A new part of eBay: eBay Express

 

A new part of eBay: eBay Express

When eBay announced the development of a new specialist service known as eBay Express in January 2006, the world took notice. According to eBay e-mails and the company's own website, the following are some of the features of this future venture:

1. The description of eBay Express highlights the availability of fresh products. In order to separate itself from the "online flea market" image that many people identify with it, eBay has taken steps to do so. eBay, on the other hand, argues that "eBay Express will allow consumers to purchase items ranging from new, used, refurbished, and more" through the service.

2. It is not based on an auction system. eBay Express will offer a fixed price for everything it sells and will be ready for purchase immediately - no more waiting for seven-day auctions to conclude (of course the Buy-It-Now feature has also been available on eBay.com for quite a while).

3. It appears that there are plans for some sort of shopping cart function, which would make it easier for purchasers to make several purchases from the same vendor than it is now possible.

Seller requirements for eBay Express include having a feedback score of 100 or higher, a positive feedback value of 98 percent or higher, providing public feedback (as opposed to private feedback), having a PayPal Premier or Business account, allowing PayPal to ship items internationally or make sale-by-sale decisions (a point that has caused some debate among sellers), and being based in the United States (it seems that eBay Express will be offered only in the USA at first). Instead of requiring shoppers to hunt for shipping prices in the item description or contacting the vendor beforehand, sellers must mention shipping charges, whether they are flat, calculated, or free, in their item description or on their website.

During the spring of 2006, eBay Express is expected to be introduced. eBay is attempting to distance itself from the image of "cleaning out your garage and selling rubbish on eBay" that it has cultivated over the years. It also appears to be a challenge to its traditional online competitors, who have given set pricing and shopping carts for quite some time.