Tested: eBay Now’s Fast, Easy Valet Delivery Service

If you live in San Francisco, San Jose and New York, you’re in luck – eBay Now is here for you! The new site, available from 9am-9pm Monday -Saturday and from 9am-6pm Sundays is a valet service in the listed launch cities that once you log in with your eBay account, can  scroll through retailers’ merchandise from stores such as Home Depot, Macy’s, Office Depot, Radio Shack, Target, Toys R Us, Urban Outfitters, Walgreens, and more, check out, and have the goods delivered to wherever you are for same-day service, which can be in as little as an hour!

Pretty genius, right? This is great for travelers, new moms, if you have a cold, or just need something in a jiffy, like a present, and don’t have time to make it to the store. The order minimum is $25, with a $5 delivery per store, with a tip for your valet as optional.

Courtesy of eBay Now, I tested out the service, on a Saturday morning when I had a lot of work to do, but no toothpaste left to squeeze out of the tube! When you search products at the site, it gives you options for which retailer to choose; pay attention to this since you can only check out with one retailer at a time, so that you don’t incur an extra $5 charge per store and need to up your order quantity and cost.

To try out the service, I chose Target, since they always have what I need, and there isn’t one close or easily accessible to where I live, for a good litmus test of how long it may take to deliver. Note that not every item from every store listed is available, but it does cover a great range for each category; i.e. – you need toothpaste? check. men’s boxer briefs? check a children’s book? check. women’s fashion scarf and black opaque tights? check Frying Pan? check.

From the time I placed my order, until when it arrived, I received communication from eBay Now via its order status page, and opted in for texts as well, so that I was up-to-date on the process, which I thought was super helpful, unlike some other delivery services I have tried, that leave you wondering if they are even going to show up at all! The five steps it went through was “order received,” “valet assigned,” “valet at store,” “enroute,” and “valet arrived,” and it even included the name, pic, and a contact number for my particular valet — a personal element that I certainly appreciated!

Since I live in a very urban and high traffic area, I was doubtful that my valet would make it here in an hour, and sure enough, the estimated delivery time counter on my order status update page updated accordingly; I think a two-hour time frame is acceptable, as my valet arrived at about 1 hour, 40 minutes.

Arriving in a van bedecked with the eBay Now logo and same-day service, I subjected the poor guy to a series of questions, to better understand how it all worked. When he arrived, he went over the items with me to ensure everything was there, and he had personally pulled all of my items for me from Target, coming from a store in Brooklyn for my items (so yeah, your valet DESERVES a tip!). He said that Thursday-Sunday, and sometimes even Monday are extremely busy, while Tuesday and Wednesday seem to be a little slower for orders. He was personable, easy going, and professional – my kind of service! I would definitely recommend eBay Now for those short on time, in a pinch, unable to make it to the stores; fingers crossed it expands to more cities soon!