eBay invited some sellers to participate in a survey, but there’s an unusual twist – participants must be willing to upload videos of themselves. A seller who received the email posted the invitation because they weren’t sure if it was genuine. The email read as follows:
You’re invited to participate in an eBay research study
Dear (seller first name redacted by EcommerceBytes),
We are seeking eBay sellers to take part in a fun, interactive online feedback / diary study to tell us how they manage buyer communications.
If chosen to take part, the study pays a $250 Visa e-gift card for your time. Here’s how it works:
- Dates: July 15 – 26th
- Over the course of these three weeks you will take part in an interview with our research team and test a new online service we will be offering sellers
- Activities will include uploading short videos of you testing the service, your reactions and answering brief survey questions
- You will use a free online service called dScout
- The total time commitment will be approximately 2 – 2.5 hours
This brief survey will help us learn more about you (sic) selling habits with eBay. Note you will be asked to upload a brief, 3 minute or less video telling us about yourself and why you sell on eBay.
Your responses are completely confidential and will only be used for research purposes. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy.
Some sellers posting on the thread on the eBay discussion boards said they feared it was a phishing email designed to scam them – one listed the red flags they felt marked it as a likely scam.
And while an eBay moderator said it was “not too unusual for eBay to reach out and offer a gift card or something for compensation for a survey,” he also appeared skeptical of the survey invitation, but later confirmed that the email was legitimate.
The only hints about the new feature were that it was a new online service eBay would offer sellers involving managing buyer communications.
Feel free to comment below if you have thoughts on a tool to help you manage buyer communications, and if you would be willing to record yourself on video to be shared with eBay.
