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eBay on Mobile Phones

12th August ,2004

Europe : Volantis, the world's leading supplier of Intelligent Content Adaptation solutions and services for the next generation Internet, and eBay, the world's online marketplace, today announced the launch of eBay Anywhere for eBay.co.uk. eBay Anywhere is a groundbreaking new service from Volantis that will see eBay.co.uk 'go mobile', enabling the millions of eBay.co.uk users to keep track of their transactions - and even increase their bids - from their mobile phone handsets.

Volantis has designed, built and will host the eBay Anywhere mobile solution, which utilises SMS and GPRS technology to enhance the eBay user experience. As part of the strategic co-operation between the two companies, eBay members will be given real time, remote access to their bidding and selling processes, meaning users no longer have to be by their PC in order to ensure they are not outbid in any auctions they are participating in.

From today, registered eBay.co.uk members can sign up to eBay Anywhere at http://ebay.volantis.net/anywhere. Users then have the opportunity to register to receive SMS alerts based on seven different online auction scenarios.

For the buyer:
Alert me if I am outbid on an item
Alert me if I win an auction
Alert me when an auction ends
For the seller:
Alert me if a buyer has filled out purchase information during checkout
Alert me if I have been left feedback
The user also has the option to 'switch off' the alerts at certain times of day, for example during the night. Each SMS message received costs 25p.

Once a user has received an outbid SMS alert to their handset, they then have the opportunity to increase their own bid. The outbid SMS message contains a mobile web link that clicks through to a WAP page. From this area the user can enter their revised bid in a secure, real time environment, enabling them to continue to take part in the auction process even when away from a PC.

Mark Watson, CEO, Volantis, said: "The eBay Anywhere service has been developed in partnership with eBay.co.uk to give users the freedom to manage their eBay listings on the move. This is an important milestone for the mobile industry in delivering the Mobile Internet to consumers."

Douglas McCallum, Managing Director, eBay.co.uk, said: "By working with Volantis we have been able to give our community complete flexibility to manage their buying and selling on eBay, wherever they are. Volantis convinced us they could deliver a mobile service that would give our community the right user experience - the solution they've developed is totally secure, straightforward to use and we predict it will be hugely popular with the eBay community."

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