eBay Seller Advocate Is Stepping Down

by: Rexford

"eBay will always be the home of small business, creating equality and economic opportunity for all," she said.

Is that why we are capped at X amount per month and have been for years. More alt reality.  I will attest that selling limits are alive and well on eBay, even when eBay tells you that you are not capped.  There is an eBay caste system of economic opportunity for the enterprise sellers, economic opportunity for the Chinese, and economic opportunity for small sellers.  The scale of those economies are vastly different.

My "home of small business" is now my own website, which due to eBay's actions over the years I had no choice but to build.

by: pace306

More holes then a package of swiss cheese

She obviously was a failure (nothing on eBay has changed for the better for sellers) OR she got such a good offer that the do nothing job at eBay became valueless).

"She became the voice of eBay for sellers who tuned in to watch her twice monthly "Marni Monday" Seller Check-in videos" - YEH! me and every OTHER seller I know - tuned in to see the stupidity from the boys/girls from SJ! (did she include such helpful tips as adding more then 3 pictures? LMFAO)

""Please rest assured that you have an amazing group of people at eBay that are cheering for you and really looking out for your best interests" .... Ummmmm there are NO "amazing people" over at eBay - unless YOU think they are amazing since they have continuously come up with ways to steal from sellers but havent gotten in trouble yet.

NO eBay employee looks out for a sellers best interests .... ALA GRIFF .... (psst wake him up - its almost dinner time here in the East)

""As you all know, Jordan Sweetnam came back over a year ago and one of his first calls to action was to recreate a seller organization in an effort to make sure that the sellers' thoughts, needs, and priorities were at the forefront of everything we were building here at eBay." ..... well Jordan has done NOTHING (besides eat wings at Walkers) while hes been here. Name us ONE POSITIVE SELLER INITIATIVE ... PLEASE - just one.

"She mentioned Harry Temkin who is "creating and developing amazing tools," ... you mean he IS a tool - yes.

"eBay will always be the home of small business, creating equality and economic opportunity for all" .... not unless you are paying eBay "on the side" for visibility, VERO avoidance, pay to be deal of the day, maybe you are in the special section in the Refurb section etc

Listing on eBay has become slave labor (make our catalog or you cant list), MP makes sure you get your funds ... MAYBE and when ever eBay feels like it - so again ONE example please.

Dont let the door hit you on the way out.

LMAO - when will eBay hire her back like the last few rejects?

by: postbuster

My question is, when did any advocate ever STEP UP?

ebay, etsy, and amazon are all in the business of burning bridges.
Just to steal from the seller to keep up their "reputations".

by: postbuster

Just in time for a liberal in charge to pursue unethical practices from large corporations...

Good timing, Marni.

by: iheartjacksparrow

"...the sellers' thoughts, needs, and priorities were at the forefront of everything we were building here at eBay."

What a joke. For how many years have sellers been complaining about glitches, which never get fixed?

by: pace306

Calling her an "eBay Seller Advocate" is fake news.

Name one POSITIVE thing shes ever done for sellers (not herself).

by: Shanna

How did she engage with sellers? Her YouTube videos are a one way street, no comments allowed. Her "blog posts" are just proclamations, no comments allowed. There is no loss for any seller in her leaving.

by: Jrskills

"...the sellers' thoughts, needs, and priorities were at the forefront of everything we were building here at eBay."

Yet:

Sellers are just noise.

All, returns, SNAD's INR's automatically side with the buyer.  And allowing up to 6-7 weeks for a return to be sent back.

Seller's can not leave negative or neutral feedback.

Rushing sellers into managed (to mess this up) payments, even though they weren't ready and even through a pandemic.  And charging FVF fees on shipping and sales tax.  And a processing fee that was originally $.25 per ITEM.

Rolling out unnecessary changes, yet glitches and issues remain unsolved.

Trying to squeeze every last dime from sellers.

"We are here for you sellers"...What a joke!!!

by: zeek6228

eBay has a seller advocate? I am a small seller. My eBay fees are only $2000 or so a month. But every time I contact eBay I can't even contact someone who has ever even bought or sold something online before. When you call eBay customer service it is obvious that none of them ever used eBay before.  

by: zeek6228

Ebay customer service is like going to Mexico and memorizing a few phrases "I want a chicken taco and two beers please" and then getting a customer service job at a tortilla factory.  

by: pace306

The question is and has always been - why do sellers NEED protection?

That term is a mafia/criminal organization reference that has no business being used or needed in a 2020/2021 business setting. "Sir, it would be a shame if we let buyers steal from you - you need PROTECTION - for a small store fee and FVF on almost anything we can think of - we can and will PROTECT YOU.

Then of course they dont (look at Griff, the only thing HES protecting is his paycheck and his nap times)

If eBay wants to play judge, jury and executioner then THEY need to eat the losses that come from bad buyers - NOT sellers..

