Value Added Resource Week In Review 3-3-24
Welcome to the Value Added Resource ecommerce news week in review!
eBay News
We kicked off the week with a pre-earnings look at highlights and lowlights from Q4 2023 and what's happening so far in Q1 2024, including leadership changes and corporate news, AI initiatives and new features, Promoted Listings and more!
Liz Morton
eBay's Q4 2023 earnings report "leaned in" on consumer-seller strategy shift as active buyers & GMV remain relatively flat and Promoted Listings ads continue to drive revenue growth.
Could a long overdue pivot back to eBay's C2C roots be key to returning to GMV growth by Q3 or Q4 2024?
Liz Morton
We had called out hints at this strategy shift last week with new job postings in the US and Canada, and some internal promotions announced this week for key strategic roles in Italy and the UK bolster the idea eBay may be pivoting away from narrow "high value, enthusiast vertical" strategy back to broader consumer to consumer focus.
Liz Morton
The deferred prosecution agreement eBay signed with the DOJ over 2019 cyberstalking scandal has been raising eyebrows with its enhanced compliance monitoring requirements, begging the question - why would there would be a focus on Mergers and Acquisitions due diligence in a settlement for felony cyberstalking and harassment of journalists carried out by eBay security personnel?
Liz Morton
eBay may be exploring ways to use blockchain technology to fight fraud and scams with transparent, decentralized user authentication and authorization - but users may balk at “reputational score,” which could determine whether they can buy, bid on or sell items on the platform.
Liz Morton
The eBay for Business podcast will soon be rebranding to the eBay for Sellers podcast and this week's episode featured Chuck Van Pelt from the Seller Advocacy Team discussing new features out now or coming soon to the eBay mobile app.
Liz Morton
Sellers who frequently process partial refunds to provide combined shipping discounts note recent changes to the refund process add additional steps to their workflow and could lead to buyer confusion.
Liz Morton
A familiar glitch made the rounds through the eBay discussion forums and social media this week as sellers say listings that should be renewing are instead going missing, not to be found in either active or ended listings sections of Seller Hub.
Affected sellers reported the issue is an almost annual occurrence as eBay has just never quite figured out how to cope with the fact that February has less days than other months, plus leap day when applicable.
Liz Morton
Another glitch that is causing listings to end a day early has been going on for almost a month and could cause serious problems for sellers who may be charged additional listing fees if the issue is not resolved before March 31.
Liz Morton
Bob Kupbens is the new interim CEO at StubHub International in a full circle moment harkening back to his time at eBay as VP Seller Marketplace and Operations.
Liz Morton
Other Ecommerce News
Amazon book sellers were once again thrown into turmoil as confusing email with less than one day notice puts future of textbook selling on the platform in possible jeopardy.
Liz Morton
DM Cohen Inc. is suing Amazon over claims the company uses “dark patterns” to dupe consumers into unknowingly enrolling in Amazon Prime, with automatically-renewing subscriptions and a labyrinthine cancellation process for subscribers who want to end their memberships.
Liz Morton
Etsy's efforts to be the "go to" site for all your gifting needs continues with new Gift Teaser feature that allows buyers to send gift recipients a sneak peek message.
Liz Morton
Etsy seller "Babyjewlz" took to the community seeking help from other sellers when she noticed an inappropriate video had been attached to one of her listings without her knowledge or consent, revealing a possibly serious vulnerability in Etsy's systems.
Liz Morton
Updates
It's been over two weeks and the Listing Quality Report is still missing, but at least eBay is finally notifying sellers of the technical issue with a banner announcement on the page that says "We are experiencing an issue that is affecting the Listing Quality Report. While we are working on a fix we have temporarily removed the download report link."
Liz Morton
Check out the updated agenda for eBay's Spring Seller Check In slated for March 7 and stay tuned for full coverage of the event!
Liz Morton
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