eBay Names Alum Ashley Lawrence As New GM Canada
Summary: valueaddedresource shares the news that eBay has appointed Ashley Lawrence as the new General Manager for their Canadian site. Lawrence is an alum of eBay and has held various leadership roles within the company prior to this appointment. valueaddedresource suggests that it would be beneficial for the community if Lawrence introduced herself through a post or participated in a live chat to engage with Canadian sellers, allowing them to ask questions and provide feedback.
After almost a year without dedicated leadership for the Canadian site, eBay has finally named a new General Manager for Canada, bringing back alum Ashley Lawrence who previously held various leadership positions at eBay across Analytics, Finance, and Strategy from 2007-2021 as well as serving as Finance Director of Classifieds and CFO of Kijiji Canada, which was sold to Adevinta when eBay divested their classifieds business in 2021.
@devon@ebay - it would be great to see an introduction post from Ashley here in the community (bonus points if it's left open for comments, not locked 😉) or even better, a live chat session where Canadian sellers can get to know their new GM, ask questions and provide feedback.
intimewithmusic
·4 months agoHi @valueaddedresource
It's been a month of silence... How about an update on your post? Since the fan fare and hoopla there's been dead air. EIS is broken. Selling to the USA is a bust.
Is this guy sincerely doing anything tohelp Canadian sellers or is he just another administrative ghost?
Thank you!
-------------------------------------
" the expansion of eBay International Shipping (eIS) in Canada is making it easier than ever for Canadian sellers to reach global buyers."
"eBay Canada today announced the appointment of Ashley Lawrence as General Manager of eBay’s marketplace business in Canada. His joining comes at a moment of strong momentum for the business, as innovation, live commerce, and cross-border trade unlock new growth opportunities for Canadian buyers and sellers."
Lawrence shared his excitement
“It’s great to be back, eBay has always been a place I’m passionate about—personally and professionally—and it feels like home. Alongside our talented leadership team, I’m confident we can accelerate growth, strengthen how we serve Canadians and their communities, and continue building an environment where our people can do their best work.”
"On the opportunity ahead Lawrence noted, “Canada is home to one of the most vibrant, diverse, and entrepreneurial communities in the world. From coast to coast to coast, sellers are building businesses, collectors are discovering rare finds, and buyers are connecting with products and passions that matter to them. We’re in a unique position to foster growth of something truly special here in Canada—
now is our moment.”
?
marnotom!
·4 months agoI don't think there's been anything to do with Canada that's been posted on their website since the GM announcement, but I find the site's search engine a bit awkward, so I might have missed something.
But you may find some additional information contained in their report on the GM announcement to be interesting.
valueaddedresource
OP5 months ago@intimewithmusic totally get where you're coming from and have a similar perspective from my experience here in the US too.
I grew up in a small rural town in Oregon that is nestled in a mountain basin region where the next closest town is 60-100 miles away in any direction with some ranches and farms on the edge of town and then nothing but mountains and forest in between.
At the risk of giving away my age, when I was a kid (before we had this internet thing 😂 ) back to school shopping was a full day affair that required a 2 hour drive one way through the mountains to get to "the city" (population ~50,000) that had a mall and then another 2 hours back home.
People I've talked to who've never experienced a place like that really just can't fathom what it's like. Add on all the additional challenges with cross border trade and I can definitely see how the current Canada EIS set up is not ideal or maybe even feasible for sellers in some areas.
intimewithmusic
·5 months agoMy childhood was similar. I'm older than dirt. I started this in '69 setting up instruments for a music store. I spent all my earnings buying stuff from that store. Nothing has changed on eBay. Just gotta have those L Frank Baum books.
I grew up in a town in the Kootenays of 9,950. It's still the same size. It has a lot in common with Oregon so I spent a lot of time on their coast. As an eBay seller I found my home town was jam packed with items in high demand here on the platform. Ironically one thing I sold made it's way back to the museum in my home town. For those who are not yet old wait until they start putting things you used as a kid in a museum...
This is relative and on topic. Canada is a treasure trove of unique goodies that if, accessible could find their way onto eBay. Most of them are not on the 49th. For example a friend's cousin is a trapper living in a semi remote area. In his spare time he's a carver. I haven't seen his work but my buddy raved about it. He showed me a photo. It's not my niche so I didn't persue it. I'm sure lots of sellers have encountered amazing products just slightly out of reach.
Another phenomena going on Canada wide is the passing of the "boomers". There's no shortage of estate sale items to list. It should really be a good time for eBay.
valueaddedresource
OP5 months ago@intimewithmusic completely agree, but I do believe it's Mr. Lawrence from looking at the press release. 😉
intimewithmusic
·5 months agoLOL. @valueaddedresource My appologies to him for the mix up. I noticed that too after the post but it was too late to edit the gender swap!
intimewithmusic
·5 months ago@valueaddedresource
One last comment about Mr. Lawrence and I'll get out of your hair...
