Earlier this year, eBay announced its intent to intermediate, or manage, the payments flow on its platform to simplify the end-to-end experience for buyers and sellers. The company now has begun managing payments on its Marketplace platform in the US.
“The introduction of eBay’s new payments experience in the US marks a significant milestone in our managed payments journey,” said Steve Fisher, Senior Vice President of Payments at eBay. “In less than eight months since announcing our initiative, we’ve moved rapidly to build our back-end payments platform, engage thoughtfully with our seller community to solicit their input and line up new forms of payment – all of which has led to the introduction of managed payments. Looking ahead to 2019, we will expand our new experience to more buyers and sellers in the US and begin rolling out our new payments experience outside the US.”
In today’s ecommerce landscape, shoppers expect to be able to check out and pay on the site where they’re shopping. With managed payments, eBay will manage the payments transaction, which means shoppers will be able to complete their purchases without leaving eBay. As a global marketplace that operates in over 190 markets, eBay also will provide localized payment options for buyers and sellers that are tailored to their unique needs.
The goal of managed payments is to drive significant benefits and efficiencies for eBay’s hundreds of millions of global customers. In the new managed payments experience, Sellers will benefit from a simplified pricing structure, more predictable access to their funds, and better visibility into sales and payouts. Specifically:
- Most sellers can expect lower overall selling costs in the new payments experience.
- Sellers will no longer be paid directly from buyers via PayPal; instead, payouts will be sent directly to sellers’ bank accounts.
- Sellers will benefit from consolidated billing, with all fees for selling and payments in one invoice, and centralized customer service.
- Sellers do not need to do anything to enable new forms of payments for buyers.
For buyers, eBay will provide consumers greater choice in payment options at checkout. In July, the company announced that Apple Pay would be among the first mobile forms of payment offered in its new payments experience. Today, buyers can use Apple Pay to purchase items on their mobile devices from sellers participating in the initial phase of the new payments experience.
eBay will continue to expand managed payments to buyers and sellers over time and expects to have transitioned a majority of its Marketplace customers to its new payments experience in 2021.
To learn more about eBay’s payments journey, you can find a Q&A with Alyssa Cutright here.