Otherwise - JUST BE FAIR and DO THE RIGHT THING - is it really that hard?

If an item shows delivered - there shouldnt even need to be a case unless no tracking was uploaded.

If the item is snad - then PROOF should be needed and restocking fees should be "allowed".

Not all sellers are evil and not all buyers are crooks - with 15 THOUSAND employees - they havwe the manpower (or women power) to deal with things

Why should sellers need protection, and from whom? Seems these days, sellers need protection from eBay more then anything else - and that should scare ANY seller.

At any given time - it can be yanked out from under a seller, the terms can change against a seller and its at the whim of a company you have no recourse in protecting your self from due to size (and crumbs left in the TOS)

Theres a reason why no one ever does anything when in that job - eBay doesnt want anyone to .... its all a sham and a white wash!

by: TomH

''with 15 THOUSAND employees - they havwe the manpower (or women power) to deal with things''

I've often puzzled over just what in the HELL do all those people do at basically a company of some software and web servers.  It certainly is not tech as so many of the same errors and glitches just live on forever.  

by: pace306

Tom :)

Theres alot of questions that go unanswered - mostly because Wall Street cant admit that eBay is basically Enron or Lehman.

Wall Street wont ever ask why eBay has so many do nothing employees (though I imagine they call them "contractors")(and pay them that badly too), they dont ask why only 340k employees out of 5 million are in MP, they wont ask what Griff does all day .... theres LOTS of questions .....

But as long as eBay has 2.5B in free cash, as long as they tell Wall Street that they want to increase their take - and as long as the money keeps flowing all around .... its all good.

Its the emperors new clothes all over again - but no one but we canaries in the eBay coal mine say so!

by: Geetar

Well, good luck in your future. Hope all is well.

by: pace306

What does she know that shes not telling us?

today: Glenview cuts eBay
yesterday: Starboard Value exits eBay

"One of the primary concerns for investors is that EBAY will not be able to retain the new cohort of new buyers and that purchasing pattern will revert to normal after the resolution of the pandemic"

"EBAY's history of success in driving marketplace organic growth is spotty at best and not properly focusing on and investing in the traditional marketplace on which EBAY was formed.

by: toolguy

@pace306

Who's made money profit over the past 25 years?

Amazon or eBay?

It's a lot closer then you think.

It took Amazon 14 years to show a profit, eBay was profitable from day 1

by: toastedmutt

Rexford's comments are right on the money.

Ditto being income capped no matter what eBay staff tells you.  

Equality - eBay does not know the meaning of the word.

by: pace306

Who's made money profit over the past 25 years?

Amazon or eBay?

1) off topic
2) 2 major VC companies are fleeing eBay - tells you something (regardless of what gibberish you post)
3) shes STILL leaving after doing nothing at all
4) eBay owns nothing, Amazon owns 20 warehouses (or so) plus planes and trucks (in many countries)

So - your comment makes no sense (it was a ha ha eBay is better but you took no real life issues into account) and 2) it had no bearing on what I wrote.

but thanks for "trying" to be included in the conversation

by: I Must be Crazy

Another executive leaving eBay...not surprising at all.

I find the position of "Seller Advocate" to be somewhat disingenuous. How can one be an advocate, when your paycheck and bonus are provided by the one you are advocating against? It's like Human Resources. They are not there for the benefit of employees. They are paid to protect the company.

Marni may have had every intention of being the advocate sellers need. Reality is eBay executives are not interested. When there exists a culture that can spawn the harassment of a couple of newsletter publishers, advocacy for anything other than eBay's interest is out the window.

Ebay is in a bad spot. They are a middle of the pack ecommerce platform that does not stand out for anything. They are in between smaller niche players  and larger, better performing platforms like Amazon and Walmart. The fact that large stockholders are divesting their holdings tells you the upside is limited.

Their situation will continue to deteriorate as other up and comers gain traction. Ebay will eventually go the way of AOL, Yahoo, and many others whose managers were too arrogant or stupid to steer their companies forward in a changing world.  

by: Geetar

Ebays price went up, thats when they sold. They knew. Q2 earnings was upbeat from the pandemic. Also they sold stub hub, and classifieds. So the price was up. Where is it now? Do you really see it going up again anytime soon? My sales were up 40% apr-end of may. Then almost back to normal after. Stock price then and now reflects that. So yes, they knew when to sell.

I doubt Marni's resignation has anything to do with what may be on the horizon. If anything it may have a slight bit to do with it. She was monkey in the middle. Probably had to do things that she didnt want to do. And had enough. Most of the decisions are made by the CEO, and the board, and it's her job to implement. At least thats the way I see it. You do till you cant do anymore, and then it's time to say "bye".