eBay Open is taking place this week in Las Vegas and CEO Devin Wenig takes to the stage to look back at his first year at the helm of eBay.
There are many interesting insights in his talk which sellers will like. He recognises that eBay has chopped and changed and messed their businesses up too many times. He recognises that seller standards have been enforced which sellers found too hard to meet. Devin recognises a lot of the issues that sellers have faced over the past few years.
He also looks to the future with a view of how eBay has performed historically saying that things like a product catalogue should have been introduced 20 years ago to enable things like product reviews today. That means more on structured data and product identifiers will be coming – it’s going to be essential for artificial intelligence and virtual reality device in the future. Think screenless devices where you can’t see the product and conversational ordering where you speak to a device to place an order.
Devin says that he’s taking a long term view for the future setting out his stall not just for the next year or two, but for the next decade or so. He’s obsessed with the eBay site and service and wants to make it world class for sellers and the place that buyers think of first when they start their shopping.
We’ve posted his full talk below, so watch for yourself and decide if Devin’s views are aligned with what you need as a seller. Will Devin complete the turnaround and revitalisation of eBay? One thing we can say is that he doesn’t get the same bad press as the previous CEO of eBay so he must be doing something right… probably quite a lot of things.
Live from #eBayOPEN in Las Vegas, talking market trends and our plans to accelerate and disrupt global commerce.
Posted by Devin Wenig on Wednesday, 27 July 2016
7 Responses
this is the guy who claimed there was little fraud on ebay?
sorry actions speak louder than powerpoint presentation
Where do they get these clowns from
I watched the Wenig video and was reminded of a famous quotation:
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
For sellers, Wenig’s words are empty, as the see-saw remains grounded at the buyer’s end, with sellers left dangling in mid air.
All the necessary protections are in place for buyers on Ebay and in Distance Selling regulations, but Ebay goes further than necessary.
The see-saw needs to be level.
Treat buyers and sellers equally and end the unfairness.
What is needed is some sort of seller’s revolt.
Tens of thousands of sellers buying up a few Ebay shares each to get on the board and ensure the sellers’ voice is heard.
If you read this, Mr Wenig, (laughing already at the thought), get that see-saw level and then sellers will believe in you and back you.
Until then…..nah
I like that he understands ebay have only hindered sellers growth with changes, he says one thing but the opposite is still happening. Big sellers are dominating as per the previous CEOs vision and unique items get buried by Cassini search
I agree the catalogue route needed to happen 20 years ago. Which is why I was surprised they’ve gone this route now, basically admitting Amazon got it right and eBay have wasted 20 years. Now more big changes that will only benefit those who can sell at the lowest price in the catalogue
I see small improvements, listing forms getting easier etc but the biggest issue is competition, third party adverts, basically low traffic.
Past couple of months my best sales have come from my own website which cost about £200 to set up.
Not massively confident in my future on eBay and would rather spend the fee money on building my own asset / platform.
This clown again? Keep on popping the mushrooms you ludicrous plum.
Reviews are only useful for new items or things less than 10 years old. They are irrelevant for vintage or antique items: the things Ebay made all its big money on back in the day. The conclusion to draw?
Product reviews on Amazon have become a fiasco as so many buyers don’t get the difference between product reviews and seller feedback. Increasingly I read so-called product reviews along the lines of “Great service. Haven’t used it yet.” I can see Ebay going exactly the same hopeless way.