eBay Enticing Sellers to Offer More Expedited Shipping

Fast shipping on eBay has always been a bit of a battle between the marketplace and sellers. Many smaller sellers, especially micro and part-time sellers, struggle with the idea of next day shipment processing and using more expensive shipping options such as Priority Mail to offer expedited services.

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Many sellers accuse the company of pushing for policies that they believe only cost them money and are not necessary.

The reality is that eCommerce has and is changing.

eBay is trying to provide a more consistent buying experience so that a shopper feels as comfortable to buy from a smaller seller as they do with one with hundreds of thousands of sales.

Clearly, it is something of a balancing act for the marketplace. But competitive pressure from Amazon, or eCommerce startups like NA-KD that now offer free worldwide shipping, do put a lot of emphasis on fast and free delivery.

And survey after survey affirms that eCommerce shoppers want fast and free shipping. The reality is that sellers do need to embrace it, regardless of size.

It may require a bit of a marketing rethink or change in product mix. But to stay successful in eCommerce, most sellers in most categories will find themselves in trouble if they do not change with the trends in eCommerce.

#ShipShipHooray

To promote further adaption by eBay sellers of fast and free shipping, eBay is running a sweepstakes promotion for the next four weeks.

Along with weekly prices such as a shipping station worktable and $500 in eBay-branded shipping supplies, the Grand Prize, which eBay values at $25,000, includes:

• A trip to San Francisco
• A consultation with the eBay shipping team and a branding agency
• An expert redesign of your eBay store and logo, plus custom banner ads
• $15,000 in digital advertising on eBay

To enter the sweepstakes promotion, sellers need to complete three steps:

1. Sellers need to register at #ShipShipHooray page and their name, email address, and seller ID.
2. Every week, there will be a new challenge and a weekly prize. Seller will need to complete the challenge by the end of the day on Sunday to be entered to win that week’s prize. Here is the full list of challenges.
3. If a seller completes three out of the four challenges by Sunday, February 11, they’ll be entered to win the grand prize.

Note: Sweepstakes is open to U.S. Sellers only. See eBay’s official rules here.

Most of the big sellers have already moved on from free and fast shipping to free returns. That is the next step in this battle to convert smaller sellers to realize that convenience matters to shoppers.

With this sweepstakes, eBay presumably hopes that it will gain more converts to fast and free shipping to improve the overall adaption of eCommerce “standards.”

What do you think about this promotion? Will you enter it? Drop us a line in the comments section below.