Reliable quality standards for the sale of second-hand goods on the eBay marketplace

Case Study

Background

The market for used and refurbished goods is growing and accounts for an increasingly important share of eBay’s total turnover. The driver is also the market’s higher awareness of sustainability. For buyers of these goods, there are two particular criteria for the purchase decision: transparency of the condition of the individual product and trust in the quality of the offer. These two criteria were not yet sufficiently established on the eBay marketplace, both on the user experience level and especially on the product listings. The pressure to solve this challenge was also growing because established and new competitors were increasingly pushing into this area of certified second-hand goods.

„With the launch of our new B-Ware Centre, we are strengthening our comprehensive commitment to resource-saving shopping by giving carefully inspected and fully functional appliances a second life – and customers real bargains. For the opening, we worked closely with our retailers and over 500 brand partners.“

Martin Vogel, Senior Director Electronics & Innovation, eBay

Objectives

The goal of our project was the conception and introduction of an increased quality standard that is transparent for buyers, which makes it easier for them to choose the right second-hand goods and increases the likelihood of purchase through their increased trust. This quality standard had to be integrated for buyers along all relevant moments of their customer journey.

A basic requirement that had to be solved and was particularly complex was also to create and establish a process between the offering sellers and the eBay marketplace that would enable the necessary quality checks of the goods. This process had to be lean, because too high process costs would otherwise either be to the detriment of the attractiveness of the goods in terms of price or to the detriment of the seller’s margin. In addition, it had to be scalable in view of the high number of traders offering second-hand goods.

Solution

eStrategy Consulting developed the concept of certified refurbished items for eBay. Here, the items are professionally inspected, cleaned, refurbished and packaged including accessories by the manufacturer or by a manufacturer-approved provider based on defined criteria. This means that the products on offer can be sold in perfect condition, sometimes even as good as new, with the “certified refurbished” seal.

The new “certified refurb” seal of quality created in this way was integrated along eBay’s entire onsite customer journey and used in particular to upgrade the already existing B-Ware Centre set up especially for second-hand goods.

In addition to price savings of up to 30 per cent compared to the RRP, shopping in the eBay B-Ware Centre offers additional benefits such as a 1-year sales guarantee, free shipping and returns and a 30-day return policy.

Results

eBay buyers can now make a reliable, simple and sustainable purchase decision without risk along the entire range of the B-Ware Center. The go-live of certified refurbished items in the eBay B-Ware Centre was successfully carried out in 2021 and accompanied by a high-reach campaign. eBay’s 2021 Recommerce Report concludes that the sale of used goods is increasing significantly and that, parallel to this development, the B-Ware Center has made price-conscious, sustainable shopping without risk socially acceptable.

Role of eStrategy Consulting

In the first step, eStrategy Consulting created a competitive analysis for B-goods on marketplaces as well as at specialized retailers. We supplemented these benchmark analyses with eBay-internal analyses on assortment and seller KPIs. On this basis, we developed different scenarios for certification processes, whose conception and implementation we evaluated and prioritized in coordination with eBay-internal teams such as Product, Legal, Business and Content. In this way, we set the right course for the successful implementation of the project and were able to manage its implementation in a lean and efficient manner. This required close coordination with teams from other eBay countries where the rollout was planned. Finally, we supported the go-live of the new “eBay B-Ware Center” and the “certified refurbished” seal.

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