eBay buys German fashion shopping site Brands4friends

By Geoff Duncan December 20, 2010

Online auction firm eBay is looking to expand its footprint in international online retailing: the company has just announced an agreement to acquire Germany’s Brands4friends, which claims to be Germany’s largest online shopping club for “fashion and lifestyle” that offers discounts and daily deals to more than 3.5 million members. eBay will be paying €150 million (about US$200 million) to acquire all shares of the company.

“We want to give our customers the best possible fashion experience online,” said eBay’s VP for Europe Doug McCallum, in a statement. “With the acquisition of brands4friends, we will enter the online shopping club market with an established and dynamic partner who has the expertise, relationships, and passion to match our own ambition.”

As part of the acquisition, eBay also takes over Brands4friends’ stakes in the UK shopping club SecretSales.com as well as the Japanese version of Brands4friends.

The move bolsters eBay as European online fashion retailer; in the last year and a half the company has launched eBay Outlet sites in the UK and Germany, and has been working with designers to make collections available exclusively to eBay customers. eBay says its research shows that online fashion clubs like Brands4friends already account for about 20 percent of all online fashion sales in Europe, and that the company already generates more than $5.4 billion a year in sales of clothing, shoes, and fashion accessories worldwide.

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Computing

Want a refurbished iPad or Macbook Air? Apple’s eBay store offers better prices than Apple.com

Apple rarely ever discounts its products, but there are deals to be had, as long as you don't mind buying refurbish and from the Cupertino company's unofficial eBay store (widely believed to be one and the same). In fact, some items listed on eBay are now cheaper than on Apple's own online store.
As we reported back in November, the eBay iDevice reseller Refurbished Outlet seems to have a suspiciously close relationship with Apple. While there are many sellers and stores on eBay that sell used Apple products, Refurbished Outlet is the only one where its products are Apple Certified: they come with the same full 1-year warranty that Apple products enjoy and are inspected by Apple itself before they are available for purchase.
Prices on the eBay store used to match Apple's refurbished products listed online, but Refurbished Outlet has been undercutting Apple on some items recently. According to the deal tracking site DealNews, the best deal that the eBay store had over Apple was a refurbished current-generation 13.3-inch MacBook Air with a 128GB SSD that was going for just $900, which is $100 less than what Apple charges. It's such a good deal that it was already sold out by the time we read about it on the shopping site.
If you're looking for a second- or third-generation iPad, you should definitely have a look at the eBay store's offerings. A refurbished black iPad 2 with 32GB of storage that works on Verizon is listing for $430 on eBay, while the same device is going for $480 on the Apple store - a $50 difference. Similarly, a black 64GB iPad 2 can be had for just $530 from eBay, rather than $580 direct from Apple.
There are some downsides to buying from Refurbished Outlet's eBay store. For one thing, it doesn't have a lot of stock so you need to move quickly when you see an item listed at an incredible price. For products like the 17-inch Macbook Pros that are available for the exact same price on both eBay and Apple, it doesn't really matter where you buy from, unless you want to save on taxes. As 9to5Mac mentioned, Apple doesn't charge online customers sales taxes, but eBay does for residents of Washington DC, Indiana, Nevada, New Jersey, Texas, and California.
Happy hunting!

Computing

Want a complete set of the original Macintosh computer? Try eBay!

eBay Macintosh set

The plethora of things you can find off eBay never cease to fascinate us. That certainly is the case today when an original 1984 Macintosh computer set was spotted on the auction site, asking collectors, Apple fanboys, or anyone with a lot of money to spare to post offers on the complete set with signatures by the design team autographed inside the computer casing.
The set comes with everything you'd find in a Macintosh box had you purchased the computer in 1984: manuals, floppy disks, power cords, even the box that stored everything. The listing contains many detailed photos of the auctioned item, taking interested buyers through a complete tour of the unboxing. While the outer box shows some form of aging, it is still in an impressive condition considering minimal discoloration and looks to be quite sturdy.
Another included item is the rare Macworld magazine subscription card from way before the magazine went online or had its several redesigns. While we don't think anyone who wins the auction will actually fill out and claim their "limited time offer" on the card, it does make us curious whether Macworld will abide by the offer of two free magazines or declare the offer long expired.

The seller also tested the Macintosh out to ensure the computer is fully functional and still works. Spoiler alert: it does. The seller has even poked fun at its placement on eBay by posting a picture of the Mac appearing to wonder what eBay is on the MacWrite application, pre-installed in the computer. Ah, the days when MacWrite existed..
Reading the listing is also rather wild, considering how far technology has come since the 80's Macintosh days. For example, the computer screen is a 1-bit 512 x 342 resolution in black and white display, with 28 KB of RAM. Kilobyte! In no way does that even compare to the most budget smartphone out there today. We're not even sure this thing can support even the simplest game on today's smartphones, less supporting applications like Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja.
At the time of publishing, the listing has received three offers so far, with the Buy It Now option standing at $3,519.84, plus an additional fifty something dollars for shipping depending on where in the United States you are located. That's a mighty big sticker price when other Macintosh computers are also floating around eBay for much less, but also less completed. There is no listed time of the auction's end, but we don't anticipate it to stick around for so long.
We're not sure why the seller decides to put this up on eBay. It feels as if this thing belongs in a museum nowadays, or if it was going to end up here it should be been around since the time of Steve Jobs' death. But we congratulate the seller on getting a lot of press, and hope the Macintosh set goes to the right buyer who will take great care of this piece of history.

Computing

Auction giant eBay buys GSI Commerce for $2.4 billion

eBay sign (building)

It might just be a sign the worldwide economic downturn is coming to an end…or at least not getting any worse. Online auction giant eBay has announced it will be buying online marketing company GSI Commerce for a whopping $2.4 billion in cash and debt. And, just to prove that this move is about bringing GSI's digital marketing savvy into eBay, eBay plans to spin off GSI's existing retailing and shopping operations as "not core" to their long term strategy.

"We intend to lead the next generation of commerce innovation," said eBay president and CEO John Donahoe, in a statement. "The acquisition of GSI, which offers the most comprehensive integrated suite of online commerce and interactive marketing services available, will significantly strengthen our ability to connect buyers and sellers worldwide."