His mandate:
"What is the key takeaway from this appointment?
eBay Canada is appointing Ashley Lawrence as General Manager to accelerate innovation and growth. eBay Canada is focusing on eBay Live and eBay International Shipping (eIS) to drive engagement and cross-border trade. Stronger leadership combined with innovation and international shipping expansion is expected to increase growth for Canadian buyers and sellers. Ashley Lawrence’s joining strengthens eBay Canada at a time of strategic emphasis on the Canadian market."
...........................................
Because of your post I just opted back in to eBay's International Shipping Program. Two of the reasons I opted out after trying it were the excess cost of shipping eBay passes on to the buyer which approximately doubles it from Canada Post standards and that makes Canadian sellers uncompetitive with US sellers.
The other reason is the greatly extended shipping time for Canucks who are outside the GTO to forward our widgets the extra 4,350 KM from British Columbia to eBay's hub in Mississagua for processing. When they are done processing (can be 3 to 6 days) they forward the widgets to the buyer who is often often back on the US west coast. I was seeing an average time for a USA delivery of 21 days. Not exactly "Prime". Is 21 days for a short "as the crow flies trip" acceptable? Is the cost and this extended delivery time a good buyer experience?
Hopefully Mr. Lawrence can improve upon those two issues. If he can Canadians outside the greater Toronto area may actually be able to compete again with sellers using USPS and media mail putting us back on the map. (pun intended).
Thanks for all you do. I love your website!
ITWM
rdemaree
·5 months agoUsing EIS while living in a remote town in Canada must be absolutely brutal. Unless you’re selling very hard to find items I can only imagine you’re priced out of the market and relegated to Sunday seller status.
Here’s to hoping trump gets swamped in the midterms and better days are ahead!
I’ll be voting absentee for Ohio! Hoping Ohio can go blue again.
intimewithmusic
·5 months ago@rdemaree
@valueaddedresource
Thank you both for contributing your view points and the info on eBay's new office and fresh look at Canada!
It's interesting to read eBay's comments about it's 2026 commitment after reading the 2009 Vancouver Sun article I submitted below in this post about leaving 700 Canadians unemployed for lack of revenue. I urge others to read that Sun article. I can't say "I'm from Missouri" because my family is from Iowa. I can say this" "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me". Thank you for that George Bush!
When decisions are made by corporations, both domestic ones and otherwise, they should start by taking a moment to look at a map of Canada. At best cities of less than 500,000 have a dropoff location for netParcel. Just getting to it could take hours. They should consider what many Canadians feel about carbon, their access to drop off locations and possibly plan for more than one processing location.
I understand companies profit from the 85% of Canadians who live near the 49th or in capital cities. Unfortunately it limits opportunities for the rest of Canada as you properly pointed out. I hope this changes.
People are realizing life is more manageable in places like Kelowna and other central locations. The other side of that is the influx of Vancouverites moving here has driven the housing prices up to the point our younger folks are moving to Alberta where it's more affordable. We are spreading out.
With respect to selling online from places like this almost all of the sellers I know or come into contact with do not sell on eBay. Dan Hurd Prospecting and Vinyl Pursuit are two I recently came into contact with however we have hundreds of entrepreneurs here in Kelowna. A few have gone with Etsy or Amazon but the serious, more full time sellers I ask are self marketting using Shopify. As technology progresses social media's business capabilites are morphing and couriers are becoming more competitive. These are all the elements eBay built into EIS to create it's own profitable "side hustle" but are they sustainable when it delivers a Bad Buyer Experience? One of the main reasons Canadian entrepreneurs go on their own is because Canadians want their customers to receive value and to feel special. Canadian entrepeneurs call their customers "customers", not "buyers". You have to treat a customer right if you want to see them again or at least, to get that juicy feedback.
As the customer I buy eBay items via EIS. It's more than double normal shipping costs. Example I received yesterday: 70 gram magazine. 22 days to delivery. Shippping Cost (tariff free) $20.96cad. See PHOTO
The Seller shipped USPS lettermail from Wisconsin south to the Missouri hub. Moved by DHL from Missouri hub north to Mississaugua hub. Transferred to CP Express Parcel moving east from Mississaugua to Richmond. Final leg from Richmond west to Kelowna via Canada Post. Time in transit 3 weeks. Scanned more than once per day on average. I left the seller positive feedback because I know whereas most Canadian customers would think "Wow! Too much.. too long." @rdemaree is absolutely right. This is what our EIS American customers will be thinking.
