Shopify alliance with eBay

Investment Analysis Clubs Saul’s Investing Discussions
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Shopify merchants will soon be able to list and sell their products on eBay directly from their Shopify account. With the new integration, Shopify merchants will have the opportunity to surface their brand and products to a massive new audience of more than 169 million active eBay buyers. eBay shoppers will benefit from added selection and choice from potentially hundreds of thousands of Shopify merchants.

This integration will also enable Shopify merchants to immediately sync inventory information such as product title and description, item specifics, price and quantity from Shopify to eBay. Customer orders will also be imported to Shopify and allow merchants to fulfill orders from both platforms in one location, while messages from buyers on eBay will also be visible within Shopify so their sellers won’t miss any important communications.

Odd, it can’t hurt, but I think of eBay (probably erroneously) as a company from the past. It does bring a lot more customers to Shopify merchants though.

Saul

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EBay is on a promotional binge. But yet another competitive advantage.

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I guess this is the end result of whatever discussions had prompted the idea that eBay might acquire Shopify from several months ago.

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“I think of eBay (probably erroneously) as a company from the past”

If you’d asked me last year, I’d have said the same - I viewed it like I viewed Yahoo - an internet/e-commerce pioneer quickly marching towards irrelevance.

But I noticed recently that eBay is being mentioned more frequently by co-workers, and on message boards when discussing purchasing something. I purchased something off eBay this spring because a merchant on eBay had it for sale (new), and Amazon did not - the first time in about 12 years.

And I saw this story the other day:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ebay-europe-idUSKBN19V2UK

“Millionaire” online businesses selling on ecommerce site eBay have jumped 50 percent in key international markets Britain and Germany in the last four years, despite currency swings that have slowed growth outside the United States.

…

While the company founded 22 years ago started out as an online auction site for consumers to trade second-hand goods, 80 percent of merchandise now sold via eBay is new, largely fixed-price items, the company reported in the first quarter of 2017.

Commercial sellers in eBay’s five main European markets - Germany, Britain, Italy, France and Spain - export, on average, to 20 different countries a piece, said Phuong Nguyen, eBay’s senior Director of seller growth, highlighting the international focus for many of its small and medium-sized export businesses."

I think eBay has pivoted a bit, and now provides an alternative to Amazon’s Marketplace. Maybe the barrier to entry is lower on eBay than it is on Amazon. Or maybe eBay is exploiting markets that Amazon hasn’t moved into (though Amazon is in Germany and Britain). Or perhaps a seller on eBay can provide better branding than Amazon. Or maybe eBay is just cheaper.

Interestingly, Shopify has an article on selling on-line with eBay and Amazon:

https://www.shopify.com/blog/6399562-the-pros-and-cons-of-se…

eBay is releasing results July 20th - it will be interesting to see how the company performed.

David

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But I noticed recently that eBay is being mentioned more frequently by co-workers, and on message boards when discussing purchasing something. I purchased something off eBay this spring because a merchant on eBay had it for sale (new), and Amazon did not - the first time in about 12 years.

Frankly, I am finding that identical items are priced lower on eBay than on Amazon right now about 70% of the time. Maybe it is just what I am looking for, but this is what I have been seeing for the past 6 months. Anecdotal, so take it for what it is worth.

But it seems to me that Amazon is no longer looking to be the low price leader in everything anymore. They are trying to be the one stop shop instead and may be trying to increase margins as a side effect of being more convenient and hoping that Prime members are not comparison shopping.

Prime was a really smart marketing move by Bezos. I remain a Prime member for the shipping and streaming (Netflix and Prime - cut the cable; sorry DIS and ESPN, I am one of the millions) even though I am buying less at Amazon than I have over the past couple of years. Shipping is occasionally a big deal and eBay does not compete as well there.

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I still use eBay. Not as much as I use Amazon, but more than I shop at most B&M retailers. Actually about equal to Wal- Mart, and I m a Wal-Mart fan.

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Frankly, I am finding that identical items are priced lower on eBay than on Amazon right now about 70% of the time.

I think that is true, but I’m willing to pay a little more on Amazon because I know if there is any problem with my purchase, they will make it right immediately. I wouldn’t expect that to be so easy with ebay.

Granted if the price differential is large enough, it makes the ebay option worthwhile despite any risk

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