eBay, probably one of the worlds best-known consumer e-commerce sites, announced Tuesday a new business-to-business site.
The San Jose, Calif.-based company introduced its eBay Business marketplace, which brings together all of its business-related listings at one address.
Prior to the B2B site, eBay listed more than 500,000 business items for sale every week on its consumer site, with business buyers representing more than $1 billion in annualized gross merchandise sales, officials said.
The new B2B site will look to aggregate all that merchandise, offering products and services for vertical industry marketplaces; office technology; wholesale lots; and marketplace services.
Vertical industry marketplaces include, among others, capital equipment and supplies related to metal working, restaurant and foodservice, test and measurement, construction, agriculture, industrial supplies and MRO (maintenance, repairs and operations), commercial printing, and medical and laboratory equipment.
Under the Office Technology banner users will find computers, laptops, networking and telecommunications equipment, wireless phones, software, printers, PDAs, office furniture, equipment, and supplies.
Wholesale Lots falls under a broad range of categories, such as computers, electronics, media, apparel, toys and sporting goods.
Services available with the B2B site include offerings that make it easier for businesses to buy and sell items: escrow, shipping, transaction insurance, volume selling tools and payer services like PayPal.