Ebay Secrets Blog

From left: John Donahoe, Srivathsan Canchi, Anand Gangadharan, Pierre Omidyar

Demos in the Social Media & Finding and Internal Tools tent

Demos in the Mobile App room

To see all the photos from the event, click here. To view the video of the kickoff with Pierre and John, click here.

Cheers,
RBH

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RT @Wes_From_VRG: 25% of America’s vc-backed, publicly-traded co’s (Google, Yahoo!, eBay and Intel) have been founded/co-founded by immigrants #StartupVisa

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Greetings eBay Strategies readers.  I've been getting a lot of feedback and requests that I return to some of the mainstays of the blog such as, well, eBay strategies for sellers.  Today I'm going to start a series bite-size posts that give real-world sellers 10 new strategies built around the coming eBay changes this spring.

eBay changes overview

On January 26, 2010, eBay announced what internally they call the SR10.1 (SR=Seller Release) which has some parts that are live today and others that will go live on March 30th.  Our goal in the series is to make sure everyone is aware of the changes, provide our unique view of how to think about the changes and then give you some strategies to not only survive the changes, but thrive.

When we look at the changes, we break them into 5 buckets:

• Economic impact – These are changes to fee structures that will have an impact on the economics of your eBay business.
• Trust changes – These are changes that are oriented towards improving consumer-trust (but always have seller impact as well).
• Variation changes – These are changes to the Variation Style Listings (VSL) that we've written about copiously here at eBay Strategies and will continue to expand upon because we see real-world benefits (e.g. selling more) from VSL adoption.
• Search implications – There aren't any 'straight up' search changes in SR10.1, BUT every other bullet on this list has search implications. Search is the eBay firehose of traffic and with every set of changes we feel it's required that sellers always evaluate what this does to search.
• eBay Motors Parts and Accessories Changes – eBay's P+A category is huge and we work with hundreds of sellers in this category.  SR10.1 has some unique changes for P+A that are of course very important for that audience.  ALSO, I think some of these changes are harbingers for what we may see on the rest of eBay (core) over time.

Most of the posts will be oriented towards US sellers, but since many of the SR10.1 changes have already been in play (e.g. the fee model for example) in the UK and other regions where we have a lot of readers, I'll be very interested to hear your feedback about the strategies and any additional strategies you want to share from your early-adopter positions.

Also for all you Wall St'ers out there, I think many of you will find it interesting to look at the changes through the lens of a seller, so stay tuned, we'll have some good tidbits for you in there as well.

Keep the conversation going

I'm going to kick off the first post tonight and try to keep up to a once every 2 days schedule to keep things flowing.  Also the series can take some turns based on your feedback and questions, so let's make this as interactive as possible.  I'll endeavor to jump into the comments and I've made some tweaks to the comment system that should limit the amount of comment spam that we get.  I know this makes it a little bit more work to comment (captcha, etc.), but it's worth it to not have to have viagra spam interspersed with the discussion.

If there's anything in particular you want me to cover or questions you have about SR10.1 that you want cleared up, sound off in comments.

SeekingAlpha disclosure – I am long Google and Amazon. eBay is an investor in ChannelAdvisor.

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@Pierre I had hoped to show you the redesign of Ink when you were here yesterday. Would love your feedback.

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I need to force myself into the habit of making all updates via the Ink API rather than Seesmic, etc. otherwise conversations get lost. Already messed up twice today.

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Thanks for all the RT love @krystyl @irwebreport @jdnorton @ebay_andy @colderICE @andotherstuff!

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The following is the first ever post I made to eBay Ink on April 2, 2008:

I thought I’d try and address two questions many of you have already expressed (or likely will) about this blog, its purpose and, well, me.

1. Why are we doing this?
It’s pretty simple really — we need to become better listeners. Period.This blog is just one way I’m hoping I can help the company achieve this goal, by listening to your opinions, insights and perspectives, and where I can, facilitating conversation and providing you with the access to those here, inside eBay, who need this information most.It bears mentioning, I think we need to become better communicators too. Again, this blog will help with that in time, no doubt. For now, we’ll focus on getting the listening part right…

2. Why me?
Because I’m an outsider, frankly. While some people will see this as a handicap, I believe others will see it as I and others here do, as an advantage. I’m being provided with an opportunity here to approach and report this company’s story from the perspective that many of you share (i.e., from the outside looking in). I have no delusions of this being an easy assignment, nor beliefs that I’ll always be absolutely objective, but I’ll try…

Since I joined in January, 2008, my goal for eBay Ink has always been to help integrate opinions into the strategic discussion within eBay – ultimately strengthening the company for the better. I hoped to achieve this through 5 key objectives:

1. Tell this company’s story in our own words, in our own voice and from our perspective.
2. Provide new levels of access to all layers of the organization – from the top down.
3. Humanize our company by capturing and sharing/showing the people behind the brand (and their stories).
4. Open up a transparent conversation about eBay operations and business decisions.
5. Open up new feedback channels online and show that we want to both listen and engage in dialogue about our business.

We’re coming up on the 2nd anniversary of the introduction of eBay Ink and although I feel we’ve made a positive change in the openness of communication, I also feel that we can do a lot more – and we will. Although the interaction here on Ink has been strong over the past two years, the conversations I’ve been enjoying with people on Twitter seem to be more interactive and real-time. I wanted to try and capture that real-time conversation here on the blog itself, in order to better accomplish our original objectives set up more than 24 months ago. Working with the same great folks that helped me build the first iteration of eBay Ink, I’ve tried to create a kind of “life-stream” for our corporate blog to encourage more interaction and conversation similar to those found on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

It was actually Facebook that was the inspiration behind the new scrolling conversation feed. For those familiar with Facebook, you’ll notice that the new discussion engine here on eBay Ink – running down the center of the blog – resembles the Live Feed found on the FB homepage. I am now writing tweets, blog posts, uploading videos and images all through the eBay Ink interface. I can then automatically have certain updates & posts feed out to other social media channels like Twitter.

