The 3rd of September 2020 is the date we will celebrate the eBay 25th Anniversary. Having been founded a quarter of a century ago on the 3rd of September 1995, eBay has changed from the auction only, no feedback, no built in payments and no pictures site that first hit the Internet as AuctionWeb with a grey scale website. It wasn’t until September 1997 that the AuctionWeb name changed to eBay.
Jeffrey Skoll became the first eBay President in 1996 followed by Meg Whitman as eBay President and CEO in March 1998. in 2008, John Donahoe replaced Meg Whitman and oversaw the spin off of PayPal (and perhaps signalling his thoughts on eBay’s prospects jumped ship with PayPal). At this point Devin Wenig took over as eBay President and CEO in 2015 until 2019 at which point he left due to differences of opinion with the eBay Board. Scott Schenkel, SVP and CFO stepped up to be interim CEO until April of this year when Jamie Iannone became what may be eBay’s last eBay President and CEO…
Last eBay President and CEO I hear you say? Well there’s a fair chance that eBay might be acquired or at least a buyout that leaves the marketplace semi-private. This is the only realistic way for eBay to dodge it’s now expected half a billion dollars a quarter profits which shareholders expect to see, coupled with high margins, and give eBay the ability to operate at lower profits and radically change direction to position itself for real growth in the future.
eBay 25th Anniversary Seller Stories
In the mean time however, the eBay 25th Anniversary an achievement worth marking and eBay intend to do this with the help of the eBay community of sellers in the US and intend to create a mini-series documentary, telling amazing seller stories.
“We can’t begin to tell our 25th story, without hearing about yours first. We will be creating a mini-series documentary, telling amazing seller stories to celebrate our 25th year. We know this milestone would not be possible without the millions of sellers who power our marketplace. Whether you are a new seller or have been selling for years, we want to hear from you!”
– Marni Levine, VP Seller Operations and Engagement, eBay
Sadly only sellers from the US are currently invited to tell their story, but if you are based in the US and would like to take part you can fill out a survey here. You can enter up until midnight on the 31st of May 2020.
25 sellers selected to be featured in eBay’s campaign will be chosen by the 30th of June 2020. One story a week will be published in places such as the eBay for Business podcast, Community Announcement board and eBay for Business YouTube. The Seller Story will link directly to the Sellers’ eBay store and will appear in selected eBay marketing.