eBay! Sellers! Voice! Concerns! About! eBay Express!

[mandy]

eBay Express article.

Ebay Inc. counts some 72 million active shoppers worldwide on its Web marketplace, but Elizabeth R. Scheuring isn't one of them. The co-founder of Three-Forty Communications, a Sausalito (Calif.)-based marketing communications firm, stopped buying on eBay in 2002 to avoid a time-consuming payment registration process. She also didn't like auctions, which can take a week to close. "I have a finite amount of time to get what I need," she says. "I'd be more inclined to use eBay if it were quicker."

Scheuring will soon get her wish. By late April, the company best known for its online auctions is expected to launch an entirely new e-commerce site for busy consumers who just want to click and buy.  Already, eBay offers fixed-price goods from individuals, small businesses, and retailers. But they're scattered among auction search results and elsewhere. [the eBay Stores portal and concept doesn't work for web buyers] EBay Express will aggregate those fixed-price listings in a snazzy, picture-rich design [similar to the eBay Catalog] quite unlike eBay's plain-vanilla lists. Available via a link from eBay.com, the new service will be more like Amazon.com (AMZN ) and other online retail sites, offering largely new merchandise...

full article: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/con...tm?chan=tc&chan=technology_technology+index+page_more+of+today's+top+stories

[mandy]

Yet another eBay Express article.  This one features interviews with PeSA members including everyone's favorite poster boy.(yes, the same seller whose buyers started a petition to get him kicked off eBay due to thousands of complaints)

Expectations for eBay Express are running high among experienced eBay sellers, who view the upcoming specialty site as a potentially significant new channel and have their fingers crossed that the company will build and market it properly...

With eBay Express, the company hopes to attract buyers who either shop little or not at all on the main site, and deliver them to its best sellers, accomplishing two important goals: broaden its shopper base and keep its star sellers happy.

These sellers generally work full-time on their eBay stores and often have annual sales of over US$1 million. Many over the years have set up parallel stores outside of eBay.com precisely seeking to reach mainstream online shoppers who find eBay.com complicated, time-consuming and even unsafe. These sellers have also wanted to differentiate themselves from less-experienced peers and from fraudsters on eBay.com.

full article: http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/04/0...ess_1.html

[Anita]

[quote author=thentavius link=topic=2247.msg11919#msg11919 date=1144259022]
Ahhhh.... I see. Indeed, their catalog is pretty, but is has no substance or practicality.

I wonder how on earth they expect to pull it off.

By the way, on dial-up, their little flash rendition of the catalog didn't load for a long time. I gave up waiting (eBay Express, My a$$). LOL.
[/quote]

The link Amy gave you has a link for giving feedback.  8)

[xppman]

These sellers have also wanted to differentiate themselves from less-experienced peers and from fraudsters on eBay.com.

Um I think many of the savvy buyers on the net have already differentiated
themselves from eBay.com.

I still don't see this Express thing converting these buyers BACK or compelling
new buyers to use this latest feebay Gimmick.

After all ebay's brand name is all over it and we all know how that is perceived.

[amy]

Why is Poster Boy being interviewed when he's mot eligible--unless eBay is planning to overlook the 98% requirement for some members?

These sellers generally work full-time on their eBay stores and often have annual sales of over US$1 million. Many over the years have set up parallel stores outside of eBay.com precisely seeking to reach mainstream online shoppers who find eBay.com complicated, time-consuming and even unsafe. These sellers have also wanted to differentiate themselves from less-experienced peers and from fraudsters on eBay.com.

Did they copy the latest PeSA press release when they wrote that article?  I wonder how hard PeSA will push for raising the requirements for Express to 500 feedbacks?  :

[mandy]

Channel Advisor is holding an eBay Express webinar on April 27th at 2pm EST.  Free registration required.

eBay Express – Strategies for Success

Many eBay sellers are eagerly and anxiously anticipating the new eBay Express marketplace. Aimed at online shoppers that desire a quicker and easier way to find and pay for new, fixed priced items on eBay, it will sport a cleaner, more traditional e-commerce look and a more convenient shopping experience (cross-merchant eBay shopping cart!).

But how will the buyer and seller experience differ from eBay.com? What should merchants consider as they evaluate the opportunity of this new channel?

ChannelAdvisor is hosting a webinar to review the new eBay Express marketplace and explore:

    * How does eBay Express work?
    * eBay Express vs eBay.com
    * Opportunities and considerations
    * Strategies for success on eBay Express
    * Getting started on eBay Express in ChannelAdvisor Merchant

http://www.channeladvisor.com/webinars/default.asp
registration: http://www.channeladvisor.com/webinars/w...0000000Tyu

[accentnepal]

[quote author=mandy link=topic=2247.msg12044#msg12044 date=1144492173]
... experienced eBay sellers, who  ...  have their fingers crossed that the company will build and market it properly...[/quote]

Even PESA recognises the possibility that eBay can $cr&w it up.

With eBay Express, the company hopes to attract buyers who either shop little or not at all on the main site ...

That is not what eBay is saying -- they say they are aiming at increasing sales to existing buyers.

... mainstream online shoppers who find eBay.com complicated, time-consuming and even unsafe ...

Just give them some Kool-aid and they will be fine.

[amy]

Pink leaks eBay Express launch date?...

The leak

A pink (whose ID I have protected to keep them from getting in hot water) posted to one of the message boards this tasty little tidbit recently and a faithful eBay Strategies reader pointed me to it.  The general topic is about the opt-out for eBay eXpress and the pink lets slip that the launch date is April 24.

"At the moment, we are still working on ebay express before its launch date of April 24th. If you do update that preference, it may not reflect that you are eligible until closer to the launch date."

full article: http://ebaystrategies.blogs.com/ebay_str..._ebay.html

[amy]

More info on eBay Express Germany.  The earlier news reports regarding requirements for Express Germany apparently were true.  Businesses only. New only. Credit checks required.  Completely different items than on the main eBay.de site.  FVF's of 10%-12%.

Some interesting things to point out that are SUBSTANTIALLY different from the .com implementation:

1. EE.de will have different listings vs. the .com where the listings are store+fp listings.

2. EE.de has a different fee structure - listing fees are low (3 Cent per listing - similar to eBay Stores), but FVFs are quite steep (10% or 12% dependend on category) with tiers for higher ASPs. Full fee structure here: http://pages.ebay.de/ebay_express/gebuehren.html

3. eBay Express has pretty hard regulations for sellers who want to participate - most interestingly the need for financial background screening (similar to the process you have to go through when you set up a bank account) and you have to inform eBay about your planned business for the first couple of months. All details in German here:

http://pages.ebay.de/ebay_express/voraussetzungen.html

4. eBay will cover both the buyer and the seller against possible losses – the buyer is insured against non-delivery/delivery of broken or wrong merchandise; the seller is insured against non-paying bidders.

5. EE.de is a much different product than what EE.com will be. It will be interesting to see if this is more successful than the .com version and if the .com version will trend towards the EE.de version over time. Maybe they get us addicted to the EE traffic for store listings in the .com and then introduce the much higher FVF later on?

full article: http://ebaystrategies.blogs.com/ebay_str...ss_de.html

[bargainbloodhound]

If I was FORCED  to take a guess I'd say the US Express will eventually strongly resemble the .DE Express rather than the other way around.  It wouldn't be hard at some future date for eBay.com to add the requirement that only sellers registered as businesses are eligible for Express...and I definitely see eBay.com setting an Express-specific FVF fee at some point in the future.