News has dropped that Rob Hattrell is quitting eBay for pastures new. This is significant as, having a seat at the top table and being an eBay Senior Vice President, Rob was the most senior eBay exec ever from the UK. He is one of only 10 eBay SVPs world wide reporting directly to eBay CEO Jamie Iannone.
Rob Hattrell’s time at eBay
Joining eBay in 2017, Rob ran the UK as country manager before leading eBay’s business in Europe, accountable for all operations in that market. When someone this senior moves on, it may be seen as a lack of confidence in eBay’s business by investors so it will be worth watching the share price.
In the UK, continuity will be provided by eBay Vice President Murray Lambell, who worked closely alongside Rob and became the UK General manager when Rob moved to run Europe. Jordon Sweetnam, SVP and General Manager of North America will now oversee Europe.
From an eBay seller’s perspective, Rob was always approachable so many will have met him. He was also a force for change and cared passionately for the community whilst also remaining focused on his vision for the eBay business. Rob never lost his focus on what sellers needed and impressively at the start of the pandemic, just prior to taking the European role, Rob was working night and day to put support programmes in place to support sellers.
It was Rob who announced pandemic support programmes such as deferring fees and Rob who drove through the waiving of eBay Shop fees for sellers forced to put their shop into hard holiday mode. While many were focused on their own families, Rob was working around the clock to ensure sellers had every support possible from eBay. As it turned out, many eBay sellers profited handsomely from the pandemic but, for those that needed the support, rest assured that Rob had your back and this is why he’ll be missed.
I remember when Rob took the job, he immediately got out of the office and met sellers, listening to gripes and dishing out business cards with his mobile number on while many in Richmond complained they never saw him. But the knowledge and insight he brought back, as well as the sea-change in the approach to sellers, and a swashbuckling approach to tactical marketing led to an upswing in UK performance that lasted years and into the pandemic. He will be missed by the seller community who must be wondering how eBay managed to lose someone this good and who will pick up the baton.
– David Brackin, Stuff U Sell
What’s next for Rob?
It will be interesting to see where Rob lands, but he won’t be short of offers – he’s already reported to have turned down the role of CEO at ASOS. We can pretty much guarantee that he won’t be popping up at another marketplace – it’s likely any such role would be banned for a former eBay SVP in the short term. What we can say is that whichever company that is fortunate enough to snag him will be in safe hands.
Wishing you all the best for the future Rob and thank you!
eBay can confirm that Rob Hattrell will leave eBay next month to pursue a new opportunity. Rob led the UK business for three years until 2020, when he took over responsibility for all European markets. Jordon Sweetnam, SVP and General Manager of North America, will assume responsibility for eBay Markets globally, and Murray Lambell will continue to lead eBay in the UK. We wish Rob well for his next chapter and thank him for the significant contribution he has made to eBay.
– eBay
5 Responses
over the last 25 years we have sold on ebay ,
we have seen a succession of corporate super heros come and go , each time
ebay has become more expensive, more complicated, less profitable, mpre time consuming ,
Off to TDR Capital by the looks of it after a quick Google search
Sounds like a rat deserting a sinking ship.
Ebay has slowly got worse over the past few years.
As a seller I sell a lot less now.
As a buyer the search experience is terrible with multi listings having a 99p item draw in only to find item you wanted is £9.99
So to search for cheapest item is impossible.
Good luck Rob with your new career move.
He was always approachable at eBay events and genuinely cared about the marketplace
For those that haven’t made the connection. TDR are the company that bought Asda and have started stripping it’s assets… not something I thought Rob Hattrell would get involved in, but with his background at Tesco before eBay, he would be ideally placed to build it back up again.