A Top eBay Exec Departs as Company Reorganizes

by: Chicago48

400 laid off last year; 400 this year.  That is a major layoff.  That's about 800 people, that's a bunch.  I wonder if EB is going to revamp it's website and streamline the site?  If you don't have technicians working, you run into malfunctioning website.

by: Chicago48

I wish I could get out of my starter store contract before May.  I feel a tsunami coming to EB.

by: sasikat9

No changes in customer support. What support. Customer support consists of some seat warmer answering the phone and then proceeding with the written dribbles on que cards. Heck most of them don't even know what day it is.

by: toolguy

@pace306

"Cut ALL the overseas CS agents, bring them in house, hire nice normal American workers and you will get farther along."

eBay can do this but they'll have to start charging 15% FVF to cover the costs.

Are you willy to pay more for eBay services?

I'M NOT

by: RKTOYS

@Grady
You hit the nail on the head here.  As management stuffs the IT department with H1Bs, it puts more and more on everybody else.  DevOps has to work harder to keep everything running.  The help desk sees its call and ticket workload explode.  Management runs around screaming that outages and tickets are skyrocketing but doesn't have the wherewithal or integrity to consider it might be their fault.

by: Grady

Middle and upper management is increasingly packed with new hire H1Bs now. These new H1B's are brand new and are literally making very critical decisions. The few veteran quality people still on board are busy training these clueless newbies, and they know they are basically training their own replacements. It is far worse than most people can imagine. There will be another round of layoffs in summer, and by then what little actual talent and trouble shooters they have will be gone.

by: pace306

Tool

1) not if they dismiss 1/2 the useless BOD

2) not if the boot DW

3) places like Poshmark take more then that btw

But in life you get what you pay for.

Personally- if I would get an American cs agent and win all my cases - I’d pay more.

I can’t win with overseas script readers

by: Snapped

Conflicts ensue.  Robots created to reduce conflicts requiring labor.   Conflicts resolved by programmed judgement are unjust.  Requirement for labor to justly resolve robotically unjust conflicts increases beyond pre-R2D2 levels.

Relegate it all to a lip service priority, monitize any quality core that's survived, and double down on the autonomatons that are better suited to cheap-by-piece mass production 'support'.  

People aren't assets in this equation, they're problems.  That's why it's so hard to put them in boxes that can possibly endure.  Especially when they are set upon the top of the pile.

by: Grady

I have to conclude that the vast majority of the decisions at the top are made to enhance the profitable results of insider trades. It's just too obvious. When there is nothing left of Ebay, they will do the same thing at GM or Home Depot. They are making insane amounts of money and the timing is everything.

by: CanBrit

@pace306
"Sales on eBay ATM are non existent or abysmal - lets see how they cook Q1's books!"

Very true words. I couldn't quite figure out what happened with Q4, but I know someone should be in jail for it. The desecration and damnation of Ebay has increased tenfold since 2016. I came back to eBay that year. Jeepers what a mistake.

I'm on a monthly contract for the store now so I can heave ho in an instant. Part of my reticence is my regular customers, many who have become friends. I'm building a new brand on another site but as always, it takes time to get noticed, watched, favored, successful. I refuse to sell my soul to that devil Wenig though. Manage Payments??? Kiss my bleep. I figure the BOD's makeup have to be made up of some incredibly thick headed people who make too much money and should be turfed.
I like the push from Elliot, but as long as Wenig is in charge, there is no hope for eBay at all.

Now, the tech's, I'm sure many of the excellent and deservedly high paid ones, are gone. Pink slipped so the boys can have their champagne and discreet ladies in the limo. When I think of that platform, it makes my skin turn white and hair grey. I wouldn't want to support that mess in a million years and not for the same amount of dollars. I loved working in the industry, but I learned after a while, when you saw a mess coming....you exited before the slip. It's a great career that can become an awful one at the wrong company.

by: pace306

Can :)

ANYONE else in the industry would have been ashamed to pull "eBay numbers" when they reported Q4 - but they werent - they were PROUD.

All the eBay lawyers with their WS connections, enable the fiasco (the emperors new clothes syndrome) to continue unabated.

eBay owns nothing except the computers they bought and the real estate they work in - no items, no trucks, no warehouses (that they will openly admit to), and yet WS treats them like Amazon or Walmart.

