mail

Abstract: A system is disclosed for automatically updating the status of customers' orders and shipments via electronic mail without using a human attendant to create and send the electronic mail messages. Preferably implemented in software, the updating system allows a large set of customers to be periodically updated over a computer or communications network via electronic mail. The system includes a database for maintaining order and shipping status and other relevant information.