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EBay Launches Express Shopping: CONVENIENCE FOR BUYERS IS AIM OF FIXED-PRICE SITE

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 April 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Elise Ackerman, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

Apr. 25--EBay launched a new fixed-price shopping service on Monday aimed at people who find online auctions too time-consuming, too nerve-racking or just plain frustrating.

Dubbed "eBay Express," the new service boasts its own Web address and a new search engine that was designed to allow more targeted shopping.

"We built eBay Express because we wanted to appeal to the convenience-oriented buyers," said Jamie Iannone, senior director of product marketing.

Unlike eBay's main site, where shoppers can choose to enter an online bid or, in some cases, offer to meet a suggested "buy-it-now" bid for items that are new or used, shoppers at the eBay Express site will pay posted prices for new merchandise only.

Offering people a way to buy things in a non-auction format will put the company in direct competition with services such as Amazon.

Shoppers on eBay Express also get a "shopping cart" so they can check out all at once, rather than paying for each item separately, as they do on the regular site.

EBay's shares have fallen 27 percent since January, when company executives gave investors a lukewarm forecast for future growth. The company's forecast following its first-quarter earnings report last week also disappointed investors.

Shawn Milne, an analyst with Friedman, Billings & Ramsey, said he believed eBay executives were being cautious in their predictions in advance of the new service's launch. EBay plans to promote the service, which can be reached through a link on eBay's main site, during the late-summer, back-to-school shopping rush and the holiday season.

The new express search feature allows shoppers to sort items in multiple ways. For example, if you were a fan of Johnny Cash's music, you could sort results by price, by format (CD, DVD or cassette) by genre (country, holiday or soundtrack), and by album type (full-length CD, single, box set, etc.)

The 10 million listings currently available on eBay Express are pulled from the 89 million listings on eBay -- at no cost to the seller. Only new items are included in the new service.

"One of the benefits of eBay Express to sellers is added exposure at no added cost or no added work," Iannone said. He said he is expecting the number of listings to grow rapidly as sellers become familiar with the new service.

Contact Elise Ackerman at eackerman@mercurynews.com or (408) 271-3774.

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Copyright (c) 2006, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

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NASDAQ-NMS:EBAY, NYSE:FBR,

Source: San Jose Mercury News

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