eBay may hold a virtual conference for sellers, according to executive Marnie Levine.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, eBay had cancelled it is annual eBay Open seller conference normally held in July, but it had planned to send executives to regional seller events as part of its outreach.
During her weekly “seller check-in” videocast, Levine said eBay was looking into hosting virtual events. “Like I’ve always said since the beginning of this pandemic, it saddens me that we’re not out there live, in-person, meeting with you all. That was our big plan for 2020.”
Levine, who is Vice President of Seller Operations and Engagement for eBay, said of virtual events, “They’re not as fun as the ones in person, but we’re going to try to make them fun. As the time goes on, we’re trying to find creative ways to engage with you as much as we can.”
In this week’s seller check-in on Tuesday, Levine also said sales in what they call “confinement” categories were doing “really, really well” – there’s a lot of traffic to those categories, and sales are accelerating, she said.
In addition to the categories eBay previously said were doing well during the coronavirus pandemic, such as electronics, media, puzzles and games, and exercise equipment, Levine said food and consumables were also doing well, and she encouraged sellers to keep listing.
Sellers left comments during the Facebook Live broadcast, revealing their concerns. Among them, one seller asked if eBay would extend the free listings, “since most of us can’t post 50k in a month. Allow us more time to use the remainder. Thanks.” Another requested eBay institute the 10% eBay Bucks bonus to help boost sales. You can read them on the Facebook Video comments section.
They do that a lot. They are skilled at talking to smoke and mirrors.