eBay announced it will hold a workshop on Friday to further explain its eBay Express site that is set to launch in April. According to the company, eBay Express, "offers primarily new items that are available for purchase right away," though it will allow used and collectible items to be included (http://express.ebay.com).

eBay Express will contain Store and fixed-price listings from U.S.-based sellers on eBay.com that can be purchased right away. eBay Express will contain a shopping cart, and buyers will be required to use PayPal or a credit card to make a purchase. Only sellers with a 98 percent positive feedback score of at least 100 will be eligible to sell on eBay Express.

Initial response to the eBay Express announcement has been positive (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m02/i08/s03). However, some sellers remain concerned over the new site's requirements. Sellers must agree to ship items to unconfirmed PayPal addresses, and in doing so, lose any seller protection they may have had through PayPal.

Some sellers in the Pottery, Glass and Porcelain category also worry about the required "Item Condition" field that eBay said it will introduce to the category. Item Condition indicates whether an item is new, used, or refurbished. For some, it was a flashback to 2004 when eBay replaced browseable subcategories with Item Specifics, eBay's term for product attributes like condition, size and color. eBay rolled back the changes in the category in July 2004 after many sellers had complained that Item Specifics took away the serendipitous sales generated from users who were browsing, not searching (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y04/m07/i06/s04).

When eBay Express initially rolls out in April, it will not include listings from the Pottery, Glass and Porcelain category. eBay said this would give eBay time to work with members in the category to determine the best way to handle Item Condition. An announcement from an eBay moderator stated, "There are some areas within Collectibles such as Antiques, Art, Postcards, Militaria and Sports Memorabilia (among many others) where Item Condition did not make sense and we will not be launching (Item Specifics) in this area but they will be included on Express. This is something that we can consider when working on Pottery & Glass" (http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000233485).

eBay talked more about the issue of Item Specific requirements of eBay Express in a post on its main Announcement Board on March 2 (http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200603021554252.html), along with a list of categories to be included in eBay Express at launch.

The eBay Express workshop is being held on March 17 at 11 am PT.

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000088514