eBay Desktop has been launched in beta (which means it might still have a few bugs in it, but it’s pretty much working). Sadly it’s only currently available for the US (even though there are no warnings on the download page). Plans are to enable support for eBay.co.uk and other international sites in the very near future.
The major benefit is that it runs as a desktop application independant of your internet browser (a bit like TurboLister). This enables the program to store much larger amounts of data on your hard drive which can be accessed almost instantly. An example of how this can work is the default is to save the last one thousand items you purchased allowing you to easily find past sellers you’ve traded with and want to purchase from again. You can place bids, track items, search, view and pretty much manage all your buying from the eBay Desktop application. it even links messages from sellers to the items they refer to.
It’s going to please all the Apple Mac users out there – eBay Desktop will run on Windows and Macs. It’s a great innovative program, and if widely adopted provides a shortcut into eBay which will forever prompt buyers to remain active on the site. I just can’t wait for a UK version so that I can give it a try!