eBay pulled back on plans to expand its presence in Bellevue, Washington in the Seattle area and is instead shrinking it, according to Business Journal. eBay’s Seattle team has taken credit for pitching and launching a number of tools for sellers including Seller Hub and price guidance.
It also works on technology such as Artificial Intelligence and conversational commerce, and launched eBay on Google Assistant and eBay ShopBot for Facebook Messenger
In 2013, EcommerceBytes reported on an executive’s statement that eBay was counting on the Seattle team to drive major initiatives that would “revolutionize ecommerce,” but that was prior to eBay’s breakup with PayPal. At the time, three divisions were working out of Bellevue: Traffic, Managed Marketplaces and the Analytics Platform Delivery (APD) division.
Today’s Business Journal article has a slideshow tour of eBay’s Bellevue office, which includes weekly yoga classes and treadmill desks for employees, “along with a space for eBay employees to photograph and ship items sold through the website.” How fitting for its penthouse digs with views of the Cascade Mountains.
More cost cutting measures trying to belly up the bottom line.
Ebay could shrink in San Jose and no one would care.