ProStores 9.3 Drives Sales for Ecommerce Businesses

New Pricing Plan Lowers Startup Costs, While Enhancements Aid Merchants, Improve Shopper Experience

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 16, 2009 – ProStores (www.prostores.com) customers using the ecommerce solution’s newly-released ProStores 9.3 are already benefitting from enhanced capabilities and offering a better shopping experience to their buyers thanks to a robust set of features designed to make online merchants more successful. What’s more, with ProStores’ new, lower pricing, more of the money coming in stays in their pockets.

“It’s now more affordable than ever for businesses to launch or expand their online stores with ProStores,” said Lin Shearer, senior manager of marketing and revenue with ProStores. “At a time when online is the place to be, ProStores provides big functionality for a small price.”

“As an ecommerce entrepreneur using ProStores, I appreciate that the company continually works to improve its online storefront solutions,” said Michael Moran, CEO and founder of CurrySimple.com, a ProStores web store that sells gourmet, restaurant-quality Thai food that customers can make at home. “ProStores’ newest features are great for novice and experienced online store owners, and I found the conversion rate help center to be especially helpful.”

The new ProStores offering includes two pricing packages: Professional eCommerce for $29.95 per month and Professional eCommerce Plus for $59.95 per month. Both also include a 0.5 percent successful transaction fee. The updated pricing allows merchants to access the same, powerful set of ecommerce features included in the previous top two product tiers for up to 75 percent less than ProStores’ former pricing plans.

ProStores also has introduced new promotional offers for eBay PowerSellers, including a subscription fee waiver for PowerSellers at the Gold, Platinum, and Titanium levels.

In addition to the new pricing plan, ProStores has released version 9.3, a feature-rich offering that delivers several enhancements to help ecommerce merchants provide a better shopping experience for their buyers, streamlines setup for eBay sellers and offers advice on how to improve storefronts to increase conversion rates.

ProStores 9.3 includes the following enhancements:

• Theme Builder: Merchants can create store themes and perform simple customization, including adjusting colors, adding a store logo and incorporating reputation builders such as payment and safety/security logos.
• Improved Catalog Creation from eBay Listings: ProStores now automatically removes all Javascript and Flash code when customers create products in ProStores through the eBay QuickStart or eBay Sync features which automatically import a merchant’s eBay listings. Merchants can choose to remove any CSS markup as well.
• Improved Catalog Display: The Build Your Own and Contemporary themes include features designed to enhance the shopper experience, such as faster page load times and easier category navigation, making it easier for merchants to close a sale.
• Conversion Rate Help Center: This resource offers store design and other tips for turning more shoppers into buyers.

“With more and more shoppers heading online, it’s vital for retailers to have a commanding ecommerce presence,” said Shearer. “ProStores gives small and mid-sized businesses the tools they need to take advantage of the growth opportunities the Internet provides today.”

ProStores helps ecommerce retailers and offline brick-and-mortar merchants establish full-featured, customizable online stores that provide a professional online shopping experience with the sophisticated functionality normally associated with large online retailers, such as shopping carts, real-time payments and cross-promotion and merchandising.

In addition to the ProStores community forums hosted on ProStores.com, merchants can now interact with the ProStores community via its Facebook page, where entrepreneurs can network and exchange ideas; its Twitter account (@prostores), which provides updates, tips and commentary from the ProStores blog; and its Delicious page (http://delicious.com/prostores_ecommerce_tips), featuring bookmarked resources for online business owners.

About ProStores

ProStores, an eBay Company, allows small- and medium-sized businesses to create professional online stores, customized with their own branding and domain name. ProStores was incorporated as an eBay Company in November 2004, followed by eBay’s acquisition of Kurant’s StoreSense technology in January 2005. ProStores launched its full-service ecommerce solution to merchants in June 2005. For more information about ProStores visit www.prostores.com.

About eBay Inc.

Founded in 1995, eBay Inc. connects hundreds of millions of people around the world every day, empowering them to explore new opportunities and innovate together. eBay Inc. does this by providing the Internet platforms of choice for global commerce, payments and communications. Since its inception, eBay Inc. has expanded to include some of the strongest brands in the world, including eBay, PayPal, Skype, StubHub, Shopping.com, and others. eBay Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Media Contact:

Ali Croft

Just Drive Media
(510) 932-1878

ali@justdrivemedia.com