Facebook Partnership?

[pls-consignments]

It's now been over a month since the announcement of this "partnership". Has anyone been able to find their items on FB?

If so, can you tell us what your primary category is?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

ebay's announcement made it sound like a new partnership, but Meta's announcement called it a "test"

So far, I have seen no evidence that the test has actually launched (although if it is a very, very small test, I suppose that is to be expected). I've also seen NO follow up in the media about it, from either ebay or Meta. 

I'm hoping that we finally get more details in the Q4 Earnings Call on Feb 26. Needless to say, I'm also hoping ebay addresses the tariff question. With about 50% of its revenue coming from cross border trade, it would seem to be an issue ebay might want to address.

(I might add, with the Call coming up in a couple of weeks, ebay might actually try loading up FBMP with listings BEFORE the 26th, so they have something to show off.)

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@pls-consignments When this was first announced, I pointed out that it would make no sense for FBMP to limit this to ebay, as the EU's objection was about FBMP limiting the user base. So giving ebay an exclusive deal went against the spirit of the EU's objection. So, ebay was a test case, and now, over a month after the announcement, FBMP has confirmed what I assumed: At least in the EU, they are opening this up to other sites as well. So, whatever "first seller" advantage ebay had been given is gone in the EU. And I've still seen no evidence that ebay took advantage of the first seller advantage in the US FBMP. I don't think anyone will be surprised if FBMP also extends eligibility to other sites in the US in the near future.

I would hope the stock analysts ask some pointed questions about this at the Conference Call on the 26th. (I'm not saying ebay's inaction was necessarily ebay's fault...it could be that FBMP just didn't have the site ready for ebay, and the announcement was just terribly premature. But I would think shareholders would like to see an explanation)

More detail: https://www.valueaddedresource.net/meta-expands-eu-facebook-marketplace-partnership/

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

My sense is that Meta is not only doing this reluctantly, but is trying to comply with the absolute minimum here, rather than with the spirit of the court order. While this might give competing sites a boost, the "pay per click" fee might be enough to reduce the value to those sites significantly. And FBMP could probably make it burdensome to meet their submission requirements.

And my guess is also that FBMP can take steps to make FBMP more attractive to individual sellers, so, for example, an ebay seller would have strong incentive to list his ebay item directly on FBMP (as a multi channel seller) rather than hope ebay submits his item (Assuming the seller wants it to appear on FBMP in the first place).

It will be interesting to watch this play out, but so far, I'm not convinced this is going to be the game changer some ebay investors expected when this was first announced.

[valueaddedresource]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques agree about this being a "minimum viable compliance" exercise for Meta. 😂

Also interesting to me that, unless Meta made exceptions for eBay, some of the eligibility terms would seem to deny eBay from even using the program?

Not sure about France, but eBay Germany stopped allowing cash on collection and requires using eBay payments since 2023, so point 4 would be a no.

And there is not a single market in the EU or anywhere else where eBay could be said to have a "majority" of inventory held by consumer/non-business sellers that I'm aware of any way - a couple years ago eBay said Germany was ~80% business/20% private and while they've done a lot to try to grow the C2C side of things I've seen nothing to indicate the ratio has changed significantly enough to meet that FB qualification.

Like I said, maybe Meta gave eBay a pass to play by a different set of rules, but if they did...wouldn't that also kind of ruin the whole point of the exercise? Giving preferential treatment to one competitor over others would hardly seem to me like what the European Commission probably had in mind. 🤔

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@valueaddedresource  I could see those provisions being interpreted as you have interpreted them, but I could also see them being interpreted so that ebay is considered compliant within the terms. 

Either way, as far as I can see, ebay has certainly made no effort to flood FBMP with ebay listings since the original announcement. Add in the likelihood that ebay was always intended simply as the initial test subject, but wasn't being promised any sort of exclusive deal...well, I think the initial share price rocket was far more optimistic than it deserved to be. I think the upside here for ebay is far less muted than shareholders hoped. And I'm not sure it will be enough to make up for potential tariff related losses incurred by ebay's cross border trade revenue. 

I think 2025 is going to be a very challenging year for ebay, and for most ebay sellers. One can only hope ebay has some positive changes in the pipeline.