Red Ink Diary

Goodbye Richard Ambrose, Director of Trust and Safety for eBay UK, leaving eBay after six years “for new challenges”. To read the write-up at Tamebay you would think he had died and gone to heaven. It is a eulogy.

Almost a year ago in an open letter to Lorrie Norrington I said

“A large part of the blame can be directly attributed to your PR department who are arrogant, rude and dismissive. The ‘noise’ and ‘routed off the site’ comments will still be resonating long after Mr Lieberman has moved on.

In Australia it would be safe to say Simon Smith is despised, moving him would solve a lot of problems in that country. Your T&S chief in the UK, Richard Ambrose has earned the reputation (in less than a year) of being a vindictive and arrogant micromanaging cruiser of the discussion boards who is openly contemptuous of sellers. This attitude is increasingly prevalent among your employees towards your customers and it is not helping.”

See Dick go, or where is Dick?

Recently eBay UK decided to allow the pre-sale of event tickets, this was predictably followed by allegations of large scale fraud. Amounts close to $1M were mentioned on BBC radio last month.  With the cancellation of the Michael Jackson concerts in London, this policy is likely to prove expensive, and damaging to the public perception of trust and safety when purchasing on eBay.

Strangely, there is no mention of Dickie’s departure on the eBay UK Announcement Board. This leads to speculation that his departure was not entirely voluntary. Chris Dawson has repeatedly stated this speculation is unfounded.

Richard was well known for issuing lifetime posting bans on the Discussion Boards and was a master of the disparaging comment, for example:

• “It does not matter how many sellers leave, for every one that leaves three more take their place”
• “I think we will see some sellers leaving the site because of this change - mostly dodgy ones.”
• “Sellers are not not paying for visibility”
• Regarding Best Match: “At the moment the ‘formula’ is super-simple.”

Hear Dick speak

One, two, three (four, five?)

Simon Smith was the first to go, then Jose Mallabo erstwhile Director of Corporate Communications disappeared, now Richard Ambrose. Only one man (other than Mr Disruptive Innovation) has done more damage to eBay and I doubt we would get that lucky, but there is always hope.

Y’all come back!

Title from a song by Australian icon Rolf Harris, lyrics here. A little warm up before we get to the serious stuff!

After eBay Australia won the dubious distinction of a record breaking number of public submissions to the ACCC in opposition to their proposed PayPal Only in Australia policy, things have changed, on the surface.

Simon Smith got simplified or went walkabout and eBay Australia implemented a new ‘by invitation only program’ to communicate with their sellers called eSayers. Participants agree to answer a minimum of 2 surveys within a 6 month period.

“eBay wants to hear what you have to say about eBay.com.au – its features, policies, changes, fees and what you like or dislike about buying and selling on the website. That’s why we’ve created eSayers, the eBay.com.au member panel where you have the chance to give us, the eBay team, feedback on a number of topics that affect everyone who buys and sells on Australia’s leading online marketplace.”

If past experience in the USA is anything to go by, questions will be carefully and systematically framed to allow only the answers eBay wants to get. Then, to quote our friend Usher Lieberman they can say “We listened to our sellers, and this was an opportunity to show we can move quickly and be responsive”

Then of course there are the usual eBay glitches to contend with:

You may see the first survey here. You You may see You may see the first surveyYou may see the first survey here.

Comments on the Australian boards would indicate the surveys are Canadian in origin. This adds an extra layer of potential for cultural confusion because Australians, Canadians and Americans are not all the same. Eh?

Y’all come back!

Simon Smith joined eBay October 2000 as Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand. Although he was not successful in developing a meaningful eBay presence in New Zealand, eBay Australia grew during the early part of his eight year employment.

eBay announced his departure December 16th.

We have learned to read eBay announcements very carefully. They seldom mean what a cursory reading would imply so let us take a closer look at this one. First the title “eBay Australia & New Zealand Pty Ltd Management Changes”, note that nowhere in the announcement does it say Simon resigned, or is moving on to explore other opportunities, just the bald ‘Management Changes’. Then there is that odd turn of phrase “At the same time”

eBay Vice President Simon Smith, who’s headed up the Australian operations for eight years, today announced that he’s leaving the organisation. At the same time, eBay Director, Deborah Sharkey has been named as Managing Director of eBay Australia and New Zealand Pty Ltd.

Was he pushed?
In the Corporate world you are only as good as your last failure. Simon was at the helm for the embarrassing and undoubtedly expensive PayPal Only in Australia policy debacle earlier this year. It would probably not be an exaggeration to say that eBay International was surprised but not delighted by its humiliation at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission hearings.

Simon publicly claimed credit for the PayPal Only concept at the eBay Forum meetings in Melbourne and Brisbane this year, confirming a statement made by Andrew Pipolo of PayPal in an interview for an industry news article back in August 2007.

Many Australian users doubt Simon thought up the PayPal Only ploy all by himself. They believe it came down from the upper regions of eBay Corporate in San Jose, that he was tasked with implementing it and failed.

Then there is Simon’s unfortunate predilection for stuffing both feet in his mouth at the same time. Comparing eBay sellers to heroin addicts in a public meeting staged to sweet talk those same sellers into acceptance of an unpopular policy neither wins hearts and minds nor makes good press, and it went worldwide. Simply put; Simons tactlessness galvanized them into making a record breaking number of written submissions to the ACCC in opposition to the planned policy.

Let us not forget the EBS fiasco in which the whole of Australia learned that PayPal Protection, despite the advertising campaign was largely illusory. This incident may well result in the compulsory regulation of PayPal after their appearance at Reserve Bank of Australia meeting scheduled for February 2009.

In Australia as in the USA there has been much anger and hostility towards both eBay and PayPal from sellers this last year. Oztion and other platforms saw record enrollment. Doubtless some sellers returned to eBay out of necessity but I would bet figures are down overall. Has Simon become more of a liability than an asset?

Finally

There is Simon’s parting statement

“I’ve enjoyed eight exciting years at eBay and, given that recent changes to the organisation are now complete, it seems an appropriate time for me to move on.”

which certainly prompts the question

“What changes to the organisation are now complete?”

What do you think?

Y’all come back!

In accordance with Standard eBay Operating Procedure, on Friday 18th July 2008 at precisely 4.29 pm, on their way out the door, eBay Australia made a major and instantaneous change to the services category on eBay.com.au.

18 July 2008 | 04:29PM EST

In an effort to simplify and enhance the services category on eBay.com.au we have made some changes you should be aware of:

* From Monday 21 July the services category will no longer allow Auction or Fixed Price (Buy It Now) formats. Any listings in these formats that are live when this change occurs will be allowed to expire, however they will not be able to be renewed.

* The Sell-Your-Item pages have been streamlined and offer new customisable features to enhance your listings and help you attract more enquiries.

* The search pages have been simplified and the refinement features enhanced allowing you to quickly find the service you need, from removalists in Adelaide to wedding photographers on the Gold Coast.

So whether you’re advertising your business or searching for a contractor/service provider, we trust you’ll find these changes make it even easier to get what you’re looking for.

For more information visit our classified listings page or take a tour of the new look (beta) services category on eBay.com.au.

Regards
The eBay team

So what is going on then?
What are eBay Australia all of a muck sweat panic about?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Y’all come back!