On the right side of the page you’ll see three new discussion boxes. The first, “recent Twitter responses” is fairly self-explanatory and captures recent retweets of discussions we’re having here on Ink. Immediately below is “popular thoughts” that breaks down the most popular conversation starters (blog posts) here on Ink based on the number of comments associated with each. “Inked” breaks down the conversation on Twitter in which eBay Ink is involved.

Because eBay Connect is now your place to find all blog posts coming out of the company and our landing page for our official blog roll, I felt Ink could focus on what matters most… hearing what you have to say and trying to give you the best behind-the-scenes seat at the corporate table.

As with everything we do here on Ink, it’s a work in progress and I’m continually striving to improve and enhance the experience here. Please let me know what you like – but, more importantly – please tell me what you feel it’s lacking. Where can we improve? What would you like to see more of?

Let me know. Looking forward to taking the conversations to the next level in the near future!

Cheers,
RBH

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Heading into a meeting with Jim Larkin here at eBay. Good guy. Back in a few all. Cheers! RBH

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The guys behind the “Green Sort on eBay Motors” proposal at eBay Innovation Demo Expo.

Cheers,
RBH

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The Narciso Rodriguez for eBay collection goes on sale today! Read our interview with the celebrated designer.

Just days away from his Fall 2010 show for New York Fashion Week, designer Narciso Rodriguez spoke to Constance White, eBay’s Fashion Expert, about his design philosophy and his collaboration with eBay, which goes on sale today. Click here to view images of the collection and here to start shopping.

Constance White: How did you approach designing your eBay collection?

Narciso Rodriguez: I only had eight pieces to deliver. It’s much easier to design when you have those parameters—when you’re focused on delivering the message with eight pieces. You have to consider what it is you stand for, what you want to say. When I’m designing my other line, [I] just keep going and it’s a bit undisciplined. [I] can do so much.

Narciso Rodriguez attending his 'Retrospective' in November, 2009 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Photo by GV Cruz/WireImage)

CW: What else makes designing this line different?

NR: The thing that’s different about it is that you have to be practical. You want to give the best price, but use the best materials. Because [this is] the first season [of the collaboration with eBay], it’s also [about] starting the look of something you want to continue. It’s building the foundation.

CW: Like a love affair, is the most exciting part the beginning?

NR: [Laughs.] It is. I agree. I thought about that—and what I did at the beginning of my career [versus] what I should do now. What would endure? I have racks and racks of clothing that Kathy [Kalesti, vice president of his company] is dying for me to get rid of. But I like things that endure. So much of fashion today is inexpensive and disposable. I’ve never been interested in things that don’t endure.

CW: How does it feel to be going into this kind of partnerhip with a company like eBay?

NR: For me it’s very exciting. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to do a more affordable collection, but I wanted it to be very personal. I’m such a hands-on designer. I want to create good clothes that can reach a broad audience, but not just a mass product. The things that sell out best in the store are the things that are the most personal. I want to keep designing and creating and this is another way to do that.

CW: What about the business side?

NR: From a business point of view, it’s a great moment to have everyone look at what we do and to grow the business. With my signature collection, I would be reaching a fraction of the people I’m reaching by having a store on eBay. The way it works, it’s also very streamlined [selling the collection on eBay] and I’m all about the streamline. Secondary lines are big for a moment and then disappear. I prefer slow and steady rather than big and gone.

CW: What are the three things you stand for as a designer in general?

NR: One thing I love most is a graphic message. And I love to keep it very honed, and very sexy, and have that black and white [a signature motif in his collection]. 

CW: What are your three great sources of inspiration?

NR: First, architecture. I like Oscar Nedemeyer’s work. Sonja Braga recently sent me picture of buildings in Brazil that he’s done. Second, people on the street. Life on the street. I get more work done in my head on my 15 minute walk to work [than I do in hours at the office] looking at buildings, the sidewalk, color, action. Third, music. I love Brazilian music. It’s so romantic and beautiful the way the Brazilian musicians express themselves. I love Cuban music. I listen to rock. I just got all my old Missy Elliot out and I’m listening to that.

From left to right from the Narciso Rodriguez for eBay collection: Python T-Shirt, $70; Reversible Trench, $350; Jersey Dress, $250

CW: You’ve had an enviable career. What are the two biggest highlights so far?

NR. Dressing Michelle Obama. That Michelle Obama chose to wear one of my dresses on election night, something I designed, meant a lot to me. That I could be a small part of an important moment in history, the history of the world, was amazing to me… And dressing Carolyn (Bessette Kennedy) for her wedding to John. They’re both very dear moments to me.

CW: Why do they stand out?

NR: Obviously, because of the media attention and recognition from people who wouldn’t necessarily see or recognize my work. But for me personally, they are important because those are both beautiful and independent women. They are inspiring to me. With Caroline, she was the love of my life: That she wanted me to create something for her to marry the love of her life was to me a very beautiful moment.

CW: What advice would you give to a woman on how to use fashion to look her best?

NR: First, keep it simple. There’s a reason people love a little black dress. It’s something that you can dress up or down. Second, have it fitted. No matter how hard I try or any designer tries to reach women with something that fits them perfectly, it’s not going to happen all the time. It’s such a simple thing to look in the mirror with a tailor and say, ‘Take that little bit out.’ It makes everything you own so much better. I get everything tailored. Third is comfort. Feel comfortable physically, but also mentally in your clothes. Wear something that makes you feel great.

Constance White is eBay’s Fashion Expert. To purchase the Narciso Rodriguez for eBay collection, click here.  

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