eBay Vault Submissions

Allowing customers to send cards they already own to a secure storage facility managed by eBay

Check it out
Project Overview
The eBay Vault is a physical storage facility for eBay customers' high-value trading cards. I designed the feature that allows eBay customers to ship their trading cards directly to the vault through eBay.
ROLE
I was responsible for designing the end-to-end Ship to Vault experience.
TIMELINE
Collection and eBay Vault first launched in 2022. Ship to Vault launched in Summer 2023.
OUTCOME
End-to-end native and web experience allowing customer to ship high-value cards to the eBay Vault.
What problem is this solving?
In June 2022, my team launched the eBay Vault, a service that allows people to store high-valued trading cards in a secure facility.

However, at the time people were required to purchase cards directly on eBay to store them in the vault, significantly limiting potential inventory. How might we allow customers to vault cards they already have on hand?
Personsas
Flipper
Higher number of low value cards. Looks to make profit and likes to trade quickly and often.
Enthusiast
May have high or low value cards. Driven by a desire to purchase cards that fuel a feeling or completion or nostalgia.
Investor
Deals with mostly high value cards. Willing to hold onto cards for a long time to make the most profit.
Desktop view of submission confirmation
Project Goal
Provide eBay customers the ability to ship and track the trading cards they already physically own into the eBay vault ecosystem.

This will lead to increased revenue for the business via monthly storage fees, submission fees, and transaction fees while providing more customers secure, safe storage for their cards and easier, faster trading.
New Vault enrollment page I designed
What guided the design?
I created three UX models for shipping cards to the eBay vault, working with a researcher to test concepts and gather feedback from users early on in the process. Here's what we learned from this research.
Trust
Customers had concerns with the safety of their high-value cards being lost in the shipping and authentication processes before being ingested into the vault.
Event drop off
Providing a solution that would allow customers to drop off cards at events is a competitive differentiator.
Vault vs. Collection
Participants were confused on how to navigate the two products, and the differences between them.
Preferred manual input
Customers overwhelmingly preferred to input info themselves (~75%) and all wanted to see an estimate of their cards' value.
Personsas
Flipper
Higher number of low value cards. Looks to make profit and likes to trade quickly and often.
Enthusiast
May have high or low value cards. Driven by a desire to purchase cards that fuel a feeling or completion or nostalgia.
Investor
Deals with mostly high value cards. Willing to hold onto cards for a long time to make the most profit.
Design deep dive
Cross-platform
This feature was initially launched as a desktop-only "beta" for select eBay sellers. However, it was rolled out to native and mobile web shortly after implementing feedback. I designed the experience to be responsive across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
Scaled for multiple delivery options
We learned that live event drop off is a competitive differentiator. So, when a customer creates a submission they can choose between shipping it themselves or drop it off at an eligible live event near them.
Adapted for business level sellers
Many of our business customers operate from their computers via spreadsheets. I designed a spreadsheet uploader to make the submission creation quicker on the web. Customers can choose to use the spreadsheet uploader, or by adding card details manually.
Secure information input
Customers want to be sure of what they're submitting. I designed an intake form where they can add cards manually (with plans to use image scanning tech later). This scaled for multiple card games (Yu-Gi-Oh! vs. Pokemon for example) and for multiple card categories (Sports vs. Collectible Card Games).

At this stage the customer can also enter in the market value of their items, which is validated inline as there are threshold minimums for the vault.
Submission tracking
I designed the Submission page to provide customers information and transparency into their cards' journey to the vault. Next steps are highlighted so that users can always know what to do or what's happening now.

I also worked with my PM to develop a system of submission-level and item-level statuses to take into account returns and unauthenticated items.
Vault ingestion
Customers are alerted when their submission has been processed, and they are able to view their items in the vault from their native devices or from the web. Once ingested, customers can track their items' value or choose to sell without needing to handle any shipping.
Other touchpoints
This feature touched many other parts of eBay. One unique aspect of the project was that this service was to be purchased through eBay, which meant that it was taken into the eBay system as an order.

I and my PM worked with other domain teams to take into account payments, returns, exchanges, and shipping teams to ensure a consistent end to end experience.
End to end experience
The outcome of this project were end to end flows across web and native experiences allowing customers to ship their cards to the vault for the first time. I am unable to report on other outcomes due to confidentiality.

Below are two clickable prototypes walking through the complete end to end experience through the iOS app. View full screen for best results.
Product launch press
Want to learn more? Get in touch
© Nic Kawasaki 2024