eBay continues to clean house

New York -- In its latest round of housecleaning, eBay is killing same-day deliveries and three mobile apps.



The company on Monday said it is shutting down eBay Now, a three-year-old service that allows customers to buy items from local sellers and then have the goods delivered as soon as the same day. The service, the company’s answer to the fast-growing on-demand delivery market, never really took off.



eBay Now, available in New York City, Chicago, Dallas and many parts of San Francisco area, is in the process of shutting down and will end completely by Friday.



“While we saw encouraging results with the eBay Now service, we always intended it as a pilot, and we are now exploring delivery and pick-up/drop-off programs that are relevant to many more of our 25 million sellers, and that cover a wider variety of inventory that consumers tell us they want,” stated RJ Pittman, chief product officer, eBay, in a company blog post. “We will continue to pilot scheduled delivery in the U.K.



eBay’s decision to end the service is not that big a shock. The company shut down the eBay Now mobile app last December.



eBay is also getting rid of three less-popular mobile apps — eBay Motors, eBay Fashion and eBay Valet. The key functionalities from the three apps will be integrated into the core eBay apps.



The moves come as eBay continues to streamline its business and focus on its main marketplace segment. The company recently sold its enterprise business, which helps operate other retailers' websites, to a private-equity firm. And on July 17, it completed the spin off its payments service PayPal.