eBay buys Skype

[Spud1]

But why use such a complex option for this? Why not just have a simple private chat room feature where buyers can set up a small room with sellers who are online. It would a simpler system and cheaper. I suppose that ebay knows what it is doing though and has researched all the available options. It just confuses me how they settled on Skype.

True but this way they can make more money - ie they can get it out of Skype aswell which already has a huge userbase with huge marketing potential..if they just licenced or developed the technology they wouldnt get that.

[Gorgeous]

From what i heard they are planning to integrate it into their site, to enable buyers to talk to sellers directly from the auction page - rather than messing about with email or 'requesting their contact info from ebay'. Will make it much easier to contact sellers if people use it.

But from a legal standpoint, if you have a dodgy seller/buyer you have no proof of contact being made to them or the actual conversation, unlike emails.

[dagaul]

Christ, I don't like the sounds of that.

Imagine the possibilities, you buy a phone, ipod, whatever electronic gadget you want, you ask the seller to plug it on so you can hear it...

Now what ebay need is video software, so we can see who we are dealing with, that will seriously cut down fraud, thats probably where they are heading