Exciting news from eBay! The site now lets sellers offer in-store pickup or ship-to-store, just like shopping on the sites of national retail chains. That should be no surprise, though: the first sellers to launch the new option are Best Buy and Toy ‘R’ Us. Wait, Best Buy and Toys ‘R’ Us sell on eBay?

They do: both retailers have eBay stores just like you or me. The difference, of course, is that they have global supply chains and instant inventory capabilities, and regular people have our grandparents’ change purses and hunting knives in a shoe box under our beds.

Sellers that participate in the program have two in-store pickup options that they can offer to customers: customers can order items that a local store carries and pick them up at the store perhaps within mere hours, or they can order an item that isn’t in stock and have it shipped to the store for free.

While eBay launched this feature with a big marketing push and even an e-mail blast promoting the listings of Best Buy and Toys ‘R’ Us, it’s nothing new. Even the tiniest sellers can offer in-store pickup by offering buyers the option to pick up auction items in person. The main advantage of this feature is that it makes buying from nationwide retailers on eBay more similar to buying from the retailers’ own sites, and integrates inventory features. The company plans to add more sellers as the program continues.

eBay Promotes New In-Store Pickup for Large Retailers [EcommerceBytes]
eBay Caters to Large Retailers with In-Store Pickup [EcommerceBytes Blog]

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