Also on Monday, eBay will launch a contest called "eBay Developer Challenge 2006," intended to inspire developers to build software that supports the eBay marketplace, Isaacs said. To be judged by a panel of eBay employees, the contest will have winners in the individual developer and collaborative development categories. Runners up also will be named.

The winner of the individual category will win $500 and a free trip to the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego next March.

Begun in 2000, eBay's developer program is supported by about 21,000 developers, half of whom have joined in the past year.