eBay is taking a page from sites like Rue La La and Gilt.com with its new Fashion Vault marketing program. The company will feature designer fashion from "trusted sellers and designers" during 2- to 3-day sales events. Items are heavily discounted from the suggested retail price, and shipping is free in the continental United States for all Fashion Vault listings.

eBay is limiting sellers who can participate in the events, and a Fashion Vault tab is prominently displayed next to eBay's Daily Deals tab on the navigation bar throughout the site.

Unlike Rue La La and Gilt, these are not invitation-only sales and are open to all eBay shoppers, who can sign up to be notified of Fashion Vault events. The new feature kicked off on November 18th with a 3-day sale of Cole Haan clothing from a new eBay seller, "stylepremium" (registered July 2009 with 8 feedback as of Thursday evening). A Hugo Boss sale begins on November 23.

eBay had launched a trial flash sale in July in which seller "Ideeli" offered a range of Cole Haan items over a 2-day period (link). The favored treatment of a brand-new, low-feedback seller was not well received by eBay's regular sellers (link to AuctionBytes Blog post).

eBay's event sales are not limited to the Clothing Shoes & Accessories category. eBay recently held a 3-day sale in the Model Trains category that featured products exclusively from one seller.

eBay is also offering a 30% "friends and family" discount on its inaugural Fashion Vault sale for anyone using the code CFASHIONVAULTN20. eBay notified its employees of the discount, and Michelle Madhok published the code on her fashion shopping blog SheFinds.com.

Comment on the AuctionBytes Blog