While it has not received a lot of coverage on our side of the big pond, we here at ChannelAdvisor are very excited to see eBay Express launch in the U.K. earlier this month (I am betting that many of our U.K. sellers feel the same way). Similar to eBay Express in the U.S. (launched in April ‘06), Express is designed to provide a more convenient, faster and safer shopping experience (a.k.a. convenience buyers vs. the traditional eBay “deal seekers”) with a much cleaner interface and a new relevancy-based search engine.

There are three features that distinguish eBay Express in the U.K. from the U.S. version:

• Only New Products. Contrary to the U.S., sellers may not list used or refurbished products so there is no “Show All” link in the top-right corner that exposes all available inventory.

• eBay Express-Only Listing Type. Sellers in the U.K. may list products ONLY to eBay Express rather than relying on eBay Stores or BIN Auction listings to syndicate to eBay Express with the same data and pricing as the eBay core site.

• Return Policy. Sellers must specify a return policy on the listing so that buyers understand what conditions may apply if the product is not what they expected.

While I personally prefer the U.S. approach on item condition (Amazon allows a buyer to view used products), what is more significant is the Express-only listing option available in the U.K. and eBay Express Germany. Although all eBay Express implementations are based on the same architecture, the U.S. team has opted not to allow this right out of the gate (although I know they are considering it). However, it’s a very attractive option as it allows a seller to tailor his messaging and pricing to the convenience buyer and potentially yield higher margins (especially in a channel that has somewhat of a barrier to entry with strict seller requirements).

We worked closely with eBay throughout the development of eBay Express UK and *ka-ching* are the first Certified Solutions Provider to support it (thanks to our developers that jumped at making this happen). Several of our U.K. merchants have already taken advantage of this and are getting their inventory up on this new channel. Once a merchant is approved to sell on Express (click here to get started) all that is really needed is to mark products that you want to sell and you’re done (eBay Express listings and orders are fully integrated into our application and work just like any other eBay listing so there’s really no learning curve).

Why should you care? If you’re a U.K.-based seller with new inventory you have to participate in eBay Express. eBay is going to spend a lot of money driving attention to this site and it’s significantly easier to use then eBay. And if you are not going then you are opening an opportunity for competitors. Now that’s never good, is it?

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