EBay still sells billions of dollars in goods every year, but you wouldn’t know it by checking out the average recycling bin filled with rival Amazon’s cardboard boxes.
That’s why the San Jose, Calif.-based company has decided to counterattack by selling supplies like boxes, envelopes, and tape with eBay (EBAY) branding to its marketplace sellers, the online marketplace said on Tuesday. The new packaging is optional to use. Sellers are still free to use their own boxes, including those that do not bear eBay’s branding.
“Many of our sellers told us that they wanted to purchase eBay branded shipping supplies online and we wanted to provide them with more choices,” the company said in a blog post announcing its brand spanking new packaging. “Our sellers also said that cost and convenience were the most important attributes when choosing what and where to purchase.”
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The shipping materials will be available through the eBay Shipping Supplies Store, operated by a third-party fulfillment partner with a license to use eBay’s brand. When the store opens at some unknown time in the near future, its initial lineup of supplies will include 100% recyclable boxes in 10 different sizes, “airjacket” bubble mailers, “polyjacket” mailers, and high quality tape, with more items to be added later.
In 2015, eBay’s gross merchandise volume—the dollar-worth of the goods sold through its marketplace—was a whopping $82 billion.
An earlier version referred to eBay as an online auctioneer instead of a marketplace and misstated its location. The story has been updated.
