eBay denies Anything Points about-face

Yesterday's headline that eBay was canceling "Anything Points" in the US came as disconcerting news to fans of the frequent-flyer-style incentive program.

It also rattled AuctionBytes, which not three weeks ago heralded the program with a story extolling its growth and momentum.

"At two years old," AuctionBytes wrote June 29, "eBay's Anything Points program, the loyalty points exchange, continues to strengthen."

Reading the story with the benefit of hindsight, one is reminded of recent White House briefings that have cast a shadow across the value of some public relations pronouncements.

Anything Points, eBay spokesperson Hani Durzy told AuctionBytes, "has a role to play in continuing to bring buyers back to eBay."

Examined closely, there's nothing actually inaccurate about Durzy's statement. Anything Points did have a role to play in bringing buyers back to eBay--just not for very long. Or you could say that Anything Points had a role in bringing buyers back to eBay Canada, where the program, at least for the time being, will not be discontinued.

"That was our take on Anything Points at that time," said Durzy Tuesday. "I wouldn't say it's an about-face--there's constantly evaluation going on and at that point, we had not made that decision yet."

Fair enough. But AuctionBytes editor Ina Steiner expressed some frustration with the experience of editing the story, which was written by an "very occasional" freelancer.

"I think that Hani, if he knew anything, was not able to reveal it at that time, so I think it was pretty much PR-speak to satisfy a reporter's inquiries," said Steiner.

As to whether or not she felt any affinity with the White House press corps, Steiner laughed and said "No comment!" Then she said, "I heard the word 'stonewalling' in regard to that, which is sometimes the role a spokesperson has to be in. Sometimes they don't know, and sometimes they know and can't say."