UPS said Monday that all U.S. based eBay sellers now have a direct, free connection from within eBay to the shipping system UPS WorldShip.

eBay sellers can now import their information into WorldShip without having to manually enter data. Sellers can export shipping data from WorldShip and automatically update their orders with UPS tracking numbers.

eBay has announced it is beta testing its subscription-based Selling Manager service platform that allows third party developers to embed their applications at My eBay where professional sellers manage their business.

The platform is used by 270,000 online sellers in the U.S. to manage their business. eBay says it will no longer charge for its Selling Manager service in an effort to attract third-party developers.

Sales, online and off, are closed when the customer trusts the seller. To that end, how far does including live chat in the online sales and checkout process go toward sealing the deal? Numbers are coming in, and they’re looking good.

When Google bought YouTube, the second question people asked (after "what about the copyright nightmare?) was about how Google planned to introduce advertising into a pure video vacuum. YouTubers have never been keen on being sold anything, not even Paris Hilton.

There are many ups and downs to adding a user generated content section to a site. It has been interesting watching the effects of SEOMoz’s user generated content and points systems.

Via SEL, Google beta launched a distributed pay per action ad network, and are accepting publisher sign ups here.