eBay is calling on mobile companies, the European Union and the British Government to take steps to improve the mobile network so the full potential of the mobile commerce can be unleashed to boost the British economy in these times of austerity and international financial brouhaha.
The so-called Mobile Manifesto calls on the government to improve the mobile network, fastrack the development of the 4G network and also work to limit super expensive data roaming charges across the EU. You can download the Mobile Manifesto here.
Miriam Lahage, Vice President of Global Fashion at eBay, comments: “The mobile economy is proving resilient as people increasingly see owning and using a mobile phone as an essential expense, despite cutting back in other areas. As smartphone and tablet ownership increases there will be even greater potential rewards for companies investing in mobile, and this is particularly true for retailers. At eBay in the UK we now see around 10% of sales by value transacted on mobile devices, but we need the right infrastructure in the UK to match this demand. For retailers, it’s about putting mobile at the heart of your strategy and creating a site that is optimised for every device.”
13 Responses
ebay need to fix their mobile apps first as the majority of our unpaid items are from people using these apps and are unaware they have made a purchase until the upi is opened.
I wish I knew who all these people making purchases on their mobile phones were. I can’t be the only one who’s looked, got fed up and reached for the laptop can I?
The only thing I’ve ever purchased by mobile has been when I’ve previously added an item to my eBay watch list and simple placed a bid to snipe the auction with my mobile at the last minute. Other than that I’m a mobile virgin.
I would guess that daytime purchases by under 25 females make up a high proportion of these mobile sales. So if you offer fashion, underwear, accessories and such like then you are more than likely a mobile shopping winner.
If you offer the sort of stuff that eBay built their reputation on then forget it (IMHO).
eBay should remember that mobile shopping does not offer the full on ebay experience and this could have a detrimental affect on seller DSR scores. For that reason could ebay set up an “opt out” preventing mobile shoppers from viewing listings.
New knickers with a catalogue image and description is one thing and may be suited to mobile.
Used collectables with hand drafted descriptions and multiple images are something else and may not be.
eBay’s own ipad app is extremely restrictive when it comes to listing items for sale. Great for simple stuff and UK shipping only as long as you use eBay’s own picture hosting. Questionable for anything else and those who sell worldwide or who normally self host.
And search is also a cut down version so what chance finding that obscure item?
I’m amazed. I actually had somebody toady advise that they had purchased by phone!
The issue was they apologised for a late payment as a certain button on the phone had not been pressed. I wonder therefore if eBay for mobile users should make the payment process simpler and flag up whether payment has been made or not clearer.
Also could ebay flag up to sellers which items have been purchased by mobile?
This would certainly make it easier for sellers to understand which ebay system they are dealing with and provide some credible stats for sellers.
We have lots of problems with customers using mobile phone orders through eBay, this always ends up with us apologising on the behalf of eBay.
When a customer uses a mobile phone to buy on our eBay site they automatically get charged the internatioal postage rate, even if it’s free UK postage. Sometimes they complain and we can then let them know, sometimes they just pay and I’m guessing mark us down on postage as they have paid lots for it.
I have made eBay aware of this but they did not seem concerned, their advice was to sell UK only and take away the international postage options. They state it’s due to the Ip address on mobile phone being different.
Anyone else had this problem?
Whether you’re selling on eBay, Amazon or your own site I think you cannot ignore mobile.
I agree there’s a specific demographic and often incentives are needed for mobile checkout, but on eBay alone we’ve seen an increase in mobile device usage.
Sellers should at least check their listings on as many devices as possible, especially if you have a custom template, to confirm the buying experience is the best it can be.
E-mail marketing is also often overlooked and ready or not, a lot of our mails will be read on mobile devices.
Device usage is different across different eBay categories but the most often used devices we see, in order, include; iPad, iPhone, Android, iPod and Blackberry.
We even see eBay mobile traffic from the PlayStation 3!
@ Wholesale Karl,
So eBay are suggesting that you restrict your sales because their App is rubbish?
Ask them to write that down.
@Wholesale Karl and @JD,
Yes, there’s issues in the eBay mobile application(s).
I blogged about an issue with shipping that lost us sales, luckily it was fixed in a later release, but if I hadn’t been checking it could have been worse.
https://www.handclicked.com/is-the-ebay-mobile-application-losing-you-sales
Amazing that eBay’s answer to a massive mobile issue with shipping charges and international sales is to tell UK sellers to restrict all sales to the UK only.
And this from company launching “The Mobile Manifesto”!