eBid Readies Immediate Pay & Other Features

eBid Auction Site Readies Immediate Pay and Other Features
By Ina Steiner
EcommerceBytes.com
May 07, 2014

Online auction site eBid is readying a feature that allows sellers to require immediate payment from buyers. And the site, boasting 4 million live listings, said new updates to its mobile app are completed and awaiting App Store approval.

The new "Require Immediate Payment" system was requested by many sellers "to ensure payment is received safely and swiftly from their buyers." The feature is optional and will allow sellers to decide if their buyers must pay immediately after a "BuyNow" purchase is made.

We checked in with eBid founder Mark Wilkinson, who sounded positive about the site's growth rate. "Our sales for April are up 5% and 9% in the UK and U.S., respectively, year on year. Mobile sales are doubling monthly currently, but that it is to be expected as (the) App has only been available since 1st Feb, and we expect that to slow."

The problem of stale listings is a common one for eBay alternative marketplaces, and Wilkinson said they recently culled stale listings and put in place more checks to ensure all listings are fresher and sellers are active.

"You might be interested in our social endeavors that we have been spending more time on in recent months," he said. The company hired a social coordinator, and it now has 68 active pages on Google Plus with over 17,000 "plus 1s" (similar to Facebook "likes.") It also has a new blog page and Pinterest pages.

eBid has also added in-app notification to its iOS and Android apps - "You'll be alerted when a BuyNow sale is made on one of your listings and also when offers and counter-offers are made/rejected/accepted," according to a website announcement. "We'll be adding more in-app notifications in future versions."

A review of other updates shows some attention being paid to U.S. based users, such as new Priority Mail shipping options as well as changing the spelling of "favourite" to American English for some emails to U.S. users.

Thank you iwiw60. :-)

Edited to add - I've just shared on facebook and google +

Mary, thanks for the heads up. :)

WTG eBid! :)

Best wishes for many sales to all,

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Originally Posted by iwiw60

eBid Auction Site Readies Immediate Pay and Other Features
By Ina Steiner
EcommerceBytes.com
May 07, 2014

Online auction site eBid is readying a feature that allows sellers to require immediate payment from buyers. And the site, boasting 4 million live listings, said new updates to its mobile app are completed and awaiting App Store approval.

The new "Require Immediate Payment" system was requested by many sellers "to ensure payment is received safely and swiftly from their buyers." The feature is optional and will allow sellers to decide if their buyers must pay immediately after a "BuyNow" purchase is made.

We checked in with eBid founder Mark Wilkinson, who sounded positive about the site's growth rate. "Our sales for April are up 5% and 9% in the UK and U.S., respectively, year on year. Mobile sales are doubling monthly currently, but that it is to be expected as (the) App has only been available since 1st Feb, and we expect that to slow."

The problem of stale listings is a common one for eBay alternative marketplaces, and Wilkinson said they recently culled stale listings and put in place more checks to ensure all listings are fresher and sellers are active.

"You might be interested in our social endeavors that we have been spending more time on in recent months," he said. The company hired a social coordinator, and it now has 68 active pages on Google Plus with over 17,000 "plus 1s" (similar to Facebook "likes.") It also has a new blog page and Pinterest pages.

eBid has also added in-app notification to its iOS and Android apps - "You'll be alerted when a BuyNow sale is made on one of your listings and also when offers and counter-offers are made/rejected/accepted," according to a website announcement. "We'll be adding more in-app notifications in future versions."

A review of other updates shows some attention being paid to U.S. based users, such as new Priority Mail shipping options as well as changing the spelling of "favourite" to American English for some emails to U.S. users.

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I shall not be using the new "Require Immediate Payment" system - I can see that it would be a great asset for sellers of unique items, but for others - the TOP SELLERS - that have postcards, stamps, comics, craft items etc. and other variations of items listed like soaps, candles etc it would be folly to add this feature to their listings.

Sometimes, folk like to browse - take their time to see what is newly listed.

My last buyer took 5 days to complete their buying from me - which I was delighted with, and happy to wait until they were sure that their requirements at that time were complete.

I would have preferred to see that variations of listings feature had been added instead.
Is this so hard to do?

The influx of big sellers of clothes, shoes, stationery, craft items etc. from TOS are dismayed at having to list each item individually - this sure puts them off selling on here - and we need their trade to bring in more buyers.
I'm so disappointed that someone I introduced to eBid from TOS didn't even give eBid a try - due to the lack of variants option.
No time (or inclination) to list lots of sizes, lots of colours, etc.
I know Ebid would be delighted with the amount of listings rising dramatically if some ex-eBay big sellers were to comply with the rules of listing each item with a different title and photo , but it isn't going to happen.

Oh well - never mind - at least we can rest assured that our spelling mistakes/corrections are in order ...
"some attention being paid to U.S. based users, such as new Priority Mail shipping options as well as changing the spelling of "favourite" to American English for some emails to U.S. users."

(Sorry guys - this beggars belief)
Just going to re-read my post to see that my periods are correct .....

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Originally Posted by Tropical_Trish

I know Ebid would be delighted with the amount of listings rising dramatically if some ex-eBay big sellers were to comply with the rules of listing each item with a different title and photo, but it isn't going to happen.

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If the variation listings were introduced the listing count would be the same as if a seller were to list each item individually. Each variation on the drop down would count as a different listing.

I think the instant payment option will be useful for some sellers and absolute commercial suicide for a lot of others that end up using it. For the future it is a great addition to the platform. The onus is on the seller to use it logically.

A length of rope can be extremely useful, even saving many lives. But it can also make a noose.

Immediate payment is not a feature that I would likely use much, but there are some sellers who were saying that they would.

I agree about the variant feature. That's another that people have said they would use a lot.