eBay Seller News Week In Review 11-28-21

This week was marked by Thanksgiving in the US and the official kick off to the holiday shopping season.

eBay CEO Jamie Iannone & GM North America Jordan Sweetnam shared their Thanksgiving thoughts with sellers, serving up platitudes about seller engagement and feedback.

Gratitude & Platitudes From eBay Leadership

eBay CEO Jamie Iannone & GM NA Jordan Sweetnam are serving gratitude & platitudes to sellers this Thanksgiving.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

eBay also hosted the first of three holiday pop up shop experiences with the Hard To Find Sneaker shop in Detroit.

eBay Hosts Hard To Find Sneakers Pop Up Shop In Detroit

eBay held the first of three planned holiday pop up store experiences - The Hard To Find Sneaker shop in Detroit.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

The next pop up event will be featuring high value trading cards and memorabilia in Houston December 3-4 and after that you can find designer handbags and luxury watches at the pop up in Miami December 10-11 .

Black Friday was fairly quiet, mostly featuring the same kinds of deals eBay has been running since October.

eBay Tags Along With Competition On Early Black Friday Sale

Tis the season for early holiday promos - is eBay struggling to keep up with the competition?

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

There was a noticeable difference in marketing between eBay US and eBay Canada on Small Business Saturday.

For the Canadian market, eBay leaned into #shopsmall with generic gift bag/box imagery instead of pushing a specific vertical and a message that said "at small business, feel special, find special, gift special."

For the US, eBay stuck with the vertical focus strategy featuring Certified Refurbished tech, which mostly excludes small sellers due to the requirements and criteria to be a certified refurbished seller.

I've started a list of independent artists and small business to support this holiday season - open to all online sellers, not just eBay. If you'd like to be included or have a favorite shop you want to nominate, leave a comment or drop me a line!

Small Business Holiday Spotlight

On Small Business Saturday & through the holidays, show your favorite independent artists & businesses some love!

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

eBay appears to be dipping a toe in the livestream shopping pool for the holidays with a Facebook live event slated for December 1st featuring Certified Refurbished items.

eBay Tiptoes Into Livestream Shopping

eBay is dipping a toe in the livestream shopping pool with a Facebook event featuring Certified Refurbished products.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

As holiday shopping heats up, so do online fraud and scams. I've been seeing an uptick in account takeover fraud on eBayUK - learn more about how to protect yourself as a buyer and a seller on the platform.

Cyber Weekend Cyber Security

As the busy Q4 holiday shopping rush heats up, so do fraudsters’ efforts - how can buyers and sellers protect themselves?

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Speaking of fraud, eBay Germany has temporarily suspended its direct debit payment option through RatePay due to fraud and identity theft concerns.

eBay Germany Suspends RatePay Due To Fraud Concerns

eBay temporarily suspends use of RatePay direct debit payment amidst concerns of possible fraud & identity theft.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Seller News & Updates

eBay has started rolling out the ability to add a video to the About section of your store.

eBay Stores - About Seller Video

eBay rolls out About Store video feature for select sellers in focus verticals.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

So far I've only seen it on one store, but eBay community staff has confirmed it is ramping up and should be available to more store subscribers "soon."

And finally, a possibly huge change to Managed Payments could be in the making - payouts on weekends.

eBay Managed Payments Payout On Weekends

Is eBay giving sellers a much needed holiday cash flow boost? US sellers report weekend payouts for first time.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

No official confirmation from eBay yet, but sellers are reporting payouts being initiated on both Saturday and Sunday - marking the first in what I hope will be many improvements to the payment process.

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