eBay Expands Fixed-Price Options

eBay is quietly following through on several of its recent promises and
deals, making the fixed-price format available to all of its sellers and
easing out Equifax in favor of VeriSign for user ID authentication.


The San Jose, Calif.-based auction giant said last
month
at the eBay user gathering that the fixed-price format was coming.


Now eBay has followed through, posting a notice that “the new Fixed Price
selling format has been completely released to the site, and should now be
fully available to all members. Sellers can list Fixed Price format items
through the Sell Your Item 2.0 listing form.”


The fixed-price format lets sellers list an item at a “Buy It Now” price throughout the duration
of the listing or until sold. Buyers will not have the option to bid on the
item.


To help buyers know which items they can bid on and which they can purchase
immediately, there now are three tabs on the Search and Listings pages: All
Items; Auction, which shows items that can be bid on, either in auction-stye
format or auction-style with Buy It Now; and Buy It Now, which shows fixed
price items, and those auction-style items that offer a Buy It Now option.


Buy It Now is presently offered on approximately 33 percent of all listings,
an eBay spokesman told internetnews.com.


Meanwhile, eBay is following through on a deal that it signed with Internet-security company VeriSign
last May.


ID Verify, a
service offered by eBay, provides a way for members to establish proof of
their identity. The service had been provided by Equifax; now a notice on the
site says that “the service offered by Equifax Secure will be replaced by
VeriSign in late summer.” The $5 charge to users remains the same.


As for health insurance for its “power sellers,” also promised at the June
convention of users, an eBay spokesman said “we’re continuing to work on it
and we’ll have further details to discuss in the fall.”

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