One of the challenges of creating an effective Daily Deal for people is locating the perfect items or services that eBay shoppers will like, and that it will spark their interest and be a good value. Sure, you can create a number of effective daily deals, package them all on one page and categorize them, either by gender (such as Best Deals for Him) or by type (Computers and Tablets), but you are still missing one important factor: location. The team here at eBay took this omission as a challenge, and created a new site, the Lifestyle Deals to address it.
Like our Daily Deals site, referenced above, the Lifestyle Deals site is sub-categorized, so you can narrow down your choice immediately (would you prefer “Fun & Games” or “Foodie fun”?). But you can also narrow your choice by the location of your metro area (in the USA), and get even more targeted deals.
While all metro areas are not covered yet, we will be adding many more in the future.
And what kind of deals will you find? For the most part they are local goods and services you may want to take advantage of immediately, such as half off a dozen cookies at the neighborhood bakery or even a spinal stress exam at the chiropractor across the street. Or build your spinal strength by buying a package deal of pole dancing classes at that hip fitness club you pass on the way to work. Go to the Lifestyle Deals page to see what is available in your metro area.
Here’s the nice thing about having all these Lifestyle Deals in a single location, on eBay. First of all, you won’t have your email box flooded with offers of questionable value, unsorted and uncategorized. Second, you can make your entire purchase using your eBay ID, instead of having to go and sign up for yet another Groupon-like site. Most importantly, you’ll get the jump on great deals in your local area, all in one place.
We do have a bit of a bone to pick with the product mangers who implemented this page. Well, not the actual Lifestyle Deals page per se, that is quite nice. But once you decide on a Lifestyle Deal, you are taken to a very ordinary-looking eBay listing page to complete your purchase. The funny thing is, even though you only receive a voucher (which you print out) for your purchase, you are told that there will be “Free expedited shipping!” And you even get the option to “Sell one like this!”
As you can see, there are still some bugs in the system to work out (including the incredibly tiny picture), but we wanted to tell you about Lifestyle Deals as quickly as possible, as some of the deals are for a limited time only. And keep checking back, since we are adding new deals all the time.
Happy shopping!
