eBay Inc. has scrapped fees charged to software developers who build sites and applications. Effective from yesterday, the eBay Developers Program is now free to be a member of, with the same condition being extended for eBay's new Web Services/unified schema API calls.
"...We want to thank you for your contributions to the eBay marketplace, because we know that without our developer community, eBay wouldn't be where we are today," Greg Isaacs, director of the eBay Developers Program said.
"Second, we want to remove barriers to innovation on the platform," he continued. "Since the first API was released in 2000, third-party developers have led the charge in developing the most cutting-edge and exciting applications and services for the eBay community."
The move should help keep eBay competitive with Yahoo, Google and Microsoft, who are all fighting for attention with online services offerings.