Today eBay officially announced its much-anticipated new service, eBay
Express (read the release).
From what I can tell (I haven't tried it yet myself), it is essentially a separate site for customers who are
looking for new stuff and not only want to skip the auction process, but want to buy from several different sellers all
at once. Only "qualified eBay merchants" are allowed to sell from the site. That should provide users
some assurance that what they buy will actually arrive and be in the condition they expect.
Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, explained the goal pretty clearly in the release, "eBay
Express is for buyers who prefer a more conventional online shopping experience," he said. "We think eBay
Express will attract new buyers to eBay and inspire existing buyers to use eBay even more."
I think eBay Express is a good idea and I plan to use it (I'll write about my experience here). But for investors,
I want to point out that this is a major new step in eBay's evolution of becoming an e-commerce retailer -- not an
auction site.
Here are some quick observations on the significance: