Monday, August 25th, 2008
Notes from the Road: Ich bin ein Berliner…
… Well, for a few days at least. I arrived in Berlin late last night and have just finished my first day here at the German offices of eBay.
Today was a day of meeting and greeting with different folks; putting names to faces, etc. I plan on presenting the eBay Ink overview again tomorrow morning to folks - similar to the one I gave in the UK last week and at the Ragan Conference in San Jose the week before that. I also have some other meetings lined up over the next two days that I look forward to talking about here on Ink.
I spent the majority of my day with Tobias Huebscher, who is responsible for leading the European Internal Communications team for the Marketplace businesses. His job runs the gamut of internal communications. From drafting, distributing and/or publishing internal announcements, emails or stories via our intranet (iWeb), to supporting the European Management teams in their communication and communication planning, to supporting M&A communications and Global communication programs. You name it, if there is an email, video or news item that needs to be communicated to employees, he has touched it or crafted the communication at some level.
Tobias took time out of his busy day to give me a full tour of the offices here and I found it quite fascinating. First, we went across to the main hall to see the German-specific all-hands meeting. Along the way we passed the remains of the lesser known Checkpoint Bravo.
(From Wikipedia): The most important inner-German checkpoint, the Autobahn crossing at Helmstedt was called Alpha by the Western Allies. Its counterpart in the Berlin borough of Dreilinden was named Bravo. The connection between these checkpoints gained its importance from being the shortest connection between the western zones and Berlin, at 170 km (105 miles). For more information click here.
Unfortunately, the German all-hands meeting was presented in, well, German. So we didn’t last very long there. (I haven’t studied German since I was in high school and all I can remember from that is “Ich bin funfzehn”). We proceeded to the largest of the buildings that housed, among others, the Customer Service group. Like most eBay offices around the world, the naming convention of conference rooms in this building was themed. Here it was done a little differently though. Each floor had a theme (cartoons, sports, cars, etc.) and the themes were broken down geographically across Europe (for example, the cartoon floor had representatives of each European market - Tintin for Belgium, Wallace and Gromit for England, etc.). The cool thing about this was that each room was furnished entirely by items purchased by employees on eBay. I managed to take some photos HERE , HERE and HERE but all but 2 of the 30+ conference rooms we passed had meetings going on in them and I didn’t want to interrupt.
Finally, on the way back to the main building we walked by a path that resembled Sunset Boulevard (just without the empty bottles of cheap vodka and tourists taking photos of R2D2’s prints). They have set up a Walk of Stars (shown HERE - Tobias is standing to the right of the Walk) that highlights top European eBay users, that includes their feedback score from when the star was dedicated.
I have managed to set up a few key meetings over the next 48 hours and I’m looking forward to recapping my time here with you all over the course of my stay.
Cheers,
Richard.
Tagged: Behind the Scenes, ebay, ebay germany, eBay Ink, ebay ink blog, ebay.de, ebaygermany, ecommerce
DakotaOn 08.25.2008 at 7:06 pm Said:
I am sincerely glad that you are having a great time Richard.
The part that bothers me is that it is happening on seller’s money.
The other thing that doesn’t seem right, seller’s are suffering yet another crushing blow at eBay’s hand and in the meanwhile, they post all of this happy, happy, joy, joy [edited; see comment policy] and in the meanwhile they are also rubbing it into our faces that the party is on at eBay while we struggle.
Enjoy Richard. At least someone is getting something for the fees we are paying. With the low sales and etc that sellers are getting, someone needs to be getting something for the fees seller’s pay. I guess it might as well be you.
vzaar JamieOn 08.26.2008 at 3:01 am Said:
Come on Dakota. You telling me that offices should be drab, lifeless affairs that stifle thinking and discussion?
I knew as soon as Richard posted these pics that someone might complain about the use of “seller’s money”. But it’s not seller’s money. It’s eBay Inc’s. The corporation that charges users a fee for using it, uses those fees to market their service and your product to the world. How they spend their accounted profits is really up to them whilst it continues to be spent in a sensible manner.
