eBay seeks to invite buyers back with new mobile app

Related Articles

Google Now Pays You Back if It’s Wrong About the Cheapest Flights

April 4, 2023

Twitter Check Marks: What All the Different Colors Mean

April 4, 2023

Google Rescinds 5 Million Item Limit on Drive

April 4, 2023

eBay is gussying up its online marketplace on small screens.

The e-commerce company on Tuesday released the newest version of its mobile app for phones running on either Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android software, looking to make the app easier to browse for buyers and more helpful for sellers.

“This is the first step on mobile,” David Beach, eBay’s director of product management in mobile, said in an interview. “We needed a clean slate to build upon to build new user experiences…and this framework allows us to do that.”

The app overhaul, which borrows in part from eBay’s website on desktop computers, comes soon after the company in July split from its faster-growing PayPal unit, with the separation putting increased pressure on eBay to ramp up its slow sales growth. Now eBay is working to find ways to bring back casual users, many of whom abandoned the marketplace after a data breach of its passwords last year and after Google demoted eBay listings in its search results. eBay hopes simplifying the buying and selling experiences on its site and apps will help change that.

The new eBay 4.0 app, available starting Tuesday, will include three main tabs. The “activity” app will include a summary of a user’s recent actions on the site, including searches, recently viewed products and selling activity.

A redesigned “shop” tab was created to make the app easier to browse by categories, such as cars or clothing, and is similar to eBay’s desktop home screen. “We’ve never done this thing in mobile,” Beach said.

Last, the new “sell” tab will provide more tools for users to track their online sales. The tab will also integrate eBay Valet into the app for the first time. eBay Valet, which allows users to ship their items to experienced eBay sellers to photograph and list for them, has become an important new service for the company as it works to get back amateur sellers. eBay Valet, along with eBay Fashion and eBay Motors, all had standalone apps that were shut down in July to focus consumers’ attention on the main app.