Half.com inventory will be available on eBay starting in early May, the auction site announced.
When the site is fully integrated into eBay, Half.com sellers will be able to make their listings "discoverable" on the auction site for no added fees. This will allow eBay shoppers to find the items they are looking for in less time and with less hassle, eBay notes.
The auction giant has a commitment to become "a top destination for books, music, movies and DVDs and video games," says Dinesh Lathi, eBay's vice president of Seller Experience.
But although buyers will be able to browse Half.com inventory through eBay, individual Half.com listings will not be searchable, reports eBay blogger Richard Brewer-Hay. Still, the integration will help eBay test a product-based experience in media categories, i.e., books, music, movies and video games.
"For buyers, a product-based experience will make it faster and easier for them to find what they are looking for. For our sellers, a product-based experience will save them time and make it easier to list an item," Brewer-Hay notes. "Given these benefits, our hope is to move this experience across the site for categories with a significant number of listings utilizing product details.
"Before doing so, we have to understand how our buyers will interact with this type of experience," he adds. "A positive reaction to this test from our buyers would be a big step toward eliminating insertion fees in certain categories."
Half.com is an eBay subsidiary that specializes in fixed-price listings for new and used media products. Sellers pay commission on sales, but there are no fees to list items on the site.
Adding Half.com to eBay will give media sellers a choice, eBay says. They will be able to decide between listing products for a 5-cent insertion fee, allowing buyers to see their offerings on both sites, or they can list strictly on Half.com without an insertion fee and get "more limited" visibility.
"With almost 60 percent of the inventory on Half.com not currently being offered on eBay, this will go a long way to delivering the selection buyers expect," Lathi says.
Auctiva staff writers constantly monitor trends and best practices of those selling on eBay and elsewhere online. They attend relevant training seminars and trade shows and regularly discuss the market with PowerSellers and other market experts.
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