I can tell you, that in my time at eBay UK, I always found the office quite frugal. Not tight, but frugal. In return you get a nice environment conducive to work, lower rates of employee attrition (which comes at a greater cost over time) and a sense of pride in the brand. I see no harm in that.
DakotaOn 08.26.2008 at 4:47 am Said:
Oh Vazar, you are too funny!
I am saying that eBay is sending eBay all over the world on money taken from us and he is having a flipping blast. I am sure many of the corporate upity ups are doing the same. - All of this while sellers sit here suffering and deciphering what to do about the business that eBay is destroying for us.
Their offices are snazzier than is necessary to get the job done but that is to be expected as they want the world to believe that they are some really wonderful company. Whenever they feel the need for more money, instead of cutting some of the company fat they cut more seller’s profits because they refuse to tighten their belts as sellers have had to.
It IS sellers money as eBay has all but stolen many of their profits. That is what is wrong with this. We get less and less benefits for more and more money. We are not getting what we originally agreed to and or far less than we deserve for the buck as compared to other selling sites.
Sense of pride? What about the sellers sense of pride?
We work like a dog to build up our stores and customer base just to have someone in a corporate office who does not understand or care about our business come along and tear it apart with some bogus rule or policy.
For fees that we pay that are higher than most “venues” (we all know that term is not correct), sellers get:
Lower and lower sell through rates that are no fault of the seller but caused by the sites lovely “find” machine.
Manipulated search through “best match” (we know that term is not correct also) which means that we may pay the same $$ for an item to turn up buried in search as the next guy pays to show up on top.
We get PPC ads placed all over the place to take our potential buyers away from our items. Isn’t that cool?!
We get our items that have similar titles but could very well be very different items shoved to the back because eBay says they are identical. Of course we pay the same fee to list them which should never be.
If we list more than 10 items, we are also limited to 10 items per page with the extra being pushed further and further back in the search and also places them out of date and time order in the search. You know that itsn’t helpful to the buyer and it most certainly hurts the seller but you still get the same hefty fee for each listing!
We get NPB’s - which we can get a final value fee back from if we file a UPI but we risk getting negative feedback that we can not do much about. eBay gets to keep the listing fee. So they make money no matter what happens.
We get our hands tied by the new “paperless” policy which is going to further kill sales since some buyers will simply not pay electronically. I didn’t realize that I was paying someone to say no to my buyers when in actuality it is to line eBay’s pockets (yours to buddy since you are a part of the co.) and to take away more from sellers. And eBay THREATENS sellers with sanctions if we don’t follow along.
We also get to give up our shipping costs or be paid so little that we are giving away most of our shipping costs in eBay’s push for free shipping. In order to turn up in search favorably, even though we pay the same nasty fees to list as any other seller. We have to be cautious when adding our shipping into the price of the item as we are also adding each and every fee increase into the price - at some point we will price ourselves out of the market. eBay is doing all of this to get more money from the FVF’s. How dumb is that, if our prices keep going up, buyer’s won’t buy because the price is too high so dear eBay will get no FVF but they can’t seem to figure that out.
Continuous site glitches
No customer service unless you call the canned responses we get CS. That’s a joke!
Constantly changing rules that are to eBay’s benefit to take more of sellers profits.
Oh man, I could go on and on and on about why all of this is wrong/theft of seller’s hard earned money.
I could go on and on why it is wrong for a company to rub into sellers faces as to all of the waste that our hard earned money is paying for.
It just amazes me that all of the corporate mouthpieces firmly believe that sellers are so stupid that we can not see the truth. In fact, that burns my behind that corporate would insult sellers intelligence like that.
Get this straight Vzaar Jamie, we know what is going! We know that we are being taken for a ride! The least eBay could do is not flaunt how they are ripping us off and acknowlege that we are NOT stupid by providing a service that is fair and amicable to all involved.
DakotaOn 08.26.2008 at 5:03 am Said:
I just realized that my post was edited.
Please explain to me why the word - garbage - is wrong?
I don’t get it and I think that the blog police are just trying to make us look bad in doing that.
DakotaOn 08.26.2008 at 5:44 am Said:
Whatever Richard.
