Shipping simplified:
A new era for multi-item orders on eBay
Role: Senior Product Designer
Client: eBay
Year: 2024
The redesign of the combined shipping experience at eBay was driven by the need to streamline the checkout experience for buyers and improve operational efficiency for sellers. Combined shipping, a critical feature for multi-item purchases, has long been plagued by complications and inconsistencies in usability, lack of clarity in fee calculation, and seller frustrations with manual adjustments via invoice.
The Vision
The vision for the combined shipping project was to create a seamless shopping experience that benefited both buyers and sellers. The goal was to establish a standardized shopping window for consistent and predictable multi-item purchases, along with an auto-charge functionality to reduce abandoned carts and streamline checkout. Empowering buyers was also key, with features like structured discounts to incentivize bundling and the flexibility to opt out of combined shipping. By improving efficiency for sellers and giving buyers more control, the project aimed to enhance satisfaction and drive growth.
Blue Sky Workshops
We began the project with a series of blue sky workshops aimed at rethinking how combined shipping could work from the ground up. Central to our brainstorming was the introduction of what we called the “box model.” This concept imagined a specific shopping window where any items a buyer purchased from a single seller would be automatically added to an imaginary box. Once the window closed, the items would be bundled and shipped together, providing a more predictable and efficient experience for both buyers and sellers. The box model became the foundation for creating a system that prioritized transparency, reduced friction during checkout, and simplified the logistics of multi-item purchases.
To explore what a blue sky experience could look like, we brought together designers from multiple teams, each contributing unique insights and expertise. These workshops focused on envisioning seamless, innovative workflows for both buyers and sellers. I took the lead on the buyer side, facilitating discussions and guiding the team in creating designs that balanced clarity, flexibility, and engagement for buyers. Meanwhile, my coworker led the seller-focused workshops, ensuring that their needs and operational challenges were equally addressed. Together, we collaborated across teams to align on a unified vision that could serve as the foundation for a transformative combined shipping experience.
Roadmapping & Strategy
Our strategy centered on creating a scalable system that could support eBay’s long-term vision while ensuring a consistent and predictable experience for users. By focusing on simple, reusable components and messaging, we laid the groundwork for a design system that could be seamlessly extended across the platform. This approach prioritized predictability, allowing buyers and sellers to navigate the combined shipping process with clarity and confidence. Importantly, this foundation also positioned us to build future experiences on top of the system, ensuring adaptability as the marketplace evolved.
To support this scalable framework, we prioritized a content strategy focused on clarity and usability. Messaging was designed to be straightforward and dependable, helping users understand their options while making the process approachable and actionable. Special attention was given to creating language that was easy to read and concise, empowering users to take confident steps throughout the combined shipping journey. By crafting consistent and user-friendly content, we aimed to build trust and improve the overall experience for buyers and sellers alike.
To address the diverse needs of eBay’s user base, we introduced tailored shopping windows as part of the combined shipping design. Pro buyers, defined as those with over $100 in combined shipping purchases in the past year, were given a 7-day default shopping window to maximize convenience. Regular buyers were assigned a 1-hour default, with the flexibility to extend to 7 days if they preferred. For new or low-feedback buyers, we implemented a 1-hour-only default to mitigate potential risks. This tiered approach ensured that the experience was fair and intuitive, while the tailored options aligned with user behavior and trust levels, creating a more secure and efficient marketplace.
Concept Ideation
The combined shipping redesign focused on key touchpoints to improve the experience for both buyers and sellers. We added clear combined shipping education, eligibility indicators, and auction updates on the View Item page. In Payments, we refined payment preferences and streamlined invoice requests. For Cart and Checkout, we enhanced order grouping and simplified combined shipping requests. We also improved the Seller Hub for easier order management, adjusted cancellations to support combined orders, and updated email messaging to provide clear, timely communication. These updates created a more intuitive and seamless combined shipping experience.
To tackle the complexities of combined shipping effectively, we distilled the project into four key areas of exploration: View Item, Payment Preferences, Cart Grouping Architecture, and the Seller Hub Order Status Framework. These domains represented the critical touchpoints in the buyer and seller journey where improvements could have the most impact.
Testing & Validation
We took our initial concept through a rigorous, iterative process that involved four rounds of research to ensure it resonated with both buyers and sellers. Round one focused on gathering feedback from top sellers to validate the feasibility of our initial concept, helping us identify potential pain points and areas for improvement. In round two, we tested the concept from the buyer’s perspective, capturing their intent and refining the design to ensure it met their expectations and needs. Round three shifted to the seller side, where we tested updates to the Seller Hub, ensuring the tools and frameworks were intuitive and effective for managing combined shipping. Finally, round four revisited top sellers to evaluate how our refinements aligned with their workflows and to confirm that the adjustments addressed their concerns. This iterative approach allowed us to fine-tune the design based on real-world feedback, ensuring that our final solution was both practical and impactful.
Feedback Synthesis
The research we conducted throughout the project played a critical role in shaping the final concept, highlighting key areas that needed refinement. One major takeaway was the need to prioritize contextually relevant education for both buyers and sellers, ensuring that information about combined shipping was clear and immediately accessible in the right contexts. We also learned that buyers valued upfront savings, so we focused on making these savings more visible and easier to understand, providing clear incentives to encourage bundled purchases. On the seller side, the research emphasized the importance of simplifying the process, leading us to design tools that made it easier for sellers to manage combined shipping orders without added complexity. Lastly, the research revealed that many buyers didn’t fully understand the backend of combined shipping, so we simplified the experience and removed assumptions, ensuring the process felt intuitive and transparent from start to finish. By addressing these insights, we created a more streamlined, user-friendly solution that aligned with both buyer and seller needs.
Next Steps
Looking towards the future, we identified four key areas that will be crucial for ensuring the successful launch and continued improvement of the combined shipping experience. First, we will focus on refining seller rules and policies to ensure they are clearly defined and seamlessly integrated into the system, enabling sellers to easily manage and comply with combined shipping requirements. Next, automatic invoice requests will be enhanced to streamline the invoicing flow, reducing manual intervention and improving efficiency for both buyers and sellers. We’re also working on implementing smart intent capture, identifying triggers that can automatically capture buyer intent, which will allow us to offer more personalized and engaging experiences. Finally, we’ll be optimizing the mixed format shopping process to ensure consistency and effectiveness across both auction and fixed-price listings, providing a seamless combined shipping experience regardless of the transaction type. These areas of focus will help us build a scalable, user-friendly solution that can evolve with the needs of buyers and sellers in the future.
© 2024 Austin Ryan, All Rights Reserved.