eBay takes on Amazon with new Guaranteed Delivery program

[Shawn Knight]

Amazon’s annual Prime membership with free two-day shipping has forever changed the landscape of online shopping.

Others may occasionally offer a product at a cheaper price but Amazon knows we are impatient and want our purchases ASAP. As such, we’ll pay for that $99 Prime membership in order to get our stuff in just a couple of days (or less if you’re willing to pay a small fee).

Amazon’s tactics have been wildly successful and continue to force the competition to either adapt or get left behind.

eBay, which has shown on multiple occasions that it’s willing to modify its business model to remain relevant, is doing so once again. On Monday, the Internet pioneer announced a new program that will guarantee delivery of some 20 million eligible products in three days (with other items qualifying for one- and two-day delivery).

Hal Lawton, Senior Vice President of North America at eBay, said that while the majority of items on eBay already ship within three days or less (as well as for free), Guaranteed Delivery will give shoppers even faster delivery options and the confidence that their items will arrive on time.

The service will launch this summer at no additional cost to sellers. The perks will no doubt be enticing to sellers as it’ll likely foster more sales although sellers must meet a required set of shipping standards to participate.

eBay says that if guaranteed items arrive late, the buyer can request to have the cost of shipping refunded (if shipping was free, they’ll instead get a coupon towards their next eBay purchase). Optionally, they can elect to return the item at no cost.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/68585-ebay-takes-amazon-new-guaranteed-delivery-program.html

 

[BadThad]

Since ebay is primarily individual sellers, it's not going to work real well. I think they'll be handing out a lot of coupons.

 

[Evernessince]

Since ebay is primarily individual sellers, it's not going to work real well. I think they'll be handing out a lot of coupons.

Well, eBay does have a top seller program that tracks and measures performance. Obviously sellers who fail to meet expectations will loose their top seller statues. But I think you may be right. It used to be that eBay would give you a fee discount if you were a power seller or a Top Rated seller. Now you get nothing for being a power seller and they just announced recently that they are cutting the fee discount for top rated sellers in half.

So yeah, eBay wants it's sellers to offer better service but they aren't actually offering anything in exchange. It's like a bad boss who gives you a "promotion", only you end up with more work and responsibility and no extra pay. In fact in this case, you are actually getting paid less.

 

[OutlawCecil]

Can we force people in china to ship stuff quickly? I already expect 30+ days for delivery (an ok trade-off for super cheap prices) but on day 60+ I'm questioning what planet my package is coming from that it'd take 8 weeks for delivery... I don't really care about shipping times less than a week. I'm patient, I just want a good price.

 

[Kenrick]

I only go to ebay if I need an item that is cheap and is ok for me to have it by next month or 2 months.

Prime is still unbeatable especially in sale/discount and customer service.

 

[Evernessince]

I only go to ebay if I need an item that is cheap and is ok for me to have it by next month or 2 months.

Prime is still unbeatable especially in sale/discount and customer service.

That's a misconception at best. Top Rated Sellers are required to ship items within one business day and item's marked "Fast N' Free" arrive within 4 days or less. The seller in only allowed a few mistakes or they are taken off the program.

Prime is quick but I've also had problems with getting counterfeit goods. The 3rd party marketplace on Amazon in particular is terrible. Amazon takes far too long to solve disputes so I no longer buy anything but from Amazon directly on their website.