Christopher Payne

When eBay buyers were unable to pay sellers with PayPal one day last week, it was a big deal — PayPal is practically mandatory on the online marketplace. On Saturday, eBay executive Christopher Payne sent an email to sellers informing them that eBay had sent buyers who were affected by the glitch a coupon. Of special interest to sellers was his promise that eBay would automatically remove negative feedback for transactions affected by the glitch.

eBay could be eyeing Twitter and YouTube to help it take advantage of the rise in social activities among shoppers as it launches new social features to the eBay marketplace. eBay Marketplaces vice president Christopher Payne said the company's philosophy was to try "a whole bunch of things" in the social space. Payne announced a new social shopping feature that uses Facebook to engage shoppers during his keynote address at the Internet Retailer conference taking place in San Diego this week.