Attendees at eBay's fifth annual user conference in Las Vegas this month had plenty of news thrown their way. eBay turned "Web 2.0" by adding blogs and wiki to the site. Skype was hyped. And eBay vowed to begin enforcing its policy against excessive shipping charges.
You can read about these announcements in this AuctionBytes Newsflash article about the keynote address, (http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m06/i14/s01), and you can watch the keynote address on AuctionBytes.TV (http://digbig.com/4kpeb).
Several things stood out for me at this year's conference, the first being the added layers of management at eBay.com and how corporate it has become. At the PayPal Panel, for example, attendees had to endure a 40-minute PowerPoint presentation before the floor was given over to questions from the audience.
Second and more surprising was that eBay acknowledged the challenges of global trading. eBay has been expanding internationally for years and is a major worldwide brand. But the challenges of being a global trading platform are becoming apparent.
In his keynote address, President of eBay North America Bill Cobb said selling cross-border is a privilege, not a right. Starting later this year, sellers will need to meet a higher seller verification requirement for cross-border trading. In order for foreign sellers to sell in the U.S., they will have to be PayPal verified or have a credit card merchant account.
At the annual shareholders meeting preceding eBay Live (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m06/i13/s06), head of eBay Marketplaces John Donahoe said the worst violations on eBay come from members who register in one country, then sell on an eBay site in another country. Donahoe said that in China, eBay has shut down registration for members without a manual verification.
eBay is also balancing the way it presents international listings on domestic sites. In the UK, where international listings appear interspersed with domestic listings, some sellers claim this has led to reduced sell-through rates for UK sellers and a frustrating shopping experience for buyers. While eBay hasn't said they would change it in the UK, they will be changing it in Canada (http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m06/i23/s01).
Finally, I heard some attendees complain of spam coming from Chinese members who offer to sell eBay PowerSellers counterfeit items to resell on eBay.com. I wrote about one aspect of this problem last month (http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m05/i03/s01).
Cross border trading is good for sellers, it can net them higher selling prices and improved sell-through rates. But certain aspects are risky and challenging, and eBay will have to work on managing the risks.