I will start copying each and every post I place on this board so I can prove what was said.
I try hard not to break your rules and now I will work at ways of proving so.
I knew my post to this would raise the hair of some but I didn’t think that it would be cause to mess with the post.
I truly am glad that you are enjoying your trip. I would be angry if it were some of the policy makers since they are the ones responsible for the pain that sellers are suffering.
Richard Brewer-Hay On 08.26.2008 at 6:26 am Said:
@DAKOTA If you want to know the personal rule I try to use for allowing words on the blog: I ask myself if I could use it in conversation in front of my daughter. No problem with “Garbage” - none at all - but, like I said, that was not the word I cut out earlier today in your comment.
Thanks for the kind words regarding the trip. It has been incredibly rewarding from a work perspective. It has also been a busy one - with meetings across the timezones and presentations, all while trying to keep the blog up to speed - great stuff.
Getting internal exposure to what we’re trying to accomplish with Ink - and to meet so many different eBay employees and decision makers - can only make for positive results both for me and ultimately the readers and subscribers to Ink.
It’s tough for me to try and fill the role of an internal reporter for a global company if I confine myself to a 5×5 cube in San Jose. But don’t worry, I’ll be back chained to my desk next week.
Cheers,
RBH
MechelleOn 08.26.2008 at 7:41 am Said:
OMG it is outrageous you (eBay) are so freaking cheap that Richard has to work in a 5 x 5 cubicle!! eBay makes enough money it can certainly afford to provide Richard a descent environment!!! What a fantastic demonstration of eBay’s lack of regard for people- absolutely appalling!!!I am seriously disgusted to learn Richard is treated so terribly by eBay. eBay sits on its billions of dollars and forces Richard to work in a 5 x 5 box.
I will, of course, be commenting on the rest of this discussion when I return from dropping my son off at school. That just really burns me up and had to say so immediately. unbelievable!!
Though I do still find it a bit much that you feel you deserve sleep and the weekends off Richard:)
TheBrewsNewsOn 08.26.2008 at 7:47 am Said:
It would be nice if the “can I say it in front of my child” rule were the standard by which all eBay members used to communicate. Some of the emails I get from buyers / potential buyers are just downright filthy and/or abusive.
Once I was listening to my voicemail on the speakerphone, with my kids in the room, and a buyer let loose a string of expletives because his item had not arrived within 2 days from the date of purchase (never mind that he paid for standard shipping and didn’t communicate in advance his “need” to have his collectible item arrive via express mail) and I tripped over my chair trying to get to the phone to stop the message. That was 3 years ago and my (now) 8-year old still remembers that day and brings it up sometimes. That was the last time I listened to voicemail on the speakerphone.
TheBrewsNewsOn 08.26.2008 at 8:45 am Said:
@Richard
You advertised your cubicle as:
Dimensions: 5 x 5
Color of Walls: White (implied)
Furniture included: 1 Desk and 1 Chain
Comparison cubicle: Donahoe
However, in actuality your cubicle is:
Dimensions: 5.002 x 5.0015 (actual)
Color of Walls: Eggshell White
Furniture included: 1 Desk and 1 Chain (undescribed)
Comparison cubicle: Donahoe (I have never seen his)
Note that no measurements or colors were provided for the furniture and because I have not seen Donahoe’s cubicle I must express my disappointment in the comparison.
Because you seem sincere, I doubt you intended to deceive us with your incomplete and inaccurate description so I will not file a SNAD formally.
However, I cannot in good conscience leave you anything greater than a “3″ rating on the “Item as Described” … unless, of course, you were willing to consider a partial “word” refund of the some of the “editing” you have done recently to the comments left.
Note that this request of mine does NOT consititute feedback extortion per eBay’s definition so I am well within my rights as a reader to make that request.
Thank you for your consideration.
JamieOn 08.26.2008 at 8:45 am Said:
Hi Dakota,
Wow that’s a lot you replied with. Forgive me if I only try to address some of the points raised whilst Richard no doubt sits back and sips another cocktail.
eBay haven’t stolen any profits. Fees are clearly stated on the site and a seller lists and sells an item with all that information to hand. If you think the percentage that eBay takes is too high (and in certain categories I am inclined to agree) then simple, stop listing items. To call this theft is simply name calling rather than accurate.
