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Mark Lewis is leaving eBay, having been with eBay since 2004 he was appointed eBay UK Managing Director in January 2008 when outgoing MD Doug McCallum became Senior Vice President, Europe. Speaking of his time at eBay Mark says he’s “immensely proud of what we’ve achieved as a team over recent years” but that he’s “made the tough decision that now is the right time to take up a new challenge outside of eBay and I am looking forward to deciding what that may be”.

Speaking of Mark, Doug said “Under Mark’s leadership, the eBay business has performed strongly. The UK business has maintained its position as the number one e-commerce site, with the number of items bought on the site up by almost 20% year on year”. Doug went on to add “I am personally very sorry to see Mark leave the company he has led with such commitment, but I understand completely his reasons for seeking out a new challenge”.

Mark will be replaced by Clare Gilmartin who returns from maternity leave to become EU Marketplaces Vice President. Clare has been with eBay for six years and has previously held a role with similar responsibility across the UK and German eBay sites.

We wish Mark good luck in his next role and look forward to the future with Clare at the helm.

CLD

Last week, Chris asked if the cheap listing day on 10th March would be the last one on eBay.com. Today, we have the answer: no.

On March 16th, sellers listing auctions on eBay.com, eBay.ca and eBay Motors will save 50% on insertion fees regardless of start price. Sellers will need to have DSRs of 4.5 or higher to qualify. Other fees apply as normal. There are exclusions so please read the small print before you list.

If you sell on auction style listings in the US then today’s a good day to save some money on fees. eBay.com are holding a one day 50% off insertion fee promotion today (11th March).

As with previous promotions you’ll need to have 12 month Detailed Seller Rating of 4.5 or higher on all criteria, or be a new seller yet to have received the minimum 10 DSRs needed for the stars to display.

There are a few restricted categories including Motors and some business and industrial subcategories so check before you list.

eBay France and eBay Germany have both announced free listing days for private sellers for later this week following the eBay UK one we already know about.

eBay France has a one-day promotion on 18th February. Private sellers will be charged no insertion fees for auction listings regardless of start price: you’ll need to be French-resident to qualify.

eBay Germany has two days of free listings: the 18th and 19th of February. Again, private sellers can list auctions with no insertion fee: you’ll need to have a German address and be registered on eBay.de to qualify.

On Thursday 18th and Friday 19th February, private sellers will be able to list auctions on eBay UK with no insertion fees. All other normal fees will still apply. There is, of course, small print; the usual category exclusions apply, and sellers will need to list using the Sell Your Item form; items listed with tools such as Turbo Lister and SMP are excluded. Page has been amended now to remove prohibition of listing tools.

Thanks to the lovely Magnum Opus for the link.

Site Changes

eBay UK has announced that from 17th March, all fixed price listings will show “seller merchandising” on the live listings pages; in practice, this means cross-promoted items from other sellers.

Sellers may (at the moment) opt out of this programme: if you opt out, you will neither have other sellers’ cross promos shown on your listings, nor have the opportunity to appear in cross promos yourself. This one is all or nothing.

The roll-out follows a test begun in January which added cross-promotions to the bottom of some live listings. The new announcement doesn’t specify where exactly on the listing the other items are to be displayed (if anyone sees it, please leave us a comment), but it does clarify that cross-promoted listings will be from the same category: previously, they were just “relevant”.

It’s a tough call: do you opt out and miss out on the extra promotion, or stay in and deal with the extra competition? It would be helpful to know exactly how eBay are choosing the listings that get cross-promoted: does everyone have an even chance? do sellers with more listings appear more often in cross-promotions? is it limited to TRS? We just don’t know. And eBay, of course, aren’t saying.

Selling Tips

It’s cold in the warehouse and cold fingers don’t make for accurate typing. In my defense I’d like to point out that “W” and “S” are very close together on the keyboard and that it’s a lovely White shirt….