In another promising trend which this developer (moi) hopes continues: eBay is dropping their developer API and transaction charges. via cbronline:

Consequently, eBay has taken the hint, and is throwing off charges to spur adoption. Over the past year, the eBay developer network has more than doubled to roughly 20,000, accounting for 22% of listings on the site. In another announcement, eBay announced a developers challenge contest that will award prizes for best individual application and best collaborative open source applications. Winners could get $5000, Xbox 360s, or iPod Nanos, plus an all-expenses paid trip to demonstrate their app at the 2006 O’Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference.

Incenting developers is a good thing. Techdirt’s Mike wonders what took so long?

Developers should beware of eBay’s legacy schema which will be migrated to their new unified schema on June 1, 2006. For those who already have written apps, check out the migration developer center for more information.

Reference links
eBay developer program official press release
HOMEPAGE - developer program
eBay SOAP API
XML developer center