eBay Testing "eBay Now" Same-Day Delivery Service

Shopping online often nets the thrifty geek some of the best bargains around, however it comes with one major pitfall. You have to wait days, even weeks (in some cases) for your newest gadgets to arrive. Enter a new service from eBay dubbed "eBay Now", a new mobile application that is being tested by eBay members in San Francisco. The new app partners eBay with popular brick and mortar retailers to offer same day delivery in some cases in as little as an hour.

Over the past few years retailers looking to break into the massive online market that eBay's auction site holds have uploaded their stores' inventory onto eBay's online marketplace. Looking to take advantage of this partnership eBay along with these transitional in-store retailers have teamed to offer some customers same-day delivery through their San Francisco-based stores. Shoppers simply download the new eBay Now app onto their mobile devices such as Apple's iPhone and iPad, then search for products to buy from local stores in San Francisco.

A courier closest to the product accepts the order, drives to the store to pick up the product and then delivers it to the shopper's home. Customers pay when the product arrives. They can pay using PayPal Here, a new service developed by eBay's PayPal unit that accepts credit and debit card payments through a small swipe device attached to iPhones. Shoppers can also pay by logging into their PayPal accounts through an iPhone.

EBay is offering $15 off the first order through eBay Now. Delivery is free the first three times. After that, delivery is $5 for the test period, and the minimum order is $25.

The current list of participating retailers includes Target, Best Buy, Toys "R" Us, Macy's Inc, Nordstrom Inc, Walgreen Co, Crate & Barrel and Fry's Electronics. At this time the testing is limited to San Francisco but if its succesful we'll likely see it rolled out to a few more major areas. You can sign up for eBay Now here.