eBay customers have vented their anger at the company’s Chief Executive, despite the company revealing that his and other top executives’ pay fell sharply in 2009.

As a result of the e-commerce company issuing smaller stock and option bonuses, John Donahoe’s total package, including salary, bonus, stock and option awards and other items, fell to $10.13million in 2009 from just over $24million the previous year, according to figures filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Donahoe’s salary rose more than six per cent to $934,615, due in part to an extra pay period included in 2009, and to an increase received when he became CEO on March 31, 2008, Reuters reported.

eBay is due to hold its annual shareholders meeting in San Jose, California, on April 29.

The company’s shares soared nearly 69 per cent during 2009 and have climbed another 16.7 per cent since the beginning of 2010.

But revelations about the top man’s pay provoked some angry comment when it was posted on the Reuters website.

One poster, ‘RicRoe’, said Donahoe had “failed buyers, sellers and eBay.

“His entire management team can be credited with alienating thousands of sellers as well as making it harder for buyers to find what they are looking for,” he added.

The comment accused eBay of switching its emphasis to selling new goods over second-hand, and this had backfired as “buyers would have flocked to eBay seeking bargains an slightly used goods in order to offset the impact of the recession on their wallets.

“There was plenty of room for both new and used goods on eBay, however, Mr Donahoe chose to eradicate the ‘flea market’ image.

“In so doing, he alienated a significant base of buyers and sellers, and destroyed eBay’s once broad market appeal.”

Another commenter, ‘horsemama’, put it more succinctly: “Donahoe doesn’t deserve fifty cents after what he’s done to all the small sellers on eBay. He’s been rude and condescending to eBay’s own customers.”

An alliance between EBay and a major American group of retail companies has announced a joint assault on organised retail crime, and the selling-on of stolen goods online.

These scams are estimated to have cost the world’s retailers US$115billion in 2009, according to a report from the Centre for Retail Research and Checkpoint Systems.

Shoplifting by customers and store staff only accounts for a fraction of the total amount of losses, with the majority being blamed on large-scale theft carried out by organised gangs, according to Reuters.

Last year, an NRF survey suggested 92 per cent of all retailers had been affected by such crime, with nearly three-quarters saying that the problem had increased.

Royal Mail, the UK's publicly-owned postal delivery service, has launched a new initiative promising to make it easier for businesses to improve their targeting of specific geographical areas which are most likely to buy their products.

The new Royal Mail Insight Tool uses information from the eBay market data programme to offer new insight to UK advertisers, and provides access to more than 140 million UK transactions carried out through the online auction site, giving advertisers and planners unparalleled insight into the purchasing behaviours of postcode areas across the UK (the equivalent of the US zip codes).

The data – which is anonymous and consists of 2.1 million individual postcodes which cover 26 million addresses – provides details of buyers’ purchase history, type of products bought and levels of spend, and is refreshed monthly to give continually updated access to the latest information on purchases around the UK.

“The launch of the tool underlines (Royal Mail’s) determination to be a true media owner by selling unique, bespoke audience insight as well as providing a communications channel to reach and engage with consumers and enhance their brand through the post,” said Royal Mail Head of Media and Development, Antony Miller.

The Royal Mail Insight Tool can provide breakdowns of spending habits regarding new or used purchases, peak purchasing periods, frequency and recency of purchase, age, gender, and the product brands purchased.

Categories covered by the service include baby; car parts and vehicles; clothes, shoes and accessories; computing; consumer electronics; health and beauty; home and garden; mobile and home phones; sporting goods and video games, as well as more than 200 sub-categories.

“It provides insight and audiences based on chosen variables of areas around the UK where certain product types are frequently being purchased, items sold and their average price,” Miller added.

“Based on this insight, campaign planners can identify other similar areas in the UK and deliver comparable audience demographics.

“This information can then be overlaid with Royal Mail data, a brand’s own customer database or a cold list, supplying access to a highly targeted base of prospects.”

Google has announced the appointment of Stephanie Tilenius as its vice president of commerce.

The role has been specially created for Tilenius, who left her previous position as an executive at eBay last September.

Sources quoted by The New York Times’ Business Innovation Technology and Society blog said Tilenius has been brought in to oversee Goolge Checkout – an online payment processing system which is designed to simplify the way people pay for goods online.

The paper said the move has been seen as a push by Google to make further inroads into the e-commerce sector,  which could cause problems for online retailers that rely on the search giant for much of their website traffic.

Research by eBay has thrown down the gauntlet to retailers who aren't already capitalising on the growth of internet sales - get your business online by 2020 or face extinction.

UK shoppers currently spend £1 sterling of every £13 spent overall online, but eBay forecasts that this figure will become £1 in every £8 by the start of the next decade.

The biggest growth areas are forecast to be clothing and footwear, where eBay sees online business rising by more than 350 per cent, and health and beauty, where its projections see similarly dramatic growth, at 330 per cent.

Neil Saunders of Verdict Research, which carried out the survey on eBay’s behalf, said: “Traditional bricks and mortar shops simply cannot afford to ignore the potential growth opportunities available online.”

A poll of more than 500 eBay retailers released as part of the report also claims that nearly four out of five of those with ‘bricks and mortar’ stores wouldn’t have survived without diversifying their business online.

eBay says the year 2020 will be significant as this is when it is expected that total online sales will exceed their offline equivalent. It expects more than 280,000 internet start-ups over the next decade. Online retail expenditure will also increase by £46billion (up 223 per cent) by 2020, while offline spending will drop by £18billion (down 7 per cent) in the same period.

Mark Lewis, managing director for eBay in the UK, said: “To ensure businesses continue to thrive on the high street, they must raise their game and exploit new sales channels. The internet can provide a lifeline to all businesses, connecting them to customers across the globe.

“With a tipping point in sight, this needs to be sooner rather than later.”

Lewis added: “While internet businesses provide a significant boost to the high street, the latest Online Business Index shows that online retailers clearly demand the same support from the Government that bricks and mortar businesses receive.”

Online businesses are united with their offline counterparts in calling for the same infrastructure improvements, including enhanced postal and delivery services (42 per cent), simplified rules on consumer protection (36 per cent) and lower taxes for all businesses (53 per cent).

On the technological front, investment in faster broadband (18 per cent) or universal broadband access (13 per cent) are considered much less of a priority, despite the considerable amount of attention given to them in the Government’s Digital Britain report.