Shipping to a local store?

[jefmiko_0]

Hello! My name is Jeff, I am part of a very small team of tech and retail veterans that are working on a technology that would allow online marketplaces - like ebay - to ship their products to local retailers for their customers to pick up. 

We aren't going after every purchase or shipment - but a fraction of the market where the logistics can be complicated for reason such as:

-customer leaving for vacation
-signature required for delivery
-a gift that wants to be kept a surprise
-expensive/important delivery
-apartment complex/place of living doesn't accept and hold packages

The idea is that at checkout customers could, if they chose, decide to ship using our network. The delivery is then managed in our app - customer gets delivery notifications such as shipped, delivered, etc.. Goes into the store, picks up the package and they're all set. 

This is free to everyone to use (online, local store & customer). As an additional incentive we'll be offering cash back to customers for using the network. We believe that sellers shipping to a store would have a safer, more secure ship-to destination and take some of the pain from missed connections from a shipping perspective.

Question is - for the sellers on ebay, would this be something that you'd use? We would build an ebay app/widget and you would plug n play. 

Thanks for any and all feedback.

Jeff

[thatsallfolks]

You're describing a Post Office box. 

No, I certainly wouldn't use it. My buyers are responsible for having a safe, secure place to receive shipments. I don't need a 5th party involved in my transaction (after me, my buyer, eBay, and PayPal).

How does "free for everybody" work?

[mg152]

No

[rixstuff]

That kind of assumes that our buyers are stores.  We are peer-to-peer (private citizens selling to other private citizens).  Ebay itself never sees or handles any of our merchandise - it is just the platform on which we list our items for sale.  Most of us sell out of our houses then use the US Postal Service or UPS for delivery to the buyers.  To be an accepted shipping service, EBAY corporate would have to approve you so you would be an option at checkout for the buyer (who pays the shipping most of the time) to use.

[jefmiko_0]

Thanks for the feedback thus far.

I don't think that I did a wonderful job describing this - we're not a shipping company but instead a technology that would allow the customer to direct their package to an alternative address. The shipping is still completed by USPS/FedEx/UPS. The customer would manage their shipments from a single app (regardless of website) and would be incented by cash back rewards for using the technology. 

[rixstuff]

One area you might succeed is delivery of items that are too large or fragile or that the post office wont handle, like furniture, breakables, or vehicles.  Many sellers limit these kinds of items to "local pickup only" when listing because there is no way to get them shipped to the buyer.  Some buyers may be willing to pay instead of driving to the next state to pick up an item.

[*eponymous*]

Look into eBay Developers Program.

Your method would remove the seller from the shipping equation, which isn't something any seller would agree to because the seller is ultimately responsible for delivery.

[itsjustasprain]

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@jefmiko_0 wrote:

This is free to everyone to use (online, local store & customer). As an additional incentive we'll be offering cash back to customers for using the network.

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You dont say where in your business model you would be geting your cash FROM. 

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@jefmiko_0 wrote:

The idea is that at checkout customers could, if they chose, decide to ship using our network. The delivery is then managed in our app - customer gets delivery notifications such as shipped, delivered, etc..

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All carriers are already providing tracking. It seems like all you would be doing is sending the customer the same tracking again.

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@jefmiko_0 wrote:

We believe that sellers shipping to a store would have a safer, more secure ship-to destination and take some of the pain from missed connections from a shipping perspective.

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No way. You would be introducing another set of hands on the package by having it delivered to a store with who knows what for security. Then when a package disappears there would be all kinds of fingerpointing over whose fault it was and who has to refund. The carrier wont refund because they would have a Delivered scan so it would appear that you would be on the hook for that since you are now claiming to have received the package for the buyer.

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@jefmiko_0 wrote:

Question is - for the sellers on ebay, would this be something that you'd use? We would build an ebay app/widget and you would plug n play. 

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No way. You talk about marketplaces 'like Ebay' when you are actually ON Ebay using an account that you only set up today. There is no indication that you are really familiar with Ebay or how it works and you seem to be offering a service that will make delivery more complicated rather than less AND also put yourself out there for liability on the package if something goes wrong - such as theft or package damage - ect. It would not be a good place for you to put yourself in. I would suggest that you spend some time selling items here and getting 1st-hand experience on what would help a seller and what will not.

