Au revoir Patrick Munden

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Patrick Munden lgLast week at IRX I ran into Patrick Munden who we know many of you have met over the years, but today it’s a good bye as he’s leaving eBay.

Patrick Joined over 7 years ago and has always been a champion for eBay sellers big and small alike. He constantly took the seller perspective in his communications and when we met eBay executives they regularly pointed out that Patrick was the voice of eBay sellers within the business and not afraid to raise difficult issues with management globally.

Patrick has always been a good friend of Tamebay and been very open to any of our queries over the years, despite many of our questions being phrased as complaints rather than compliments. He has been instrumental in ensuring that both Dan and I are aware of upcoming plans and has regularly hosted Tamebay at eBay HQ in Richmond. He took criticism of eBay on the chin with the philosophy that customer feedback is paramount but one of the things I loved about Patrick was his fairness and just as he’d stand up for sellers, he’d also always back his colleagues too.

Patrick is one of the few eBay executives that was prominent at external industry events in recent years and happy to meet with sellers to discuss issues and to help them behind the scenes. Indeed, at Tamebay Patrick has always been open to us pointing out seller issues and we know that many sellers that read this forum have been helped by Patrick over the years.

As head of seller communications for eBay Patrick was one of the key architects of the bi-annual eBay seller release. As many of you know before the seller release eBay used to announce initiatives nearly on a weekly basis which was impossible for sellers to plan ahead, Patrick took this feedback on board and created a bi-annual communication release that still to this day gives sellers advance notice of important changes.

Another important initiative that Patrick brought to UK sellers was the eBay seller events. In speaking to Patrick he was adamant that these events should be run outside of London where the majority of eBay sellers are based and I know that many of our readers attended these in cities like Birmingham and Manchester where they got to meet key eBay teams and executives.

Finally those of you that didn’t meet Patrick over the years will no doubt have heard him on many of the radio and TV interviews he undertook on behalf of eBay. He always brought a friendly approach to these and did as much as possible to promote eBay sellers in these interviews.

We don’t know what Patrick’s plans are for the future however he does have an active LinkedIn account and we wish him all the best for the future.

36 Responses

  1. I agree with you Chris. Patrick has helped us continuously to run Online Seller events in Cardiff and Newport.

    I wish you all the best and I am sure there will be another door opened for you.

  2. I’d echo that. Patrick has been a real asset for eBay in seller relations over the years and has provided me with no end of help and guidance as well as the occasional beer.

    I hope he’s enjoying a well-earned rest and I wish him the very best for his future: some company will be very lucky to get him on board.

  3. Maybe there are 2 people called Patrick Munden at ebay then? I remember him as the person who said that when any customer needed to contact you, it was because there was a problem and you were therefore damaging ebay as a seller. This, and other palpable nonsense has put ebay where it is today. In such a mess that it can’t even get delivery dates right over Easter, or listen to people when told it has got them wrong. I receive the message with joy and hope others with similar arrogant attitudes towards the people doing the work won’t be far behind him – and that it will be possible to contact ebay, as a fee paying seller, and be listened to. I am afraid I am unimpressed by his willingness to speak to the “press” – when completely unwilling to listen to business owners with years of experience.

  4. Never heard of this person,
    Have no opinion about him we have been full time sellers on eBay for many years , if he was on our Side were totally unaware ! it’s comforting to know as the unfair and ridiculous defects mount

  5. The only time I came across him was in the awful ebay videocasts, where he ermmed and ahhed his way through an hour, without actually answering any question – well, to be fair he did answer questions, just not the ones asked!

    I’m sorry, but I never felt he was any great champion of sellers – but then, he never bought me a beer, or passed me little titbits to publish on my blog!

  6. If you are a seller, always remember that Ebay regards you as sub-human.

    The nonsense of Ebay then makes perfect sense.

    Whatever Mr Munden may have done, he has gone.

    Reading between the lines of Chris Dawson’s piece, what succeeds him may well make life even tougher for sellers in future.

    Make plans for an alternative income to Ebay.

    No matter how much money they’ve had off you over the years, Ebay’s loyalty to you is absolutely zero.

    Protect yourselves.

  7. Well I can only go off what I’ve seen him post on the eBay forums over the years, what he’s said on Twitter and his performance on the infamous webinar last year, and from those I can wholeheartedly say ‘good riddance’.

  8. On the note about defects. Its a natural thing that some people place orders and then they cancel for whatever reason. It is no big deal but we get slapped with a defect for authorising the cancellation. This is absolutely ridiculous!

  9. Is this the same Patrick Munden who was the big cheese behind the Kiss from A Pink Auction a few years back ? .

    The same Patrick Munden who could not understand that buyers who were more than happy to contribute to a worthy charity , had expectations of the goods arriving intact , properly packed and as described .

    If this was the same Patrick Munden , then he is typical of the weak , incompetent and arrogant manager who seems to thrive when employed by ebay .

  10. There is no doubt that Mr Munden reached out and helped a small select band of gliterati sellers , and just maybe he learned from the experience .

    However , lets take a look at one thing were he clearly did not help the vast majority of ebay sellers .

    The ebay commission charge on postage fees for cross border selling .

    This fee was either a diktat from USA or was dreampt up over a few glasses of Ornella Vendemmia d’Artista Special Edition and a pheasant and hummus snack .

    It is a charge that put every ebay seller who ships product outside of UK at a massive disadvantage
    compared to other ebay sites .

    So what exactly did Mr Munden do to help sellers when this charge was first discussed ?

    I think we should be told .

  11. They learnt that if putting one item in a packet was beyond them then 2 was a definite no-no.

    Hence making buyers pay for items one-at-a-time.

    So not only do we have the absurd International Postage Tax, many buyers are either not given a Shopping Basket or are tricked into not using it.

    More fees for PayPal and more FVF for eBay through keeping the FVF on refunded post/packing.

  12. Irony. I was chatting to my friend who works fir ebay cs and she said that herself and many others don’t selk on eBay as too hard!! Love it

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