How Can eBay Dominate The C2C Market For Years?

We all throw away good psrsonal stuff that worth money or hoard it just because throwing it away makes us feel bad.

Why cant we make some money from our perfectly good stuff that we don’t use?

We Just Hate Logistics! which is the key problem that C2C eCommerce hasn’t solved till now, thus nothing really changed in years.

This article offers an idea that solves the most critical issues in C2C eCommerce – Logistics and products Authenticity.

Ebay today is in a great position to follow this direction and Block Amazon and other competitors from entering the C2C eCommerce market and it must act fast before it’s too late.

What Can We Do Today?

Today if we do want to sell our private stuff online, we have 2 options only:

1. Sell it on eBay or another online marketplace that allows selling used goods
2. Post it online, on social networks (Facebook/Instagram), or on classifieds local sites like Craiglist (US) and Gumtree (UK)

C2C eCommerce almost hasn’t evolved since 2002, when eBay bought Paypal and accelerated the online payment market. That was probably the last game changer in the C2C eCommerce market. Since then, neither one of the big marketplaces has changed the way private people sell their stuff, hence the big money is still lying on the table.

It’s about time we see a new way for selling personal items and a smarter solution that will “rock the boat” of this ginormous almost untouched market.

The Gap – Logistics and Authenticity

What has yet to be solved?

For Sellers: Give C2C sellers a logistics solution that will save them time to list, promote, and fulfill the order (packing, shipping and customer support). Simple solution will also reduce the fears attached in the unknown field of selling products.

For Buyers: People are reluctant to buy products from unknown sellers. Even if buyers have payment protection (like given by Paypal), handling issues regarding the seller or his products is something they prefer to avoid. Buyers are also troubled with getting fake products, therefore authenticity plays a major role in any buying decision.

To sum it up, even today with the huge progress of eCommerce, trust and logistics in C2C eCommerce are real unsolved gaps.

The Solution

On my previous articles on How Can eBay Regain Its Throne?, and B2B Marketplaces future? it’s all about Shipping! , I’ve demonstrated a new idea regarding a secondary marketplace for ordering fulfillment services.

In a nutshell, warehouses and stores worldwide will compete with each other on offering a fulfillment service to remote sellers who would like to sell their products to the local community. These fulfillment companies can be any company that has the capacity and means to run a cost-effective fulfillment center, in most cases by just adding it to its current business operation.

After taking this idea and tweaking it a bit.

We can offer private C2C sellers a full turn-key fulfillment solution. Meaning, they will only upload their product’s photo and description on a mobile app, and once supplier has been chosen, the product will be picked up from the sellers home, authenticated and posted professionally online. It will be stored and shipped to the final destination. Customer support will also be included in this service.

Therefore, any C2C seller will only need to upload his product online and will get paid after sale is done with minimal effort. This service includes fees both to the fulfillment company and the marketplace. Getting money is a much better solution than the alternative of throwing the product to trash or leave it at home useless.

The Buyer will get a professional service from a trustworthy company that authenticates the product, ships it on time and gives a full support service. Therefore the C2C sales are expected to raise significantly.

Now lets combine the B2C and C2C solutions

Such fulfillment centers can offer remote B2C sellers to get closer to its local buyers, and to local C2C sellers the full turn-key logistics and handling support they desire.

This is a Win-Win-Win-Win situation:

1. For the marketplace that facilitates the process and gains much higher traffic of both buyers and sellers, and increase its sales.
2. For Remote B2C sellers that can store and ship their products closer to their customers.
3. For Local C2C sellers that get a full turn-key solution to sell their stuff.
4. For local buyers that get much better prices and shipping terms.

On a personal note

I would be thrilled to see the first company that will take the challenge of doing what nobody has done in the C2C eCommerce.

This will be beneficial to all parties involved in the trade, will reduce the cost of living and I truly hope it will be beneficial to our environment health by reducing the amount of waste we create.

If you’ve read this far, I’d love it if you can leave a feedback – either enter a comment, or just press the Like button.

Ori Feldstein

 

Ori Feldstein is a senior manager, experienced in eCommerce and in management of multi-million dollars programs in several industries – Big data, e-commerce and Defense. He is a co-founder of two family owned websites in the B2B eCommerce of chemicals (cheta.biz ; chemcenters.com). Follow him on Linkedin, @ori-feldstein.

Disclosure

These days I currently work at eBay, on its Structured Data domain. This article does not represent eBay nor any eBays business information in any way. This Article share my personal opinion regarding the eCommerce market based on public sources, and my own opinion and insights regarding future opportunities in the eCommerce market.