Byron Connolly, CRN
eBay wants IT resellers moving products through its portal to start listing their warranties, after realising that only 50 per cent of its suppliers were advertising warranty terms through the site.
Starting next month, computer equipment sellers will have their product listings promoted on a 'seller warranty' page which it claimed will reach more buyers and in turn increase the seller's sale price.
Sally-Anne Newson, category manager, computers and IT at eBay, said eBay research suggested that some sellers of computer equipment were 'not clarifying' warranties in their listings.
'It [warranty listings] give buyers a greater choice. People also want some form of assurance,' Newson said, adding that resellers tend to list the basic product information without warranty details.
She said consumers selling through EBay could also place 'third-party' warranty details on the site. Over 70 per cent of computer sales through eBay are generated through 'business sellers,' she said.
Newson declined to reveal what proportion of eBay's revenue is generated from IT-related sales. She said, however, that the company was seeing the highest growth from sales of mobile products such as laptops and PDAs.
Over 200,000 computer-related items are listed on eBay each month.
