EBay (EBAY) is rolling out drop-off locations for its Valet service to 1,600 FedEx (FDX) U.S. stores in the coming months, the latest attempt by an e-commerce player to give customers more ways to send orders.
The extension comes on the heels of tests in Atlanta and Los Angeles, and the program could give users of eBay’s Valet service a new way to reach far more sellers while building up the still-small service.
eBay Valet, a service launched two years ago, seeks to simplify selling items on eBay; instead of a user needing to individually list, price, and ship their goods, eBay Valet handles the entire process. Usually, Valet takes a 20%-40% commission on sales for its service. The FedEx tie-up is a way to help eBay Valet become less reliant on mail delivery and reach far more customers across the U.S. through those hundreds of additional drop-off locations.
The agreement follows moves by many retailers to facilitate delivery. CVS (CVS) recently announced a partnership with tech start-up with Curbside to offer pickup for online orders without requiring a customer to go into the store. Wal-Mart (WMT) is expanding is curbside grocery pickup to new stores and new markets in the United States.
What’s more, the partnership—admittedly a small part of either company’s business—could be one way to fight back at Amazon.com (AMZN), which has been encroaching on eBay’s business and threatened that of FedEx by ramping up its own delivery infrastructure, including expanding its fleet of cargo planes in a bid to have more control over shipping.