I'm happy to give it another go with hopes the new administration in the new Toronto office can make it better. eBay can't expect EIS to work in Canada unless they make it a Better Buyer experience. It will require modern acceptable delivery times. Shipping rates don't need to equal USPS but they can't remain at double or triple USPS. I would hope the first thing they hang up in that new Toronto office is a Canadian made map of Canada.
I appologize for the wordiness. Online selling is all of the sudden twice as difficult as last summer all the while bearing the brunt of higher selling fees. This isn't a complaint about eBay. It's an observation or one person's opinion and comparison of EIS since 2022 and it's employment in Canada. There is value in it's features but if it works for Canada ALL Canadian sellers, regardless of ship-from locations, should be selling as much or more than we did last summer.
valueaddedresource
OP5 months agoThanks for the kind words @intimewithmusic and you're not in my hair at all. 😊
Also just noticed a few posts on LinkedIn indicating in addition to new leadership, eBay Canada also has a new office - still in Toronto but looks to be a step up from that WeWork building at least, described as a "beautiful space on the lake downtown."
lotzofuniquegoodies
·5 months ago@intimewithmusic
@valueaddedresource
@rdemaree
3 of my 5 eIS shipments to date were sent letter. Why. Because that is the option the buyer defaults to for anything smallish that can be sent letter for Canadian mail. Each one arrived at hub and was scanned into the system...minimum 12 days to be processed. Each one shows under USA as late according to eBay standards. According to a back and forth back in Nov between Luke and Mandicrafts as per this observation the lates WOULD be removed. (Totally out of sellers control.) To date no sign of mine being removed. If I check my letter mail within Canada of approx 20 in the last year (No tracking - Zippo were late.) So a lot of talk. Not much action. The added transit time/additional cost for some Canadian sellers will do little for US customers to commit to purchase UNLESS cost/time are NOT critical. Canada is just very low on the priority list. for making actual improvements. It will be wait and see if MR Lawrence can actually make a visible difference or it is just lip service.
Addendum:
Meant to include this but was my main concern when I spoke to eIS back in early October 2025 as part of the first batch of Canadians they were asking for input. I was advised valid concern and it would be addressed. In attempting to follow up all you get is the chirps of crickets.
intimewithmusic
·5 months ago@lotzofuniquegoodies
You are right about not having control over a customer's experience. I get an uneasy feeling when I ship EIS. I always send the customer a positive msg thru eBay when I print the label to the hub. Then I envision the package on a boat sinking to the bottom of Lake Ontario..
"Good news from InTimeWithMusic
It's on it's way!
Your order is very important to me. It has been properly packed & shipped out to you via Canada Post. I hope you find the packaging to be professional. I appreciate your support!"
After that all you can do is hope they are satisfied. There have been seller posts about a huge reduction in feedback. I attribute that to folks who, if they don't have anything nice to say, say nothing.
At the end of the day eBay's own parameters so customers can grade their Buying Experience are there for eBay to live up to.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·5 months agoRegarding those parameters.....Is ebay being held hostage by them. Most likely not. The only 2 sellers can truly control are Accurate Description and Communication. And do we know how long ebay's hub processing time really is? Believe that is a secret we will never know just like does anyone answer the door when a driver rings bell?
intimewithmusic
·5 months ago@lotzofuniquegoodies
"The only 2 sellers can truly control are Accurate Description and Communication. "
Thank you for your POV. You're right saying the seller controls Descriptions. I agree. Not so much with "Communication".
Communication is another story. Once an order is paid we were at liberty to msg or telephone the customer with accurate tracking and packaging details. As shown in my photo below the maps of an EIS shipment you can see EIS modifies or tampers with the packaging. You can't explain to your customer how the item IS packaged, only how it WAS packaged. Due to overhandling this example shipment went through about 30-35 scan points with unexplained voids. It was re-labelled 3 times. Each time carried the potential for a re-labelling error.
Yes, we can still communicate with the buyer however what are we going to tell them? Communication is judged by the quality of the information we provide to the buyer. If we say, "I don't know where it is" or, "I don't know what kind of packing it's in so you can ID it from your doorbell cam" at that point "Communication" becomes a negative feedback waiting to happen.
Providing the seller ships on time eBay must accept responsibility for "Shipping Speed" and for "Reasonable Shipping Cost". These two parameters should be removed from seller feedback if the sale is EIS. If a seller ships on time no defect should be applied for late delivery.
valueaddedresource
OP5 months ago@intimewithmusic unfortunately, it seems like the GM Canada position is often a stepping stone to other roles within the company - Andrea stairs has moved to several different positions since her time as GM, Rob Bigler was tapped for CEO at TCGPlayer when eBay acquired them, and Garry Thaniel was GM Sneakers in the US then moved to Canada and then moved back to US to lead Fashion in May 2025 and there hasn't been dedicated Canada leadership since.
