San Jose, Calif.—E-Bay, the leading and largest online person-to-person and business-to-consumer marketplace, may just be the most retail-friendly destination on the Internet. With an audience of 30 million registered users, the six-year-old company, one of the most respected ventures of the New Economy, has expanded beyond its original auction format to offer retailers a new way to present their items.



E-Bay Storefronts

"I have heard from the industry that this is the killer application that's going to get all jewelers on eBay," said Shira Levine, eBay's jewelry category manager, describing their newest initiative, eBay Stores. "And the reason is, it more thoroughly resembles the traditional retail experience—you get the price you ask. Any seller selling excess inventory would be crazy not to try and liquidate on eBay Stores."

The concept is simple.

Sellers can create a unique, fixed destination (www.ebay stores.com/your_store_name_ here) within the eBay marketplace and offer items for a set price.

Buyers can bookmark this site and return to see new pieces and auction listings on ebay.com. Items listed for auction by eBay Store owners will also feature a special icon linking potential buyers back to the store. And when a buyer finds an item they just can't resist, a one-click, automated checkout takes care of the sales transaction.

Construction and Cost

To simplify matters, eBay has created customizable templates enabling quick, professional construction while still allowing for a personalized feel. There's no need to learn a new software package or even a programming language. Business logos can be added, categories can be created depending upon inventory, and a "store policies" section insures buyers know exactly who they're dealing with—a perfect way to tout professional affiliations, company history and stone-certification guarantees.

Owning an eBay Store costs $9.95 a month, and items cost just five cents to list. When an item sells, eBay collects between 1.25 percent and five percent of the sale price, just as it does in its standard auction listings. If not already a registered, established eBay user, participants must be "ID verified," for a $5 fee.

To sellers, this format offers a number of advantages. First, said Kevin Pursglove, eBay's senior director of communications, "We have a built-in audience of 30 million members," which spans not only the United States but across the globe. That means, Levine explained, "if your store is in Seattle, buyers in Washington, D.C., don't know that you couldn't move a piece last Christmas, especially if you're offering it at a discount."

This fixed price format also allows for quicker transactions. With auction listings, the final price isn't realized until the end of the auction period, anywhere from three to 10 days, whatever the seller sets. In eBay Stores, listings can run for as long as 30 days and the size of the inventory can be as large or small as a store owner sees fit.

Auctions aren't obsolete, however. In fact, aside from telling existing customers about merchandise available at your eBay Store, auctions are a seller's primary traffic driver.

"Right now, the best way to drive traffic is to do a few auctions," Levine said.

Pursglove agreed. "A lot of our sellers tell us that harder-to-find, more valuable items oftentimes work better in the more competitive bidding format, and you place the more 'commodity' items in the fixed price format. But it all depends: Some people like to mix it up a bit, and the option is there for sellers to use.

"I've heard this from a lot of our sellers," Pursglove added. "In a holiday period, they'd like transactions to close on a much faster basis so they can list more merchandise. An item may have been listed in the fixed price format in November or December, but they might keep it posted in January or February in a bidding format."

The eBay Stores concept builds upon another recently introduced feature, "Buy It Now." Housed in the auction setting, "Buy It Now" enables sellers to add a fixed price to the item up for bids. A buyer can circumvent the traditional auction process if they accept the seller's asking price, but, once a bid is placed on the item, the "Buy It Now" option disappears.

"The sellers wanted to have a permanency to it," said Pursglove, "so that in Column A, you could look at items in the auction format and in Column B, items in a fixed price format. But the basic message was, if a seller decided to use the fixed price feature, they would have preferred to see that feature stay through the entire auction period rather than have it pre-empted by the first bid. So now they have that option with eBay Stores."



A Well-Educated Consumer

As selling becomes more sophisticated on eBay, so have its buyers. Two recent partnerships are turning eBay's jewelry browsers into more educated consumers. Linked from the main jewelry index page, the GIA informs buyers on "How to Buy a Diamond," introducing consumers to the 4Cs. In addition, it also prods buyers to "feel confident" in their buying decision, reminding them to ask for an independent expert analysis of any stone they might be considering.

To that end, eBay's arrangement with IGI, which offers eBay users a five percent discount on service fees, might help to instill that confidence. Grading reports present detailed descriptions of any stone, listing whether it's natural, synthetic or treated, etc. A photograph and schematic drawing of inclusions and blemishes accompany the report, which comes digitized, on disc, for easy uploading to either an auction or fixed price listing.

30 Million Users!

At $9.95 a month and considering its worldwide reach, eBay Stores is easily the most cost- effective way to experiment in the global online marketplace. Geared for business-to- consumer transactions, eBay has brought the retail game full circle, giving its sellers exactly what they've been asking for and buyers the quickest way to purchase whatever it is that springs to mind. After all, 30 million eBay users can't be wrong.