Discussion with eBay Country Manager at 11:30 ET Thursday, July 7

[carly@ebay.com]

Please join us here today, from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM ET for a general discussion and question and answer session with Jordan, the eBay.ca Country Manager. Jordan will be here on behalf of the eBay.ca team to answer any questions you have about eBay.

Regards,
Carly

[eserafini]

Hi Jordan,

Congratulations on your new appointment!!! I have heard that you have been with eBay.CA for a few years and that you are well versed on eBay.CA needs.

1- Considering that Bill Cobb is President of eBay North America, how is the "fit" happening with North American Country managers?

Bill Cobb's priorities are for 2005:
"What do you see as your top priorities for eBay in 2005?
That one is easy! I have six priorities:

1. Improving natural search so that more of our sellers' listings are discovered by potential buyers via Internet search engines;
2. Growing the Business & Industrial category, which I believe still has a lot of untapped potential;
3. Expanding the eBay Motors marketplace;
4. Continuing to add value to eBay Stores;
5. Developing tools and programs to make shipping easier;
6. And for the longer term, improving the finding experience on eBay."

2- What is your assessment of where eBay.CA stands at present and of where it is going?

3- What will your priorities be to make eBay.CA a more "vibrant" marketplace?

4- When will eBay.CA include Québec in eBay.CA on The Road?

5- Can we expect that Canada Post and carriers like FEDEX, UPS and DHL will soon be integrated in My eBay in the near future?

6- Will eBay.CA work closely with Canada Post and carriers (wishful thinking) to obtain better shipping rates for eBay.CA sellers?

7- Will it be possible to charge Canadian taxes when applicable through My eBay?

8- Can we also expect an easier flow through between .COM and .CA when auctions are listed on .COM, the buyer is Canadian and taxes and shipping needs to be addressed?

9- RE: on eBay.COM
"***New Policy for Home Page Featured Listings***
June 28, 2005 | 04:16PM PST/PT

Last week at eBay Live! 2005, Bill Cobb, President of eBay North America, announced a new policy for listings featured on eBay's home page using the Home Page Featured listing upgrade. Due to their high visibility, we want to make sure that listings being promoted on the home page maintain the credibility of the marketplace and do not harm the eBay brand. Effective immediately, eBay reserves the right to remove any Home Page Featured listing that we determine at our discretion may hurt the credibility of the marketplace or harm the eBay brand, even if the listing otherwise complies with eBay policy. Specific prohibitions include listings that make certain claims about health, body, weight or beauty products (such as weight loss products that make specific claims, breast enlargement supplements, etc.). For more information on the types of listings that are not eligible for Home Page Featured upgrades, please visit the Home Page Featured Policy page.

Question: When will eBay.CA do the same?

10- Will you hold these talks with eBay.CA members on a regular basis?

11- Will improvements be made to the Canadian PS Program so that benefits become similar to the US PS program?

12- Will there be a time when International eBayers can gain access to the eBay Shop and it's PS items and of course at reasonable shipping rates? Will it be possible to purchase eBay.CA items?

Sorry... I have lots of questions 🙂

Elaine TimelessClassicElegance

[neatstuffkp]

Elaine! Excellent Questions.

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And in the end; the love you take - is equal to; the love you make!

[eserafini]

I have another...

Would it be possible to post pictures of yourself and of some of the ebay.CA staff we interact with the most, like what is being done on .com? it helps to put a name with a face :) TimelessClassicElegance

[jordanb@ebay.com]

Thanks for the questions eserafini.

Let me start off by saying how excited I am to be in my new role as Managing Director. I have indeed been at eBay for a while and have loved every minute of it!

OK...now to my thoughts on #1....Given the naturally close relationship that Canada and the US share in the business world, the fit between the CDN business and the US business on eBay is a total natural.

As I'm sure you know, cross border trade is becoming more and more prevalent on eBay (now accounts for about 15% of eBay's total sales) and CDNs are leading the way primarily with our neighbours to the south.

