Marketplace eBay Inc. will offer deals on thousands of products with free shipping for all consumers during the same week Amazon is hosting its invented sales holiday Prime Day, which is only for Prime members.

Online marketplace eBay Inc. is not going to let Amazon.com Inc. take all the sales on July 17.

Amazon will be having its fourth Prime Day, which this year is a 36-hour sales event, starting mid-afternoon July 16 and running through July 17.

In response, eBay will offer deals on thousands of its products beginning the week of July 16. And in case there was any confusion as to why eBay is offering deals on July 16, eBay touts that its deals are available to all consumers without a membership and with free shipping.

“Why spend money on monthly membership fees to get deals on the things you want,” eBay writes in its release announcing the sale.

advertisement

Prime Day offers special deals available only to members of its loyalty program Amazon Prime, which now costs $119 annually for U.S. consumers. Amazon earlier this year confirmed it has more than 100 million Prime members worldwide.

EBay also recently expanded its Best Price Guarantee program to 100,000 products, which will match prices of exact SKUs on approved competitor’s websites, including Amazon.com.

EBay and other retailers are smart to position themselves as a place to shop without a membership, says Hugh Fletcher, global head of consultancy and innovation at e-commerce consultancy Salmon Ltd.

advertisement

“The key differentiator here, intended as a direct threat to Amazon’s hegemony, is the eBay ‘Sales Day’ is open to everyone and not just those with a subscription such as Prime,” Fletcher says. “The message is clear: Amazon won’t be allowed to have its own way forever, and eBay’s lack of exclusivity could be a huge advantage for the marketplace.”

Even though this Tuesday shopping day is Amazon’s made-up event, other retailers do benefit. Last year, eBay’s traffic on Prime Day 2017 increased 10.2% over a comparable Tuesday two weeks earlier, according to SimilarWeb data. Although, by comparison, Amazon.com’s traffic increased 49.1% on Prime Day 2017.

 

advertisement

EBay is No. 4 in the Internet Retailer 2018 Online Marketplaces. Amazon is No. 3.

Favorite