eBay Mobile

The eBay application is exactly what it sounds like—a native iPhone application for eBay.com. You can perform simple tasks such as searching for auctions and browsing listings. If you decide to log in, you can actually bid on items and track them as the auctions progress.

The good: Searching for items, which is a majority of what I do on eBay, is front and center in the eBay app. It's quick and works well. If a general search turns up too much information, you can refine your search using the "Refine" button. You can refine your search to auction type, category, other countries, and even change the sort order.

But search is only half of the coolness that is the eBay app. In addition to a search engine, it's an even better tracker of auctions. Right from the home page, you can track the following types of auctions:

• Watching

• Winning
• Won
• Outbid
• Selling
• Sold
• Unsold
• Scheduled

Of course, the eBay app wouldn't be that useful if you couldn't bid. After searching for an item, you can bid on it right from the application, as long as you're signed in. If you're bidding on an item, you can immediately up your bid and stay a step ahead of pesky snipers.

The bad: As a regular eBayer, I was disappointed by the application's lack of a few features. The first and most annoying is that you can only refine your searches in a few different ways. You can't refine based on the category you're browsing in and you can't browse auctions that have closed. A lot of what I use eBay for is to see how much items are selling for after all is said and done. You simply can't do that with this app.

Slightly less annoying, but certainly worth mentioning is that you can't pay for an item or send an invoice from the app.

Messages from "My eBay" are inaccessible. As trivial of a feature to add, I'm not sure why you can't respond to messages.

The Bottom line: The eBay app is a fantastic tool for both buyers and sellers on eBay. Its greatest strength is its ability to track all types of auctions from one screen. If you're outbid, you can rebid without missing a beat. However, the search feature could be improved and access to "My eBay" messages would make this app solid.