Just like off eBay, on eBay, we are each other's largest trading partners.

I'll answer some other questions and then try to get back to some of yours as they are terrific.

[neatstuffkp]

Hello Jordan: congratulations!

I'll just sit back and wait for the answers to Elaine's excellent set of questions.

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And in the end; the love you take - is equal to; the love you make!

[jordanb@ebay.com]

OK...let's chat about your #2 eserafini

Our number one priority for eBay Canada is to ensure a terrific user experience for CDNs on eBay regardless of which site they decide to visit and/or transact. The one key thing to keep in mind is that we are not solely focused on eBay.ca but rather we are focused (and obsessed!) on ensuring CDNs enjoy eBay everywhere.

There is still lots to do in this regard but we are making good progress....things like "North Americanizing" the CDN Motors offering, making the CDN Stores' proposition more global in nature, adding more PayPal services etc

[eserafini]

When such talks occur, would it be possible for us to be informed ahead a bit more so that more users can attend? I posted the info earlier on the Canadian PS Board since they had not been informed. TimelessClassicElegance

[eserafini]

Adding more PayPal services is obviously a very good start that many Canadians will approve of. TimelessClassicElegance

[jordanb@ebay.com]

OK...let's chat about your #3 eserafini....we are on a roll!

We are doing lots to make CDNs enjoy a more vibrant marketplace.

First and foremost we are really focused on driving more demand to CDN listings. We do this through a bunch of different ways including Internet Marketing relationships we have w/ CDA's biggest portals, relationships we have with the largest search engines like Google and Overture, promotions we run on the site to incent good bidding activity as well as all the wonderful things our PR group does to highlight the amazing community we have here in CDA. Bottom line for us is that the more CDNs we have bidding on your items the better.

We also work closely with our colleagues in the US to try and ensure our US users are bidding on your items as well. We are actually making good progress in that regard but the strength of the CDN$ is certainly not helping our sellers.

[eserafini]

Re advertizing, I see no advertizing in Québec either on TV or in newpapers regarding ebay.Ca, could this be improved?

Can we get help from eBay in the advertizing that we do regarding our auctions or services? What form of advertizing can eBay.ca help .ca sellers with? TimelessClassicElegance

[jordanb@ebay.com]

#4 eserafini....dates for the rest of the On The Road tour for 2005 have yet to be confirmed so stay tuned

#5.....I absolutely love what they have done in the US w/ integrated shipping. Makes a ton of sense and we are talking to CDA Post about lots of different things to make the lives of CDN sellers easier and more profitable. Be sure to visit the CDA Post workshop today on CTS at 1pm ET

[eserafini]

Our positioning on Google has not been the best in the last weeks, do you think that Google has a hidden agenda?

Our stores and auctions primary pages have rated below our secondary pages. While it has improved slightly in the last few days... we have a way to go... TimelessClassicElegance

[neatstuffkp]

Jordan; I agree, the integrated shipping on .com is excellent.

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And in the end; the love you take - is equal to; the love you make!

[jordanb@ebay.com]

#6-9 eserafini are excellent thoughts/questions...rest assured we are working on each of them diligently and will let you know as soon as we have something to report. No doubt, all of these are really important to the community and we are proceeding accordingly.

[eserafini]

Do you know if the 2 Canada Post reps present at the eBay Live Canadian Breakfast attended the session where USPS and eBay announced the recent improvements to the services of USPS? you think it will rub off on them? TimelessClassicElegance

[jordanb@ebay.com]

Lucky #10 eserafini...I am absolutely committed to being on the Boards at a pre-determined time at a minimum of once every 2 weeks.

[eserafini]

Great re 4, 6 to 9.

I agree with 5 :) TimelessClassicElegance

[jordanb@ebay.com]

eserafini...#11 and 12 are things I am going to have to look into for you and I promise to get back to you with a progress report as soon as possible

[eserafini]

# 10 That's great Jordan. I hope with more advance notice so more can attend and we have a better chance to prepare :) TimelessClassicElegance