eBay Express launched this week. As I mentioned previously, the idea is to simplify the buying process by offering new products at a fixed price. From the site:
With eBay Express it's faster and easier than ever to breeze through all your shopping. Find the best deals on everything from designer jeans to a complete home theater system...Everything on eBay Express is offered at a fixed price by top eBay sellers. Get what you want now — no bidding, no waiting....Pay for everything — including shipping—in a single, secure payment using PayPal or your credit card.
My initial impression is that Express dramatically improves the buying experience - not only is it far better designed than its flea-market of a sibling, but all the major pain points (bidding, checking reputation, finding the item's condition, looking out for excessive shipping charges) are taken care of. In truth, it's just a filter for eBay content - Express republishes all the newish items from eBay sellers with at least 98% positive feedback. Now the cynic in me says that if fleaBay was really doing its job properly - making it easy for individuals to transact - then there'd be no need to create a whole new site to extract the good stuff. But I'm not sure that's really the case - eBay fills so many needs these days and you can't be all things to all people.