eBay Closes B2B Liquidation Site

[eBayNews]

eBay is closing down Reseller Marketplace effective June 30, 2009, after announcing in the spring that it was targeting the secondary markets business. eBay launched the B2B liquidation marketplace in 2005 as part of a strategic alliance with Global Sources Ltd. to help PowerSellers source inventory from China. The launch was seen as a competitive move against Alibaba, whose TaoBao C2C auction site was fiercely competing with eBay in China at the time.

eBay Asia regional vice president Jay Lee said at the time of the launch, "One of eBay's goals is to enable our community of users to become more successful. By teaming up with Global Sources, we can help our PowerSellers around the world find a new and easy way to source product directly from manufacturers in Asia and especially in China. We think this is a powerful idea that can help our high-volume sellers further expand their businesses."

eBay spokesperson John Pluhowski said on Friday that eBay is encouraging its developer community to create reseller and liquidation applications/tools that are embedded directly on the eBay Selling Manager Platform. "By having the liquidation marketplace directly available within the eBay site, sellers will access to better and more inventory, liquidators will be able to directly market their inventory to a wider audience more efficient. A larger group of sellers will potentially have access to the same liquidated items that were only available to PowerSellers on the Reseller Marketplace."

Sellers using the Reseller Marketplace should get seller contact information and any details that are required to complete pending purchases, as there will be limited support for the platform after the shutdown date, according to Pluhowski.

Link to eBay Reseller Marketplace