CEO Jamie Iannone Makes eBay Open UK Debut, Puts Seller Feedback In Focus
eBay CEO Jamie Iannone made his first appearance at eBay Open UK this week, repeatedly returning to seller feedback during an event that also brought updates on Live, shipping and international selling.
Iannone said many of the features he worked on during his first stint at eBay came from listening to sellers, a practice he said continues today as CEO. During the leadership Q&A, a seller asked how eBay could involve users earlier when developing new policies and products.
Iannone recalled a program from his product management days where a group of sellers would call in weekly under confidentiality agreements to review features before they launched, saying eBay is "trying to do that same type of thing constantly" today.
He pointed to UK seller clinics and weekly reports from UK GM Eve Williams summarizing seller feedback, and revealed he had also met with a group of UK sellers under confidentiality agreements before eBay Live launched to get their thoughts on the product.
eBay has increasingly relied on seller councils, advisory groups, private feedback sessions and other selected-user programs, some of which involve confidentiality agreements, advance information or additional access, while broader public engagement channels have been scaled back.
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen's eBay bid has drawn more attention to the company's approach to seller engagement this year, including interviews with resellers Justin Glow and Ryan Roots where he explicitly invited sellers to challenge his ideas. Both later said they offered Iannone the same opportunity but had not received a response.
Liz Morton
eBay also used Open UK to launch a new Discord community for Live sellers to share ideas, ask questions and give feedback directly to the Live team. The slide promoting the new server said sellers could "help shape the future of eBay Live," give feedback to the Live team and hear the latest news and updates.
Discord gives Live sellers a new direct line to eBay. On eBay's own Community forums, the company has been moving in the opposite direction, ending longstanding weekly staff chats across its global forums and migrating from Khoros to Bevy in June, leaving much of the forum's historical content behind.
Liz Morton
During a leadership Q&A, eBay said it is rolling out an upgrade aimed at buyers who win Live auctions but fail payment. Under the new process, the failed payment has to be resolved before that buyer can continue bidding and winning additional items. Sellers can also cancel the unpaid transaction immediately and put the item back up while the audience is still in the stream rather than waiting to see whether the original buyer eventually pays.
eBay also confirmed eligible UK sellers can use cross-border streaming to make the same Live show available to US buyers without creating a separate event or duplicating inventory. The company says it's working on expanding that capability into additional markets over time.
eBay began opening Live access to more sellers earlier this month through a self-service registration process. eBay has also introduced separate fee schedules for Live and will remove Live transactions from Seller Standards, Service Metrics and Top Rated Plus eligibility beginning October 15.
Liz Morton
Royal Mail came up in a separate shipping panel, where a seller asked why low-value items dropped into an electronic postbox could not receive tracking. Chief Customer Officer Mike Richmond said the company has been working "really, really hard" with eBay on a "tracked low-cost letter" that would sit between untracked letter services and more expensive Tracked Large Letter options.
Richmond pointed to eBay Standard Envelope with USPS as an existing model, saying there is already a "template and a business case around it." He did not give a timeline and said product and regulatory issues still need to be worked through, telling sellers to "watch this space."
eBay International Shipping, which began replacing the Global Shipping Programme in the UK this summer, is expected to finish migrating existing GSP sellers by the end of the year. Combined shipping is also being built into EIS. eBay said the system will evaluate whether items can safely be combined based on size, weight, dimensions and product restrictions, then calculate a lower international shipping rate where appropriate.
VP International Markets Oliver Klinck said eBay plans to make cross-border selling more automatic in 2027, telling sellers they should not have to keep creating active listings across different country sites or handle translations themselves. Klinck said eBay wants sellers to eventually list once while the marketplace makes sure the item reaches the right buyer in the appropriate language, country and shipping "corridor" alongside EIS.
eBay is already doing some of that through its European Acceleration Programme, which creates localised versions of UK listings on Germany, France, Italy and Spain using Webinterpret for translation, pricing and inventory synchronisation. Klinck didn't explain how the 2027 plans relate to EAP or whether eBay intends to replace the current Webinterpret-based system with a more native solution tied to EIS.
Liz Morton
Asked by a seller during the leadership Q&A what the Depop acquisition would mean over the next 12 to 24 months, Klinck said eBay wants to preserve Depop's brand and customer experience while using eBay's shipping and AI capabilities to help it grow.
eBay has already started sending its own traffic to Depop too, giving Depop prominent placement on eBay's homepage and in fashion search results, raising questions for sellers who pay for similar visibility through advertising.
Liz Morton
The UK event was also much larger than eBay's US Open events this year. Last year's multi-day Las Vegas conference has been replaced by four smaller "On The Road" events, three of which have now taken place with the final stop scheduled for October 15 in Miami.
Catch up on replays from eBay Open UK 2026 on YouTube and if you attended in person, let us know what your favorite part was in the comments below!
