Ebay Secrets Blog

Archive for September, 2009

I was browsing through the magazines at the airport yesterday on my way to the Shop.org Annual Summit and I saw the above logo staring back at me from the front cover of Newsweek. It was the inaugural Newsweek Green Rankings in which they ranked the top 100 greenest companies in America. The stated goal in producing the rankings was to evaluate the 500 largest companies in America based on their environmental impact, as well as their green policies and reputation. Looking for a story, I immediately opened the magazine to see if eBay had made the list. eBay is indeed ranked at 76 out of the top 100 greenest companies in America.

Newsweek cites the following under eBay’s Ranking:
Although the retail industry is not known for strong environmental management efforts, this online site is an exception. Has installed energy-efficient servers at data centers, invested in carbon offset projects and installed on-site solar installations resulting in carbon neutral operations for the past two years.

It’s a great achievement and one that I know the Green Team will be proud of. However, I know that the goal of everyone will be to move up the rankings by next year. Making the top 100 is a great accomplishment in itself but if you look at the Retail category, eBay is listed 11th behind such brands as Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy but ahead of Amazon.com and Nordstrom.

eBay’s business model from the beginning has been inherently green, serving as the world’s largest online marketplace for used, vintage and repurposed goods, and in that respect, it has been farther ahead in the game than most. However, that doesn’t mean that the company couldn’t operate in a more sustainable way. Given yesterday’s related news, it’s something that we’re obviously continuing to be committed to…

eBay Inc. Commits to 15% Corporate Emissions Reduction Target by 2012
I have become good friends with a number of people that drive the Green efforts of our company and I know, to a person, that they’re not doing this for awards or rankings. Simply put, they want to make eBay a “greener” company every day. They have the full support of executive management too. Yesterday, eBay announced its first ever greenhouse gas emissions target through the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent not-for-profit organization holding the largest database of corporate climate change information in the world. By 2012, eBay committed to reducing its corporate greenhouse gas emissions by 15% over a 2008 baseline.

“eBay continues to demonstrate our long-term commitment to responsible energy use and environmental leadership with our first greenhouse gas emissions reduction target,” said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe. “As a company whose business continues to grow year over year, we recognize that the goal is ambitious, but we’re confident that it is achievable.”

It is only achievable of course, if everyone buys into it. Any effort of this kind isn’t something that you turn on and off as days go by; this is a lifestyle change and a shift in a way of thinking. We’ve seen this happen already with the eBay Green Team – a group of more than 2,000 employees in 23 countries who are committed to making eBay a greener company (I became a member earlier this year). The Green Team has taken on projects of all sizes, all over the world, some of which I’ve covered here on Ink. And it’s just the beginning.

So congratulations to eBay on it’s Newsweek Green Ranking but, more importantly, thank you for focusing on the reasons the ranking exists to begin with. Committing to energy efficiency, “greening” eBay’s operations and investing in renewable energy are vital as we move forward and grow as a company.

Cheers,
RBH

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I’ve been doing some research into the social media uptake of major online retailers and usage is patchy to say the least.  Here is a list of the top online retailers in the UK taken from Hitwise.  If I have missed out any features, this is because they are hard to find!

I was particularly surprised at the low take up of blogs.  Don’t Argos, Tescos et al realise that blogs are great for driving traffic and connecting with customers.  Take up of twitter is high, but even sites like Debenhams and M&S who use twitter do not display it anywhere on their websites.  Tesco have a twitter account but have only tweeted once, last april.  Debenhams have a blog, twitter account and facebook page but you would never know that from their webpage.

Best in class is Top Shop with well advertised social media profiles containing quality content.

If you found this post useful, why not buy me a coffee!

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I wrapped up New York runways with four big shows on Thursday. Ralph Lauren in the morning, Calvin Klein, Norma Kamali, Tommy Hilfiger and Ann Taylor later on.

With Janet Jackson as the lone celebrity at the show, ( Janet packs enough A-List heat for six B-list celebrities) Ralph took a nostalgia-laden look at the Old West that notably included his lower priced Double RL collection. Denim, dungarees and shirtwaists came down the runway.

The collection by Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein was as ethereal as Ralph Lauren’s was prosaic. Weightless white dresses in sheer fabrics floated on the models. Tommy Hilfiger’s focus was on beachy colors kissed by the California sun. Casual yet sophisticated sportswear pieces in navy and white or ice cream pink said fun in the sun.

Two of the more unusual outings came from Kamali and Ann Taylor neither of whom have shown on the runways in a while and both showed clothes you can buy right now. Ever the innovator, Kamali staged a runway show on the  SoHo streets outside the Apple store. Inside she hosted a forum hosted by tech guru Omar Wassow where talked about fashion and its future which included her new line on eBay.

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I'm off today to one of the bigger online retailing shows of the year – Shop.org's Annual summit.  Shop.org is a non-profit trade association that the online group of the National Retailer Federation (NRF).

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eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe and eBay Marketplaces President Lorrie Norrington announced several organizational changes this morning. Here is an overview:

First, John announced that Stephanie Tilenius, head of global product and North America for eBay, has decided to transition out of her current role. She’ll become an advisor to John for the next few months and plans to leave the company in early 2010, following nine years with eBay. Having been in her current role for two years, Stephanie says she felt that with eBay’s turnaround under way, now was the right time for her to pursue other career ambitions, including opportunities to lead a company as CEO. Stephanie says she’s proud of the progress the eBay team has made, and she believes eBay’s best days are still ahead.

