EBay Now' One-Hour Delivery Pilot Program Ending in U.S.

By Josh Beckerman 

EBay Inc. said it is ending a pilot program, the eBay Now one-hour delivery service, in the U.S., including an effort in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

The company said in a blog post that "while we saw encouraging results with the eBay Now service, we always intended it as a pilot."

A U.K. pilot program is continuing.

EBay said it is "exploring delivery and pick-up/drop-off programs that are relevant to many more of our 25 million sellers" that cover a wider variety of products.

The service launched in San Francisco in August 2012, with couriers using cars and bicycles to deliver merchandise from such stores as Macy's and Best Buy to customers.

EBay previously scaled back its expansion plans for eBay Now. Devin Wenig, who became chief executive of eBay when it spun off PayPal Holdings Inc. this month, said in November that the company had seen "mixed results" for the delivery service.

Amazon.com Inc. launched its Prime Now one-hour delivery service in New York in December. The difficult economics of quick delivery have felled startups from the early days of the Internet, such as Kozmo.com and Urbanfetch.

Write to Josh Beckerman at [e-mail]

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