Ebay gives thumbs up to video

Ebay is to allow UK sellers to add videos of the products they are selling on its auction site for the first time.

Over 15m UK Ebay sellers will now be able to upload short videos of the items they are flogging using video widgets like vzaar.com.

The brainchild of ex-Ebay employees, Adrian Sevitz and Dan Wilson, vzaar allows people to take the digital camera footage of their products and quickly upload it along with their Ebay listing. US Ebay sellers have been able to add videos to auction listings for some time but this is a first for the UK.

"Video is going to make a big difference to Ebay sellers," said Sevitz, vzaar's chief technical officer and former site experience manager at Ebay until earlier this year. "The big video sharing sites are trying to be everything to everyone. We're not. We're completely focused on helping Ebay sellers sell better."

One long-time Ebay seller and vzaar beta tester, CreamOfCards, said: "Video is the future for online retailers - it's the closest the online customer can get to viewing the product first hand. It's also a great way to get your message across to your customer in a unique and personal way. If TV commercials are good enough for huge corporations, why shouldn't the little man in the local corner shop be able to have a go too?"