Last Call for Neiman Marcus's eBay Store

SAN FRANCISCO, United States — Luxury department store operator Neiman Marcus is shutting its eBay Inc store, a setback for the e-commerce company, which has been trying to lure large retailers to its online marketplace. Neiman launched a store on eBay.com in 2011 for its Last Call outlet brand. It was one of a slew of large retailers that eBay has attracted to its online marketplace in recent years, an important part of the e-commerce company's effort to compete more with Amazon.com Inc.

However, Neiman spokeswoman Ginger Reeder said on Friday that the company's Last Call products will be sold exclusively through the Last Call website and in its physical stores in the future.

"We parted on good terms with eBay," she added. "We are always trying new partnerships, and this is one where we felt we learned a great deal and were able to reach a broader, global audience of fashion buyers."

Neiman Marcus may have dropped its eBay store because it already gets enough customer traffic to its own websites and stores, said Scott Tilghman, an analyst at B. Riley Caris. He added that eBay also takes a cut of each sale from the retailers and other merchants that sell on its marketplace, and that may have put Neiman off.

"There's a cost associated with it," Tilghman added.

Meanwhile, Amazon may be having more success wooing fashion brands. Earlier this week, 10 Crosby, a brand by designer Derek Lam, launched a store within Amazon.com.

Reporting by Alistair Barr in San Francisco and Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Jan Paschal; Copyright (2013) Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions