At Shop.org, I sat down with Iggy Fanlo, Shopping.com’s President of Worldwide Field Operations. Thanks to Lindsay @ AccessPR for setting up the meeting. Here’s what Iggy had to say…

On eBay & Shopping.com (SDC)…
“eBay’s beginnings were about bringing together community and efficiencies where there weren’t efficiencies - buyers couldn’t find sellers and vice versa. The marketplace flourished, but eBay realized that with PPC services from MSN, Google, and Yahoo!, that the world was not necessarily a closed space. eBay dominates ecommerce – they have a very strong hold on used goods, collectibles, and refurbished products. Anytime there’s scarcity, they do well. However, they weren’t dominating the new and seasoned market. Shopping.com adds a piece of ecommerce that wasn’t their sweet spot. [With Shopping.com], they can make a quick, bold entry and take it to a new level.”

As a merchant [Home Security & Microscopes] on Shopping.com, one thing that concerns me is that I might suddenly find 4 additional merchants selling my products at ridiculously low prices on Shopping.com with big ‘Buy it Now’ graphic next to the listings…
“At the end of the day, the consumer has to be treated as the North Star. The only way to serve the merchants is to thrill the customers. How we implement is to be determined. Consumers want to see it all. They want it in an orderly digestible fashion. They want everything in one place, but they want it differentiated. Give users choice, the most choice. Buy it new for $100 or buy it used in condition Z for $60. On the site, this may take the form of different tabs. We won’t do anything that confuses the user. We’ll try to give people choice. There’s a way of doing it intelligible so you serve merchants and sellers and consumers.”

Update on Hotels & Mortgages…
“Our Hotels category got a little bit clouded because of our talks with eBay. It’s something that we’re still exploring. We’re still spending time on Mortgages, but we’re in a holding pattern. With the ability to ramp internationally really quickly, do stuff with PayPal, Auctions, etc. where do Mortgages and Hotels fall? At this point it’s to be determined. Services have not been part of the core offering, but Skype may change that with some type of pay per call service.”

Let’s talk about international expansion. Last year everyone was talking about Europe, what about Asia? Smarter.com will most likely be the first pure US shopping comparison engine to enter China…
“We can grow Shopping.com internationally because we can piggyback off of eBay’s operations, structure, finance, and logistics. We’re looking at Asia. I think that it’s a matter of resources and priorities. eBay is working on China. It’s good to be first mover, but I’m not as sure it’s as important as going in at the right time and the right time might be now. Japan might be different as it’s much more mature. How many branded retailers are there in China vs. Japan? [Those countries] emphasize trust and safety. You need that functionality. There’s more to do than just jump in and put up an offer.”