In a note to employees, John praised Stephanie’s passion and commitment for the business, and cited her many accomplishments over the past nine years, including building eBay’s business in Korea and Asia Pacific, strengthening eBay Motors, building PayPal’s merchant services from virtually nothing to a $1 billion-plus and rapidly growing business and, most important, her critical role in leading the eBay Marketplaces turnaround.

Stephanie’s position will not be filled, a move she recommended to further streamline and simplify eBay’s management structure. With that decision, Lorrie Norrington assumes direct responsibility for eBay North America, in addition to her role as the global head of eBay Marketplaces. Lorrie announced several changes, including the creation of a combined global product and technology team to be led by Mark Carges, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Combining product and technology is intended to help eBay accelerate innovation and optimize its end-to-end customer experience for sellers and buyers.

Also with an eye toward creating better experiences for sellers and buyers, Norrington announced that Dinesh Lathi will lead a combined seller and buyer organization, responsible for ensuring a seamless end-to-end customer experience.

From what I can tell at first glance, these changes can only mean good news for eBay buyers and sellers. Streamlining the business operations of any organization is a positive in the long run. In the case of eBay, and the real-time business of ecommerce, this should make for immediate returns. We’ve heard it repeatedly over the past year+ – everything the company does is directed at delivering trust, value and selection for buyers and velocity, efficiency and reliability for sellers.

I’m traveling this week to Shop.org in anticipation of John’s keynote there on Wednesday morning. I’m hoping to sit down with him and talk about today’s news; get his perspective… and yes, I’m taking the Flipcam.

Cheers,
RBH

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There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t get a question either about QuickBooks or how to set up a record keeping system for an eBay or other online business.  An old friend of mine and eBay PowerSeller, Cindy Shebley, has teamed up with CPA and online business expert Sheryl Schuff to produce a CD set that takes you through the whole QuickBooks experience.

Cindy and Sheryl are offering a 5-part Free Mini-Course called How To Avoid The 5 Biggest Mistakes Setting Up an Accounting System.  Even if you aren’t interested in QuickBooks, every online seller should get this course.  It is delivered in Five Installments via email –one short easy to understand lesson every other day for 10 days.  Here is the link to learn more.

Don’t forget to check out my latest book, How To Make Money Blogging From Home.

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A retailer we work with for Comparison Shopping Engines (CSE)s recently emailed as they were really confused about a promotion they were sent by eBay pictured here:

So here we have:

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eBay CEO, John Donahoe, is currently in New York and spent some time with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo earlier today. Bartiromo and Donahoe discuss the Skype sale; eBay and PayPal as core businesses for continued success and close with a discussion around PayPal’s open platform and the future of micro and mobile payments.

Cheers,
RBH

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Back in May of this year, I sat down with Brian Burke to talk about the Feedback tests being run in the eBay Marketplace. 4 months later, Nathan (Nate) Etter contacted me this week to update the Community on the tests because (1) there are different variations than we had discussed previously, and (2) the tests will cover a larger number of buyers & sellers than the tests did in May, so more members may see this new flow (as made evident by AuctionBytes earlier today).

I sat down with Nate to talk about how the tests were doing and what new wrinkles were being added to the mix. Of course, no conversation with an eBay colleague would be complete without a “5 minutes with…” Q&A. You’ll find it below the videos.
Cheers!
RBH

What have you been testing over the past 4 months? Are you expanding the tests?

Screenshot of one of the 5 variations of the Feedback Test page:
(more images in the previous blog post)

Will more people be participating in the tests? What will they experience?

What are you hoping to accomplish with these tests? What are the goals?

How are these tests incorporated into the SR2 changes going into practice at the end of the month? Are they?

5 Minutes with… Nate Etter
Full Name: Nathan Etter
Nickname: Nate
Official Title: Director, Product Strategy
What You Really Do: My recent focus has primarily been leading projects related to Trust on eBay. My current efforts revolve around improving the eBay Feedback system for both sellers and buyers. I work with a cross-functional team that includes individuals from our user interface, engineering, QA, research, analytics, and marketing groups.
Your First Day at eBay: January 3, 2006
Education/Schooling: Stanford University
Interests: Triathlon, open water swimming, photography
Favorite Quote: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
Most memorable eBay experience: Attending my first eBay Live in Las Vegas!
Most recent eBay purchase/sale: A Bottecchia all-carbon road bike for my wife (it arrived this week and I’m green with envy!!)
Favorite Albums: There are so many!! A sampling: Live at Luther College (Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds), Sanctuary (Arvo Pärt), Our Endless Numbered Days (Iron & Wine), Haunted (Poe), Gossip in the Grain (Ray LaMontagne), Rodrigo y Gabriela (Rodrigo y Gabriela), To Venus and Back (Tori Amos)
Favorite Movies: Forrest Gump, Awakenings, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Fisher King, Lord of the Rings
What You Wanted to Be Growing Up: It was a toss up between being a doctor or a chef on a cruise ship.

Fill in the blanks:
I should have gone for a run yesterday.
I wish that I could fly in small planes without getting airsick.
The first thing I do when I get to work is check emails.

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Late last night we theorized that it looked like eBay was ramping down traffic to Y! and up at Google in this post. Today, we have confirmation from three firms that have talked to both eBay and Yahoo! about the change.

Yahoo! has
confirmed that eBay is testing the use of Google to provide contextual
(search-driven) paid advertisements on eBay’s US site. Previously, Yahoo!
powered contextual and display advertising for eBay’s US site, while Google
powered advertising for eBay’s international sites. Yahoo! continues to provide
display advertising for eBay’s US site.

SeekingAlpha disclosure – I am long Amazon and Google.  I am CEO of ChannelAdvisor where eBay is an investor.

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