Day 2 eBay Open

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

There are actually two Keynotes today, one at 12 noon and one at 2 PM. Also, ebay stores is a topic at 1 PM. At 1:30 they will be doing a Demo of ebay "Live" the livestreaming feature ebay has been experimenting with....whether there will be an Announcement about availability for the general seller community, or just a demo, remains to be seen. Full agenda can be seen on the ebay Open page.

I'm expecting some follow up to yesterday's hints about changes to how international returns are handled and about immediate payments with offers. Of course, there could be other stuff as well, but those are the two topics they hinted at yesterday.

I know many either can't make it to ebay Open, or simply don't want to bother, but I'm sure a recap will be available here: valueaddedresource.net

And of course, I'm sure if we have time some of us attendees will try to post highlights (if any---LOL) on this Board.

[tsme35]

I thought ebay was releasing fall updates yesterday but haven't heard anything,

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@tsme35  No. Not sure where you got that information?

What ebay has said previously, in response to my questions during Monthly Chat, was that some of the Updates coming in the Fall Update would be included in ebay Open (not necessarily Day 1), but that the full Fall Seller Update would be released as a formal announcement after ebay Open (I'm guessing next week sometime).

Yesterday ebay did announce that they will be increasing the free listing photo allotment from 12 to 24. We posted about that here. This will go active sometime during the "November time frame". As I mentioned above, they hinted at a few other things as well, but nothing very definite.

If you want reliable information, I recommend valueaddedresource.net

[tsme35]

Griff let it slip last week on their podcast, was posted on eCommerce.com, which has been pretty reliable,  did see comments about the 12 to 24 pictures

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Well, as I said, I think we'll see more today. I'm not sure about tomorrow, since a lot of the sessions are replays, but maybe they'll hold something back to announce at the very end, who knows. (I kind of doubt it, but with ebay.....one just never knows LOL)

I'm certainly happy with the doubling of the photo count, that is actual good news, but , for me at least, it certainly isn't any kind of big game changer. But better a little good news than all bad news....

[tsme35]

Very true, not much help for me either but hope they don't save the worse for last lol

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@tsme35   I'm guessing they're saving the worst for the formal Fall Update Announcement next week. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

If you aren't interested in attending the presentations, or want some where to go between them, I recommend the "Expo".....ebay team members (and some 3rd party providers, such as SixBit, have people available to answer questions are available to answer questions in chat format. Of course, you might not get the answer you'd like, but this is a rare opportunity to at least try and get answers to questions about things like the new listing form, Promoted Listings, etc. (I also recommend taking screen shots of the answers to your questions, as they don't archive these)

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I had a very slight hope that ebay might be announcing at least a beta test for the Social media Referral FVF Discount, but Stores Team has confirmed that , while they've been working on it in Australia and the US, there are a number of things that they've got to do before it will go live. So, no timeline, but definitely not in time for Q4 this year. 

Stores team also confirmed that they are working on providing traffic data for store homepages, etc. No timeline...but at least they are working on it.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

They've been working on the Livestream format, and I gather it is available to at least some trading card sellers, and they'll be expanding that "soon".

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

If I understood correctly, they will be expanding  "immediate payment" to more buyers accepting offers ....AFTER the Holidays. 

Sigh.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Shipping team has stated that they are working on expanding the categories eligible for ebay standard envelope....but it looks like there probably won't be any expansion until some time in 2023.

[valueaddedresource]

I'm just kind of dumbfounded to be honest - almost everything they're talking about was first introduced at least 6 months - a year+ ago, has been on slow rollout ever since, and the only thing they have to say is they are working on expanding those things to more sellers in the next year?!

The new international shipping thing sounds like it could have some positives but they are giving a 12 month timeframe on that one so - "coming soon".

And yet every earnings call, Jamie tells investors he's happy with the pace of innovation. 😩

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@valueaddedresource 

I just saw the answer to your question about ebay "store" ads....I think it is safe to say whatever that new feature may be, it isn't likely to be live before 2023.

Like you, I'm kind of amazed at how little "new" stuff will be available for Q4. It basically sounds like the photo upgrade is coming sometime in Q4, and some percentage of sellers will have the new International Shipping program available before next year...but....unless they are keeping the best for last, I think they basically have nothing else for Q4 (Of course, the Fall Seller Update is coming soon, probably next week, and who knows what that contains that they did NOT want to tell us right now).

And again, unless they decide to release some info about their Holiday Marketing plans tomorrow, I think it's a safe bet that the Holiday Marketing will be focused on the Verticals, not the site.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Well, judging from the comments only, the eBay Live thing didn't go well b/c all there was on the screen was a QR code, which was super confusing, since most were on PC's, so wth were we supposed to do with a QR code.  Also, many, self included do not have QR readers on our phones since they are notoriously infected with spyware, etc.  My phone doesn't come with one, so I didn't see it at all.   

From the chat, the people who were in, mostly didn't get it was a demo & thought it was just QVC to sell eBay swag & were annoyed they'd have to pay for SWAG.  

It just sounds like a massive fail for the presentation, though the idea is solid, since everyone is doing Whatnot, now.  It's obviously meant as a competitor.   The people who did 'get it' at least from the chat were camera shy & didn't like the idea, though I'm sure based on the success of Whatnot that it is a viable option for some.   

Besides not having the ability to scan the QR code, I found it confusing b/c it was called eBay Live, which is what the Opens used to be called, so I was like, huh?