Meg Whitman announced that eBay will make changes to its program for top sellers. Whitman, the President and CEO of eBay, announced the changes in her keynote address Saturday at the first ever eBay Live expo for members.

eBay provides benefits to its top sellers, who are known as "Powersellers." Currently, Bronze Powersellers sell a minimum of $2,000/month in Gross Merchandise Sales; Silver Powersellers sell a minimum of $10,000/month; and Gold Powersellers sell over $25,000/month. Gross Merchandise Sales (GMS) indicate the total value of the goods sold by the seller.

Whitman explained to conference attendees that the new program will lower the Bronze requirements to $1,000 in GMS per month. Silver Powersellers will qualify at $3,000/month, and Gold Powersellers will qualify at $10,000/month. In addition, two new categories of Powersellers were created: Platinum and Titanium. Platinum Powersellers will be required to sell a minimum of $25,000/month, and Titanium Powersellers will be required to sell over $150,000/month.

The new Titanium class of Powersellers will be entitled to some extra perks, including an invitation to an annual executive retreat with eBay executives.

Whitman also said that eBay is introducing a health insurance plan that eBay Powersellers will be able to purchase through Physician's Mutual. Kevin Pursglove later told AuctionBytes that only the top two tiers of Powersellers, Platinum and Titanium Powersellers*, will be able to purchase the health insurance. The benefit will be ready in the fall, with details to be worked out, Pursglove said.

Attendees discussed the new benefit throughout the rest of the day. Many were interested, but needed more information before they would consider the plan. Questions included, would family members be included, what were the costs, and what would happen to coverage if a member did not meet the required sales for a period of time.

• Update 6/24/03: eBay Spokesperson, Kevin Pursglove clarified that all PowerSellers would qualify for the health insurance program announced Saturday.