EBay had a front row seat for Amazon’s historic growth. The auction site does just fine, thank you very much, but in terms of revenue is only a fraction of the e-commerce giant. That ship has almost certainly sailed, but eBay’s finally readying a service to take on Amazon’s offering more directly.
Launching in the U.S. next year, Managed Delivery is an end-to-end fulfillment offering for eBay sellers. The company will store seller merchandise in third-party warehouses, allowing for faster fulfillment, while giving sellers the option to provide free shipping with a turnaround time of two or three days.
Those aren’t the only lessons eBay has learned from Amazon, either. There’s also the issue of branding. Per the press release:
With approximately 1.5 million packages being sent daily in the U.S. by eBay sellers, Managed Delivery will also result in hundreds of millions of eBay branded boxes and packages being placed on front porches across the United States within the next few years. These branded packages will not only deliver a better shopping experience for customers, but materially enhance eBay’s brand identity as a popular consumer shopping destination.
Per Reuters, the new offering should apply to up to half the items currently listed on the auction site. Better late than never, perhaps.