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EBay Is Shutting Down Its On-Demand Delivery Service 29

Posted by samzenpus from the do-not-deliver dept.
An anonymous reader writes: It may come as no surprise but eBay made it official in a statement today; they are ending their on-demand delivery service eBay Now. The company also plans to end a number of mobile applications, including eBay Valet, eBay Fashion and eBay Motors. A company statement reads in part: "...today we are retiring the eBay Now service in the U.S., including the local Brooklyn pilot program. Last year, we retired our eBay Now app and brought the program's delivery capabilities and many participating merchants' inventory into our core mobile apps. This significantly reduced our dependency on a separate standalone service. While we saw encouraging results with the eBay Now service, we always intended it as a pilot, and we are now exploring delivery and pick-up/drop-off programs that are relevant to many more of our 25 million sellers, and that cover a wider variety of inventory that consumers tell us they want. We will continue to pilot scheduled delivery in the UK."
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EBay Is Shutting Down Its On-Demand Delivery Service More

EBay Is Shutting Down Its On-Demand Delivery Service

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  • samzenpus combing the web- posting old news
    • @notdsk: "samzenpus combing the web- posting old news"

      Meanwhile posts such as this [slashdot.org] don't get promoted. I'm all for free advertising for Ebay/Microsoft/NASDAQ, but come on slashdot - more real tech articles.

  • It may come as no surprise

    In other words, this should be a non-news? Please tell me why I should have expected the demise of a service I did not know about.

  • This is probably just a mistake in the writeup or something, but eBay Motors closing is MUCH bigger news than eBay Now. I have a feeling, however, that this was just a mistake in the writeup, as I can't find any other reference to eBay ending that service.

    • They are not closing down eBay Motors; they are closing down an app for eBay Motors.

      • They are not closing down eBay Motors; they are closing down an app for eBay Motors.

        Not just that, an ad many people never realized existed to begin with. Would be nice if they would make it possible to sell multiple items from the Android client.

      • That makes considerably more sense. I've never understood why eBay felt the need to separate eBay Motors from the rest of the website, but it would follow that they would create a separate app for it as well. Hopefully, this is a sign that they're going to end the unneeded dichotomy.

        • I've never understood why eBay felt the need to separate eBay Motors from the rest of the website, but it would follow that they would create a separate app for it as well.

          Because selling a car is different than most other merchandise. I used to own an auction company and made much of my living selling through eBay, including cars. For merchandise eBay can enforce a contract to sell. For cars transfer of ownership comes with transfer of title and eBay cannot force you to sell the car for the auction price. In essence it is a glorified classified listing. If you decide not to sell the car you merely have to refuse to sign over the title and there isn't anything eBay can d

  • People still use eBay? Is this the same eBay that became a scammer's paradise where no matter what you do, you're screwed? As a buyer you can be screwed easily enough, but as a seller I wouldn't waste my time. The risks so far outweigh the benefits that it's more like legalized gambling with the loser being the highest bidder.

    (Yes, yes, I know some people do indeed make a decent living on eBay, but it's swimming against the tide to be sure.)

    • Opposite (Score:5, Informative)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Monday July 27, 2015 @11:11PM (#50194769)

      No its really the opposite. If you sell something and someone files a complaint you automatically lose. People won the auction but don't feel like paying so they file a complaint and you're on the hook for a refund even if they're wrong.

      What eBay needs is competition.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        What eBay needs is competition.

        True, and the problem is eBay has critical mass. Everyone knows about them and they're the de-facto place to sell your stuff.

        Which poses a problem for a new site that wants to compete - they need to get word out, and they need to attract buyers and sellers. Attracting sellers is easy - you just make it so your fees are a lot lower than eBay (not hard). Attracting buyers, though, is a lot harder.

        First, buyers know what eBay pricing is about, and if they're coming to your site,

    • People still use eBay?

      Yes. As opposed to what?

      I, for example, regularly buy cheap Chinese imported solder paste off eBay. It's about an order of magnitude cheaper than the "proper" stuff from Farnell/RS/etc and seems to work just fine. I think there's one or two amazon vendors selling it for a vastly inflated price, too.

      And etc.

      Ebay seems to be a great source of random bits and bobs, e.g. m3 studding cut to length with accompanying butterfly nuts, or a small hot air rework station. ebay seems to be by far

    • People still use eBay? Is this the same eBay that became a scammer's paradise where no matter what you do, you're screwed? As a buyer you can be screwed easily enough, but as a seller I wouldn't waste my time. The risks so far outweigh the benefits that it's more like legalized gambling with the loser being the highest bidder.

      Despite what the guys at the bar down at the Legion say, there are actual stores run by actual business professionals on ebay. They've got their system pretty well honed to expose anyone who is a scammer. People and businesses I've bought from bend over backwards to keep you happy.

    • People still use eBay?

      EBay apparently had $17 billion in revenue last year so I'm guessing the answer is yes.

      Is this the same eBay that became a scammer's paradise where no matter what you do, you're screwed?

      It's not quite that bad but you do need to be careful.

      As a buyer you can be screwed easily enough, but as a seller I wouldn't waste my time. The risks so far outweigh the benefits that it's more like legalized gambling with the loser being the highest bidder.

      That is why I no longer own the auction company I held about 10 years ago. It was basically impossible to deal with eBay. They would raise fees every 6 months like clockwork. Any buyer could simply invoke the magic words "not as described" and get their money back. You couldn't defend yourself against unjustified bad feedback. Makers of luxury goods (like Louis Vu

  • Never heard of eBay Now until today. Having hard time imagining on-demand delivery vs. what... by subscription delivery?

    Long time user, and eBay shareholder here; I guess I should have paid more attention to annual reports.

    • eBay Now was a service being piloted in the bay area and NYC where you could order merchandise from local merchants like Best Buy, Macys and Home Depot and it would be delivered within an hour.

    • Same for me, didn't know ebay was even trying anything like this out. How would they pick up items from the seller and get them delivered to a buyer ? Seems problematic, Ive ordered things from best buy for pickup and got an email later saying they didnt actually have it.
      • I used it once. It was actually fun. I got a french press coffee maker for my desk at work. I selected the product, the store and two hours later someone delivered it me at the store price plus $5.00 (if I remember correctly).

        It was a blast to order something and have it delivered like a pizza.

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