As for rubbing it in? I am guessing you are penning your replies on a MAC or a PC? Ever seen the Microsoft or Apple Inc offices? Like any successful business they have smart offices that appeal to would-be employees. Where is the harm in that? These companies also send their staff (not all of them) aboard from time to time to meet clients, to work with colleagues.
God help any PowerSeller that flies to China to source more stock, takes a few snaps and sticks them on Flickr! Does he justify that cost to his buyers?
HenriettaOn 08.26.2008 at 9:04 am Said:
Oh dear.Mechelle!
Dabbing tea off my keyboard with Q-tips is not fun.
Personally I have no problem whatsoever with RBH being sent to teach far flung outposts of the Empire how to communicate.
While he has not been able to wave a wand like a fairy godfather and fix the Empire, he has succeeded in shining a light into some very dark corners.
I may not be pro-eBay any more but I am very pro RBH.
On the subject of expense lets get real. The Dowager Queen is getting paid over $600,000 a year excluding stock options & bonuses and she is the one who started all this mess. You could keep RBH on the road for a year for that!
Patricia1On 08.26.2008 at 9:11 am Said:
Richard may have to work in a corner…but let’s not push him into one His job can’t be easy.
DakotaOn 08.26.2008 at 9:42 am Said:
One of the purposes of this blog that caught my eye and interest was to give us answers.
Well, as is evidenced throughout this blog, answers are few and far between and a lot of times, incomplete.
While not pushing anyone in a corner or being unreal about expenses as everything I have said is true, to at least get what we were told we would get would be nice. But like all things dealing with this company, we can not have expectations of a good follow through.
Richard can only do as much as the company allows him and the company should not have started it if they did not plan to let Richard have the necessary info to complete his mission.
Who really cares about all of the big buildings and what not when we do not have a good working space for our stores that is reasonably priced, operates properly and consistently and isn’t under threat much of the time.
MechelleOn 08.26.2008 at 10:14 am Said:
@Richard
“Obviously my grasp of dimensions is wrong. I don’t find it confining at all. It’s pretty spacious as cubes go to be honest.”
Frankly, I don’t believe you - I just hope it isn’t capped with the dimensions being 5 x 5 x 5. As far as John Donahoe - he belongs in a 5 x 5 jail cell, but I seriously doubt he works in a 5 x 5 cubicle!
@vzaar Jamie
It’s eBay Inc’s. The corporation that charges users a fee for using it, uses those fees to market their service and your product to the world.
What an imagination you have- eBay does not market my products to the world- eBay spends its time telling the world that I am a scamming crook. If that is eBay’s idea of marketing my products for me - please stop!
In return you get a nice environment conducive to work, lower rates of employee attrition (which comes at a greater cost over time) and a sense of pride in the brand. I see no harm in that.
How do lower attrition rates come at a greater cost over time? Do you even know what lower attrition rates in regard to employees is referring to? Brush up on the concepts before you write them for public reading you have only contributed to eBay’s growing reputation of incompetence.
As for the fees we pay- yes it is eBay’s money to do with what they would like, and apparently one of those choices is to treat Richard like a red headed step child by making him work in a box and yes that is most certainly frugal! However, the point I believe Dakota was communicating is eBay continues to increase our fees yet fails to provide any additional services and in fact is degrading the value of what we had by entirely removing tools that we subscribed to such as marketplace research. It hardly seems ethical to charge more fees while providing less and less services and tools. eBay’s actions are analogous to the cable company calling to inform you they are increasing your fees by 30%, but taking away your premium channels. I seriously doubt you would be cheering such a business practice if you were on the losing end of the deal.
With all of eBay’s new policies and fees the selling members of eBay’s marketplace are look more and more like slaves in a sweat shop and are treated as such. Glad to hear you have pride in the Brand- if I were you I would be ashamed to both feel that and write it out publicly. Well, at least you fit in well with the eBay culture!
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