WebProNews

The eBay Developers Conference in Boston offers up some juicy tidbits for online retailers, from forthcoming third-party applications and research tools to ways to hire certified developers to create widgets for your website.

EBay founder Pierre Omidyar kicked off the festivities at "Coffee Talk," an early morning discussion of what eBay means to life, the Universe and everything. Pierre waxed philosophical about eBay's contribution to business, and about human nature.

We imagine nobody told Pierre that might be a bit deep first thing in the morning before the caffeine has had a chance to set in. But it's interesting nonetheless – and apropos that the founder is that enamored with his own creation. 

Here are some of the highlights from the conference:

PayPal Certification Program

While setting up an online store is cheaper, and arguably easier, than running a brick-and-mortar store, there is still a laundry list of technical issues that can surpass the average businessperson's expertise. Application development is one of them.

At the eBay Developers Conference in Boston, Damon Williams, program manager for PayPal's Developer Network, plugs PayPal's Developer Certification Program, through which a network of developers are tested and verified as experts.

And you can hire them. With a million developers to choose from. Developers in the network, who are tested to get the PayPal "seal of approval," are qualified to build third-party applications for eBay's payment services, including Payments Pro and Express Checkout.

Damon also lets us know that PayPal has indeed gone mobile.

EBay Research Tools

WebProNews Video's Abby Prince chatted with Anthony Sukow, CEO and president of Terapeak, a company that specializes in applications for eBay research.

Sukow announced at the conference the availability of a free research plug-in that allows eBayers to research auction trending, pricing, when to sell, and best features to highlight.

If you want the scoop on the competition, though, you'll have to pull out your wallet. Competitor research is "something they should pay for," said Sukow.

Ebay on the Desktop

EBay product manager Alan Lewis fills us in on the "San Demas" project, a code name for eBay's desktop application now in invitation-only beta.

Lewis says that when the desktop app will allow eBayers to do everything they do on eBay's website outside of the web browser – managing, bidding, taking payments, et cetera.

Continuing Coverage…

WebProNews will be in Boston for the rest of the week covering the event to follow the Developers Conference, which is called eBay Live.

Some familiar names will be there, including Andy Sernovitz, Seth Godin, and John Gardner, who plan to address some of the "secrets of building buzz, boosting your success on eBay, and thinking like an entrepreneur."

So stay tuned to the WebProNews site and the WebProNews Video blog for ongoing, comprehensive coverage.