Last week I sat down with eBay product manager, Chris Rice, and the rest of the new eBay Shopping Cart team to talk about the roll out of the new eBay Shopping Cart. Here are some question and answers from our convo and a demo video from Chris.

Cheers,
RBH

Q. How long have we been working on eBay Shopping Cart?
A. It’s been a little over 2 years that I’ve been working on this project. This included an internal Alpha test period, an external Beta test period and now the roll-out.

Q. What kind of challenges did we face in implementing an eBay Shopping Cart?
A. The challenge we faced in the past was eBay Shopping Cart would replace Buy It Now and also how does an eBay Shopping Cart get implemented when you’re talking about auction items.

Q. What kind of challenges do we have in terms of educating a buyer on an eBay Shopping Cart because they may be ordering from multiple sellers so getting multiple shipping prices?
A. We’re calling it “total cost transparency” meaning that buyers will see the total cost, including shipping, while adding items to the eBay Shopping Cart. Rather than discovering what the total shipping cost will be at the end of the transaction, buyers will know at every phase of the transaction experience.

Q. What do sellers need to know in order to make the buying experience best for buyers using eBay Shopping Cart?
A. We have a Seller Information page for eBay Shopping Cart that includes best-practices for sellers.

** Specifying shipping for key export countries is an even greater advantage in the eBay Shopping Cart. Buyers who have all the shipping information they need can check out faster. As always, offering a range of domestic shipping options also helps ensure faster checkout. Note: If you do not specify shipping, buyers will still be able to request their total from you via their cart.
** Specify Immediate Pay on all your Fixed Price listings to avoid unpaid items.
** Offer free shipping where it makes sense to do so.
** Specify combined shipping rules in My eBay and not just in the item description text to make checkout more efficient for buyers. Properly specified combined shipping discounts will be prominently displayed in the eBay Shopping Cart.
** To save on shipping fees, package multi-item orders for the same buyer together in one box wherever possible.

For more information on the eBay Shopping Cart, check out the post on the eBay Stories blog.