Tag Archives: eBay

Navigating the Evolving Ecommerce Landscape: Shopify, Poshmark, eBay, and Etsy

In the rapidly evolving ecommerce sector, the landscape has witnessed significant changes, with platforms like Shopify and Poshmark carving out substantial niches for themselves. These newcomers have redefined the way entrepreneurs and businesses approach online sales, offering innovative tools and streamlined processes that cater to the modern seller’s needs. However, established players such as eBay and Etsy continue to hold significant sway in the market, leveraging their vast user bases and diverse marketplaces to remain competitive.

Shopify, with its comprehensive suite of services, has become a cornerstone for businesses looking to craft a personalized online presence. Its flexibility and scalability make it an ideal choice for startups and established businesses alike, enabling them to create bespoke online stores that cater to their unique brand identities and operational requirements. Shopify’s emphasis on user experience and efficiency has set a new standard in the industry, pushing competitors to innovate continually.

On the other hand, Poshmark has carved out a niche in the fashion and lifestyle sectors, offering a community-driven platform that emphasizes social selling. Its model, which encourages interaction between buyers and sellers, has introduced a novel dimension to online commerce, blending the lines between social media and ecommerce. This approach has resonated particularly well with younger demographics, who value authenticity and engagement in their shopping experiences.

Despite the surge of these newer platforms, eBay and Etsy have remained formidable players. eBay’s vast inventory and auction-style listings continue to attract a diverse audience, from casual buyers to serious collectors. Meanwhile, Etsy’s focus on handmade, vintage, and unique items has fostered a loyal community of sellers and buyers who value craftsmanship and creativity.

The common thread among all these platforms, however, is the increasing reliance on automation. From inventory management to marketing, customer service to fulfillment, automation has become the linchpin of successful ecommerce operations. It not only streamlines processes but also enhances the customer experience, ensuring businesses can meet the demanding expectations of today’s consumers. As ecommerce continues to grow, the platforms that best integrate and utilize automation will likely lead the pack, offering both sellers and buyers more efficient, personalized, and engaging online shopping experiences.

In conclusion, the ecommerce landscape is more dynamic than ever, with platforms like Shopify and Poshmark introducing innovative features that challenge the status quo, while veterans like eBay and Etsy adapt and evolve. The key to thriving in this environment lies in leveraging automation, which has become indispensable in managing the complexities of online selling and providing exceptional customer experiences.

Note to Readers:

As I navigate through the fascinating journey of expanding my business into the blockchain space and engaging with multiple private clients, my time to connect with you through this blog has been limited. The rapid pace of this expansion and the depth of involvement required has meant that my attention has been focused more on these new ventures than on sharing insights and updates here. However, my commitment to the ecommerce and entrepreneurship community remains unwavering. I am still deeply entrenched in the industry, observing, learning, and adapting to its changes, just as I have shared today. Rest assured, this exploration and growth only serve to enrich the perspectives and knowledge that I plan to bring back to this platform. Thank you for your understanding and continued support as we navigate these exciting times together.

In fact, if you’re still reading, I’d like to gauge the reach of this blog. Can you simply comment on this post, just say hi.

eBay to begin processing Payments in-house by 2021

We all know that eBay split with it’s money printing machine (aka PayPal) a few years ago.

It never made sense to me that eBay never integrated it’s own payment processing system like Amazon Pay or AliPay. A simple credit card accepting option offered to all sellers instead of having to be forced to have to use only PayPal.

Well, today eBay announced a partnership with Adyen, A payment platform that I’ve never heard of. Honestly they should have just partnered with Stripe because it’s simply AWESOME.

Anyways, the integration will start (for a select few) in the second half of 2018, to be fully integrated by the time the PayPal partnership (aka the monopoly) ends in 2021.

Although I think that eBay needs serious and immediate internal re-construction. And this news is way too late (and will take long to actually work), I’m going to stay with a positive tone since this is post because it’s actually good news.

Here is copy the email announcement:

Dear eBay Seller,

 

eBay is happy to announce plans to further improve the customer experience by intermediating payments on our Marketplace platform. In doing so, eBay will manage the payments flow, simplifying the end-to-end experience for both buyers and sellers. We have signed an agreement with Adyen, a leading global payments processor, to become our primary payments processing partner. PayPal, a long-time eBay partner, will be a payments option at checkout for eBay buyers.

 

You do not need to take any action at this time. The transition to full payments intermediation will be a multi-year journey.

 

Over the past three years, eBay has transformed its business to drive the best choice, most relevance and most powerful selling platform. Building out our payments capabilities is the next step in that strategy.

 

Payments intermediation will bring significant benefits for eBay sellers. You can expect a simplified pricing structure, more predictable access to funds, and most sellers can expect their costs of payments processing to be reduced. We’re also working on ways to provide sellers a central place to track and manage their business, which can soon include payments information.

 

By offering buyers more choice in how they pay and expanding payment options into more geographies, eBay believes sellers will be able to reach more buyers and improve conversion.

 

The transition to full payments intermediation will be a multi-year journey. eBay will begin intermediation on a small scale in North America starting in the second half of 2018, expanding in 2019 under the terms of the Operating Agreement with PayPal. In 2021, we expect to have transitioned a majority of Marketplace customers to the new payments experience.

 

Again, you do not need to take any action at this time. As eBay gets closer to the initial phase of its intermediation efforts, we will share more details about this process and next steps for sellers. In the meantime, please read the eBay Inc announcement for further information. For any immediate questions or to share feedback, please email paymentsinfo@ebay.com.

 

We’re looking forward to what’s next, and to getting there with you.

 

As always, thank you for selling on eBay.

 

Bob Kupbens

Laura Chambers

VP, B2C Selling

VP, C2C Selling

 

eBay to Shutdown Classifieds

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Years ago eBay purchased global classifieds giant Kijiji. It did operate as Kijiji for a while until eBay finally (and slowly) changed it to ebayclassifieds.com.
Today, we received emails from eBay Classifieds that it will be shutdown shortly, I will assume that it’s because of the low traffic they have had since they made the switch.
eBay also had purchased mobile local trading app Close5 about a year or so ago and it looks like it’s gaining momentum in the ranks of local trading apps market. eBay is pushing Close5 to be “The” replacement of eBay classifieds as you can read in the email screenshot above.

About Close5: We have personally used it last year before our big move and were successful selling a few items we needed to get rid of, however other more popular local selling apps like Wallapop and OfferUp gave us better results.
eBay Classifieds will stop accepting new postings by the end of August and will completely shutdown by September 30th 2016.
RIP eBay Classifieds.