Online retail giants are trying new strategies left and right to outdo one another, from quietly altering free shipping requirements to invented shopping extravaganzas-turned-holidays.
The latest move comes from eBay, which announced on Wednesday that it is instituting a new price match guarantee for over 50,000 items hawked on its digital marketplace under the section “eBay Deals.”
Essentially, if a shopper finds a competitor offering the same product for less, eBay (EBAY) will verify the competitor listing, and if valid, offer a coupon for the difference in price that can be used towards the purchase of the item. These products also come with free shipping and are available to everyone, no membership required.
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Competitors applicable to this offering include Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, Jet.com, HomeDepot.com, Sears.com, Target.com, Walmart.com, and Wayfair.com.
It’s simple enough, but there are a few more catches. As noted, goods need to be sold under the eBay Deals section of the site for new, unopened products. Furthermore, items must be exactly the same and currently in stock on both sites.
Walmart, Target, Sears, Home Depot, and Best Buy offer price matching services. Amazon, Wayfair, and Jet.com do not.