I'm hoping maybe the fact that eBay hired someone external (even if they are a return alum) rather than another internal shuffle might mean that this time they really are there to lead/build up the Canadian site rather than just biding time to make another internal move.
I'm US-based, but have thought for a long time that eBay is really missing an opportunity by not investing more into the Canadian market.
intimewithmusic
·5 months agoEbay's Canadian committment has long been a topic of discussion. I hope your optimism is followed by actions. Most of us have become used to finding our way in the dark, not by choice but necessity. We would appreciate country wide support. As you say the potential is here however eBay itself dilutes it by allowing sellers to choose to list on dot com or dot ca or both. Either way the revenue goes to San Jose.
We came from here in 2009; VANCOUVER SUN
eBay to close Burnaby facility; about 700 jobs lost
E-commerce giant eBay is closing its Metro Vancouver customer-service office and cutting about
700 jobs as it consolidates customer-service operations in Salt Lake City, Utah, the company
announced late Tuesday.
Derrick Penner
Published May 04, 2009 • Last updated May 06, 2009 • 2 minute read
E-commerce giant eBay is closing its Metro Vancouver customer-service office and cutting about 700 jobs as it consolidates customer-service operations in Salt Lake City, Utah, the company announced late Tuesday.
The office, located in Burnaby, will be closed by Sept. 30 as the company tries to “capture efficiencies” and expand its customer support efforts. A company spokesman said the move was not a cost-cutting measure, though eBay has seen its profits flag over recent months due to currency-exchange losses and lower sales.
“The focus of this initiative is exclusively on enhancing the customer experience,” spokesman John Pluhowski said in an interview.
“It is not a function of the economy, it is not a function of company performance.”
When eBay opened the 70,000-square-foot centre in 2003, it lauded the Lower Mainland’s attributes to serve what was a burgeoning online marketplace.
Meg Whitman, eBay’s CEO at the time the centre opened, said eBay picked Burnaby out of 100 possible sites because of the region’s skilled and educated workforce and its quality of life.
“We’re excited about Burnaby,” Whitman said during an August 2003 visit to the Willingdon centre, “we couldn’t be happier coming here.” On Tuesday, Pluhowski said the company hopes consolidating operations in Salt Lake City will improve communications and decision-making among a more centralized management team.
EBay will add to its approximately 900-person workforce in Salt Lake City as part of the process that will see the Burnaby facility phased out of operation and closed this fall. The approximately 700 departing employees will receive a “comprehensive severance package,” and outplacement services to help them find new work. Those unable to find new work will join B.C.’s growing ranks of unemployed, which stood at 7.4 per cent of the workforce at the end of March, according to the Statistics Canada labour force survey.
EBay has also had its struggles with a tougher economy, having reported lower profits on slower sales, mostly from its online selling services. The company reported a $357-million US profit in the first quarter of 2009, which represented a 22-per-cent decline from the $460-million profit it earned in the same quarter a year ago. In its financial results, eBay said its Marketplaces division, which includes the core eBay auction services, Shopping.com, StubHub and the online classified service Kijiji, saw revenues drop 18 per cent in the first quarter to $1.22 billion US.
“The revenue drop was attributable to the impact of the strengthening dollar and the decline of the core business in difficult macroeconomic conditions,” the company said when it released its financial results in April.
EBay, which also owns the online payment service PayPal and Internet phone service Skype, said it delivered solid results in difficult times. “With a macroeconomic environment that remains challenging, we are focused on operating discipline and strong execution of our three-year growth priorities in our core e-commerce and online payments business,” eBay CEO John Donahoe said in releasing the firm’s first quarter results.
.............................................
Now we are here: 2026 "WE WORK" Temp Office Building Toronto
Ms. Lawrence has a lot of territory to reclaim 🤔
intimewithmusic
·5 months agoIf eBay Canada expressed ANY interest it would be nice, particularliy if sellers outside the GTA were acknowledged.
I'm not getting any hopes up however. These fine people never reached out at all to my knowledge. The only cross country support I recollect from them came from Andrea Stairs in 2018 when she went to bat against Ottawa due to that postal strike.
"eBay Canada leadership
While not part of a formal board, the following individuals have been noted in company
registrations and news as holding senior leadership roles for eBay Canada:
Garry Thaniel: Current General Manager for eBay Canada, appointed in 2023.
Robert Bigler: Served as General Manager from 2022 to 2023.
Andrea Stairs: Served as Managing Director for Canada and has held other senior
roles within the company."