The head of eBay’s North American Marketplaces revealed on Monday that he has become a Top Rated Seller. Hal Lawton came to eBay from The Home Depot last April and invited users to visit his eBay Store to see what he has for sale.
Lawton, who said he’s made over 115 transactions in the last six months and has 100 percent positive feedback, isn’t alone. Jordan Sweetnam, VP of Seller Experience at eBay Marketplaces, also posted an announcement on Monday revealing that he too had become a Top Rated Seller, though he did not share information about his selling account.
“Top Rated Seller” is a designation for eBay sellers who meet certain performance standards. For example, sellers must have uploaded valid shipment tracking to My eBay within the promised handling time for at least 90% of transactions with US buyers in the last 3 months, as explained on the eBay website.
Lawton said that when he began working for eBay last year, he started a small competition among the North America leadership team.
“We challenged ourselves to buy and sell actively, and we’ve set up a competitive leaderboard that reflects in real time how much eBay buying and selling leaders are actually doing,” he said. “By using our platform and living the brand, we were able to better connect with our customers and to each other. The leaderboard lets me know exactly where my activity stands compared to, say, Jordan Sweetnam.”
On LinkedIn, where Lawton posted the announcement, the comments were all positive, such as this one: “Great reminder for all corporate leaders to not just dip their toe into customer experience, but to really dive in. It’s the only way to know, grow and constantly improve. I’ll be sharing this with a lot of people, Hal. Thank you!”
On Facebook, however, a seller was more critical in her comments.
Lawton is far from being the only eBay executive who has actively sold on the site, though at least some top executives have had help from eBay employees in carrying out their selling tasks.
Lawton implies that’s not the case with his account, writing, “From pricing an item, to trying to attract buyers, to navigating various policies, to understanding the ecosystem, a whole host of things must come together to land a sale. I’ve made mistakes, as even the most experienced sellers do. But when you get that coveted sale, the buzz is unlike anything else.”
