eBay wants to welcome you to its new 'neighborhood'

In an effort to create a greater sense of community, eBay on Wednesday plans to add a social-networking environment intended to bring together buyers and sellers with similar interests.

eBay Neighborhoods will allow users to post photos and reviews and offer tips and feedback in a beefed-up version of its text-based discussion forums. As of late Tuesday, there were more than 600 groups, with topics ranging from the Dallas Cowboys to crocheting to comic books. Users can also suggest new neighborhoods for creation.

Once users join a neighborhood, a My Neighborhoods function is added to the My eBay section.

The new neighborhoods are part of a redesign the online auction giant is rolling out over the next few months. Other changes include streamlined checkout, a real-time auction monitor and one-click bidding.

[gwilliamp]

CAUTION - the playground isn't

I use eBay so I thought I would take a look. You go to the 'Playground' to experiment with the new features. Some are good, some are OK and some are not.<br /><br />What they didn't make clear was that the 'Playground' isn't. It is live. When I experimented with the new 3 step checkout I actually placed a bit on some random cr*p from the USA.<br /><br />Maybe I am just a bit thick but to me new features in a 'Playground' imply a sandbox environment to experiment in without effecting the real environment.<br /><br />Who knows, maybe I can turn the USA cr*p around and make a profit?