In the rush for faster delivery times in online marketplaces, eBay just stuck its hand up to remind everyone it can ship things fast, too.
The company is rolling out a new feature called “Guaranteed Delivery” through which it will, as the name suggests, guarantee delivery for eligible items in three days or less. If the product isn’t delivered by the deadline, the buyer gets a refund. If it was shipped for free, a $5 coupon.
Why is eBay making such an effort to point out how fast its items ship? It seems to be trying to compete with Amazon, a company known for short delivery times through its ‘Prime’ offering. Considering Amazon and UPS are working on drone shipping, eBay’s Guaranteed Delivery may be too little, too late.
According to eBay, 63-percent of its packages are delivered within 3 days, and 67-percent of goods sold through the eBay marketplace come with free shipping. So the company is not so much rolling out a new feature as it is highlighting an already-existing part of its culture: eBay can’t actually make deliveries go faster, since it doesn’t handle shipments directly.
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The Guaranteed Delivery tool will only be available to eligible sellers who have a history of fast shipping.
We should start seeing Guaranteed Delivery by the summer.
via CNET
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