eBay
Experience Design / Strategy
Evolving the eBay Auction buying experience to reduce the amount of unpaid items on the platform.
The Partnership
In 2022, eBay was home to 18 million sellers, marking a nearly 6% decrease from the previous year. A significant contributor to this decline was the high volume of unpaid items. In the past 12 months, 37.5% of auction listings experienced unpaid items (UPI) due to buyers failing to complete their purchases. Additionally, sellers faced an average 35% decrease in the value of items they were forced to relist due to UPI, which hindered growth and prompted sellers to leave the platform.
This issue undermined trust, disrupted the marketplace, and left sellers unprotected, leading to unmet expectations and buyer abandonment. To address this, we aimed to rebuild trust and foster a vibrant community for buyers and sellers, creating a reliable and cohesive marketplace experience.
Collaborating closely with eBay’s cross-functional team—including product, research, legal, development, and C-Suite executives—we designed a new auction experience. This approach required buyers to enter their payment information before bidding, ensuring that sellers would receive payment and enhancing their peace of mind.
Leveraging rich user insights, data, business strategy, and design leadership, we created a scalable auction transaction experience across eBay’s global mobile app and website. Our solution provided a seamless end-to-end experience, reinventing a trusted marketplace and fostering a vibrant community for both buyers and sellers.