[rixstuff]

Is the post office ready to let you tap into their systems to do your diverting?

[thatsallfolks]

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@rixstuff wrote:

That kind of assumes that our buyers are stores.  We are peer-to-peer (private citizens selling to other private citizens).  Ebay itself never sees or handles any of our merchandise - it is just the platform on which we list our items for sale.  Most of us sell out of our houses then use the US Postal Service or UPS for delivery to the buyers.  To be an accepted shipping service, EBAY corporate would have to approve you so you would be an option at checkout for the buyer (who pays the shipping most of the time) to use.

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Actually, this would have to be buyer-driven, since the buyer controls the ship-to address. I don't think the OP is talking about starting his/her own shipping service.

OP seems to be describing a hybrid of a PO box (as I mentioned earlier) and Amazon Locker. But Amazon Locker items are all shipped by Amazon, not by a million sellers all over the country.

I'll need to see follow-up from the OP to convince me that they understand how eBay works.

[rixstuff]

As a seller, I only offer the shipping methods I will use.  Sure I have buyers who want me to use UPS or FedEx but the ones in my area are just too much trouble, with high rates, limited hours, and not anywhere near my house.  So the buyer isnt really the one making the shipping method decisions.

[thatsallfolks]

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@jefmiko_0 wrote:

Thanks for the feedback thus far.

I don't think that I did a wonderful job describing this - we're not a shipping company but instead a technology that would allow the customer to direct their package to an alternative address. The shipping is still completed by USPS/FedEx/UPS. The customer would manage their shipments from a single app (regardless of website) and would be incented by cash back rewards for using the technology. 

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Your use of the term "manage their shipments" is a show-stopper. On eBay, the buyer selects the delivery address at time of payment; when/if the seller provides tracking, the buyer can easily track the package with the number provided; they don't need you for that. 

Exactly what function will your app provide that would entice a buyer to use it (aside from throwing money at them)?

[jefmiko_0]

This would be buyer-driven. One of the benefits to sellers would be the decreased business vs residential shipping (and return rates). 

You're not so far off with the PO Box/Locker - although the network we aspire to build is not physical nor tied to a specific online retailer.  But yes, if you think of this as an option for customers to use to send their packages to an alternative address (not their home address) then it would be similar to that. 

I am trying to guage whether any individual sellers on ebay would find value in giving their customers an additional shipping option and save money on shipping rates by sending to a business address vs residential address.

The actual fulfillment process wouldn't be any different - the option to select shipping via our network would happen at the shopping cart checkout - similar in ways to how you might see "pay with Paypal" -- potentially this isn't a seller option but something that is in fact governed and managed by ebay globally.  I was thinking that there would be an opportunity for us to develop an app/widget that sellers would add to their checkout pages.

[rixstuff]

I buy things and have nearly all of them shipped to my mom's house.  We cant have packages delivered to our apartment complex and I hate the post office.  So off to moms house they go.  I also have things I buy sent to my grandma, my cousins, my office, etc. I do this at checkout when I put in the address I want the item shipped to.   I doubt allowing a buyer to have the package sent to an alternative address will make them like the item any better or make it fit any better so returns would remain the same.  Also, we already get pretty schweet shipping discounts from Ebay and Paypal.  The only way you would get your shipping as an option would be if EBAY put it on as an option.  We individual sellers dont control that.  Again, consider those items that cant/dont want to ship that are now limited to local pickup.  Maybe you can be the ones buyers call to ask "Can you go get this for me?"

[dhbookds]

Problem to me would be.......who has the liability, once it's at the store, to get it to the buyer? 

Seller responsibility would end at delivery to the store.......  but IF the item isn't there for buyer pickup......stolen, misplaced within the store.....is the store going to take responsibility or the is the buyer going to "eat" the loss......

Being something of a cynic..........I think the buyer is going to try to come back to the seller for reimbursement.......so a whole 'nuther layer of complexity is added........ 

I would pass, at least until I hear it works.  As others have said........buyers can get the same services from the USPO.......  now whether the shipping reductions from Fedex, UPS would attract the sellers who use those services I don't know........