Despite early bugs, I'm sold on eBay Express

eBay has rolled out its Express fixed-priced selling platform. Despite some early glitches, it's clear that Express will be a hot bookselling venue.

I listed this book Sunday, and it took about 36 hours to show up on Express. It's a regular fixed-price eBay 10-day listing. Since the condition is new and my feedback score exceeds 98 percent, it automatically appears on Express and eBay.

There were several problems, though. Although I paid extra for a "gallery picture," the gallery thumbnail doesn't appear in search results. At times, the cover image completely disappears. Searching for this book on Express using its ISBN doesn't work, either. Buyers must search for the title to find it.

I reported these bugs to eBay early Monday, but apparently its technical staff is buried. Today eBay launched an Express discussion board and it was deluged with sellers complaining about more glitches:

-- In search results, only a listing's highest-priced shipping option displays. So if a seller offers standard shipping at $2 and priority for $5, only the $5 shipping fee is displayed. Sellers who offer both options are losing sales, since buyers scan for cheap shipping.

-- When sellers offer free shipping on Express, the shipping field in search results shows blank, instead of "Free." So sellers who offer free shipping to lure buyers aren't getting attention.

I'm sure eBay will fix these glitches as soon as it can. And I think Express will be a strong sales venue, especially for non-collectible books. Browsing and buying is similar to Half.com -- fast and convenient. And Express will have lots more traffic than Half.com. Buyers can pay with a credit card without opening a PayPal account, and this will attract new buyers and impulse purchases.

I've already sold a few books on Express this week, and based on those early results I'm opening an eBay Store. That way, my listings won't expire after 10 days.

Here's several resources if you're considering opening an eBay Stores.

The Express launch is just the tonic to shake us out of our springtime doldrums. When I started selling books online five years ago, Half.com was a very strong alternative to Amazon. But then eBay bought Half.com and it's been downhill ever since.

Express will give Amazon some real competition, and that should benefit sellers and buyers. It remains to be seen whether Express sales will justify the $15.95 monthly fee for small sellers to maintain eBay Stores. Within six months, we'll know the answer.

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on eBay Express.