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Zappos Abandons Test of eBay Retail Channel
 

http://www.aspkin.com/forums/../../b...une30_2009.JPGZappos said it is not actively selling on eBay and has no plans to, despite being showcased by an eBay executive at the recent conference as we reported on this blog on June 17th.

eBay Senior Vice President Stephanie Tilenius said during a presentation at the recent Internet Retailer Conference, "This is an example here of Zappos, their new liquidation brand called Great Price store, and they just launched on eBay last week using our Large merchant Services platform."

Internet Retailer magazine had also reported the news: "In the presentation by Tilenius on eBay's strategy of working with major retailers, she pointed to online retailer Zapppos.com (sic), No. 27 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, which last week launched an eBay store to liquidate overstock goods, and clothing manufacturer BCBG, which is now selling on eBay through an unnamed large eBay merchant."

I checked in with the online retailer, and Steve Hill, Vice President of Merchandising at Zappos, said, "We did a small test on eBay but are not currently planning on moving forward with it." In response to a follow-up request for Zappos' User ID, a spokesperson said, "This was a very small test. At this time, Zappos is not moving forward and the account is not active."

We asked eBay about the discrepancy and whether Tilenius had misspoken. eBay spokesperson John Pluhowski said, "We are always looking to partner with top quality merchants and frequently test various distribution arrangements through our site."