Like em or hate em - they all have insane logistics nightmares to go through - just to operate - eBay sits back and does NOTHING, but yet they get a free pass (financially).

Can "you" (anyone) explain why eBay stock is ever worth more then $5 a share? What value to stock holders is being returned? (they JUST started to pay a dividend - and a VERY SMALL ONE at that). So wheres the value?????

If Amazon went belly up tomorrow - you could sell the goods, warehouses, planes and trucks to get money (against creditors) - what would you sell in eBays case? The snacks in the candy machines in San Jose?

NOT ONE of the top eBay BOD have any experience in the business they run - why would you invest is such a company?

Yey Cutler is gone ... ."but so what". The infection runs MUCH deeper then one guy. Its starts at the top and goes down.

Q1 will be a hoot - can you go lower then %1 ? I guess you could go %0 and claim that the good times are JUST AROUND THE CORNER ..... (again) and hope someone believes you.

Truthfully - none of this concerns me "directly" - just that they comapny is run by a bunch of lieing thieving SOBs - which in turn ruins the platform for me (and people like me aka the people here).

Poor shoddy performance means I make less/no sales and thats not a place I want to be at.

eBay was at the NY Toy Fair - everyone give them a hurrah, except that even though it was on the main floor - NO ONE bothered them (except me).

The refused to talk Cutler, Seller Protection, better CS or anything else. Just "sell our old toys on eBay", period.

My wife and I just laughed .... dopes. The booth cost them 'round 20K and they got nothing out of it. Now they are gonna have to have a few more liar buyers steal from me to make up for it ......cr@p!

by: Ichabod

It's like college football, if you have a losing season, fire the offensive coordinator and a couple of assistant coaches you live to lose another season. Next season, when you end up with a 3 and 9 season, you fire the defensive coordinator and the kicking coach and the next season...........................
Go Wenig!! Yay Team!!

by: BargainzBabylon

Over 30,000 people work at "EB" (that's eBay in the real world). 800 isn't that much - doom is not right around the corner. The site will continue to lurch along in its usual somnolent fashion.

But I do think they're just shuffling the deck.  

by: Chicago48

I wouldn't cry for the techs being laid off ...that job is highly desired.  And they won't have a problem finding work elsewhere in the US.

by: Paul W

No argument here that eBay has many problems that need fixing.  But having an anchor store I get excellent CS from agents in Utah, so no complaint there.  And there are buyers if you are selling stuff people want.  I sold 936 items in the last 60 days, many to international customers.  For me a dry spell is 4 hours without a sale.  So I'm hoping eBay can keep the ship upright and make some progress on their glitchy site.

by: Fahrenheit451

No, sorry, not going there. I tried it again for a few weeks and no sales. So I pulled my 50+ listings without paying more than $3 and went over to Bonanza. At least I would not have to list for 35 cents a pop, nor 20 cents in the case of Etsy. Besides, everyone knows this is a stagnant economy which won't really pick up until a certain POTUS gets impeached. Everyone is holding their breath waiting for the inevitable, so they are not spending their money. It's snowing on the East Coast, and it's cold and blowing snow on the West Coast. The middle is freezing in the coldest winter on record, and you expect anyone to be shopping? Forget it.

by: wellspring

@pace306
“Like the Maze post, sellers are given just enough cheese to convince themselves that what they are doing is a GOOD/SMART thing. And, like alot of gamblers - they go home pockets empty, stomachs full from the free buffet, and vow to come back again ASAP.”
Have you heard the one, “A mouse walked into a casino....?”

Thanks for referencing my post. Since writing it, I’ve been diligently working on diversifying my venues for my inventory.

After reading this lay-off post today and readers comments, I think it couldn’t hurt to have a backup venue for ALL listings. Can you imagine if a planted ebay glitch by a disgruntled ex-employee wiped out our listings completely?

And, as others have said, “since when does ebay have inventory to manage or merchandise? ” I wish the gov would jump on that one.

Oh, how I wish ALL small sellers could boycott ebay on April 1st by putting our stores on vacation, to send a message as to the impact we do make on eBay.  

by: eastwestphoto

Get rid of all returns and Feedback, easiest way to help Sellers sell more, so eBay makes more MONEY!  

by: Bidonmine

A major change for Sellers is coming... and, it will not be a good change!

by: mcposty

ebay is nothing but a chinese importer now.