Ebay and Microsoft go shopping

Online auction site eBay and software giant Microsoft are planning to launch two new shopping sites.

In the US, eBay is set to launch a new non-auction based shopping site called eBay Express, which will let people sell and buy products at a fixed price.

eBay said: “eBay Express was designed with the input of thousands of shoppers who wanted a quicker and easier way to find and pay for new, fixed priced items on eBay.com.”

According to eBay, the main auction site will still feature Buy It Now listings, with some overlap between goods for sale on eBay.com and eBay Express.

Separately, Microsoft is testing Windows Live Expo, a shopping site that lets web users post items for sale or rent and also list events.

According to Microsoft, the service will let people search for items within a certain distance of their homes and also let buyers and sellers interact via instant message.

Sellers who don’t want to offer up items to the general public can post them for sale among their Messenger contacts and email groups.

Both services will be available in the US by the end of the year, but the companies said that they are looking to launch the services worldwide.

Ebay Express

Windows Live Expo Registration is required.