Will ebay push "Shop domestically" too?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/17/etsy-touts-shopping-domestically-as-trump-tariffs-mean-price-hikes.h...

The other day I suggested now would be a good time for ebay to push shopping domestically and to emphasize used, reconditioned and the fact that most ebay sellers are small businesses.

etsy has apparently decided that that sort of emphasis is indeed a good idea.

Will ebay follow ?

Or will ebay stick with "our strategy is working" and just keep talking about Magical AI?

What are your thoughts?

[stephenmorgan]

No telling what they will do. 

I don't see it would be advantageous to eBay for them to push shopping domestically.  I don't think they would want to discourage their international sellers.  I think a buyer will naturally choose their best purchase options. 

Shop local type campaigns are to benefit the businesses but they do not always benefit the consumer.  

[chevymontecarlo88]

I have noticed on a few of the other platforms they have pushing "used". (Reverb) 

I would assume eBay would follow suit after everything settles down. (late)

[chapeau-noir]

Only advertisement isn't really meant for buyer to "choose their options" - it's to push product. People will decide whatever they decide once they're exposed to the ads in a competitive market. Having a 'buy domestically' campaign on eBay US is a great idea IMHO.

[fbusoni]

Here is the relevant material from the Etsy site...  is eBay doing any of this? 

 

[richard1rst]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/17/etsy-touts-shopping-domestically-as-trump-tariffs-mean-price-hikes.h...

The other day I suggested now would be a good time for ebay to push shopping domestically and to emphasize used, reconditioned and the fact that most ebay sellers are small businesses.

etsy has apparently decided that that sort of emphasis is indeed a good idea.

Will ebay follow ?

Or will ebay stick with "our strategy is working" and just keep talking about Magical AI?

What are your thoughts?

---

I don’t sell used or reconditioned so I automatically fall into the “no” category on that aspect. Although the "most of us are small businesses" is a good idea. Amazon is already doing that.

Parenthetically, I have made the point before that all this talk about tariffs is nothing more than Pawn to King 4 - your turn.

All this talk and hoopla on both sides concerning tariffs is nothing more than, metaphorically, a sand storm on the horizon which I believe will dissipate long before it gets to us.

Look at all the countries that are contacting the US with an eye towards renegotiating the tariff structure. While eventually this may have an effect on big business and large importers I can’t for a minute believe it is going to be a major burden on folks like us.

[bennotbill]

Personally when it comes down to it, it's the shipping charges that are the decider for me.

Go back a few years and I often used to buy things from American sellers. As there really wasn't much difference in the total prices between a small item whether I bought it here in the UK or in the USA. What really mattered was a reliable seller.

But as everyone knows shipping prices have rocketed both here and in America. So now things are expensive enough to buy local, without adding the extra cost of buying international.

So shopping domestically is already the natural order of things for financial reasons. Even before the tariff effect circulate the world.

[chapeau-noir]

Even for farcical situations like the current tariff fustercluck, sitting on my hands and saying "It won't happen" isn't really an option. Good advertisement relies on being current and being topical. Any advantage I could squeeze out of it insofar as bringing in business, I would.

[angelno9]

Will ebay push "Shop domestically" too?

What are your thoughts?

What exactly does "shop domestically" mean?

My thoughts are that the average eBay buyer user is probably not capable of understanding what it means or how to accomplish it. 

Many people I have talked to have no clue what a tariff is, how it works, and who pay the tariff. They think the Chinese government is going to pay the USA 145% every time something sells. 

[richard1rst]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

Even for farcical situations like the current tariff fustercluck, sitting on my hands and saying "It won't happen" isn't really an option. Good advertisement relies on being current and being topical. Any advantage I could squeeze out of it insofar as bringing in business, I would.

---

Fair enough.

“One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” ― Milton Friedman

Unfortunately I have lived long enough to witness so many government programs fall by the way side I really am at the “I’ll believe it when I see it” stage.

Obama’s “shovel ready” jobs that he later admitted really weren’t.

and his “you can keep your doctor” except you can’t.

Biden’s 500,000 EV stations when reports say he only built 8 - the rest were done by private business.

The SF to LA bullet train still going nowhere

Solyndra

The Superconducting Super Collider in Texas abandoned after a few miles were dug

Fast and Furious

well, I could go on and on - you know the line “Fool me once ........”

[chapeau-noir]

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@richard1rst wrote:

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

Even for farcical situations like the current tariff fustercluck, sitting on my hands and saying "It won't happen" isn't really an option. Good advertisement relies on being current and being topical. Any advantage I could squeeze out of it insofar as bringing in business, I would.

---

Fair enough.

“One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” ― Milton Friedman

Unfortunately I have lived long enough to witness so many government programs fall by the way side I really am at the “I’ll believe it when I see it” stage.

Obama’s “shovel ready” jobs that he later admitted really weren’t.

and his “you can keep your doctor” except you can’t.

Biden’s 500,000 EV stations when reports say he only built 8 - the rest were done by private business.

The SF to LA bullet train still going nowhere

Solyndra

The Superconducting Super Collider in Texas abandoned after a few miles were dug

Fast and Furious

well, I could go on and on - you know the line “Fool me once ........”

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Let's stick to the topic. What will eBay do NOW - follow Etsy or wait until this all shakes out?

[sin-n-dex]

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@angelno9 wrote:

Many people I have talked to have no clue what a tariff is, how it works, and who pay the tariff. They think the Chinese government is going to pay the USA 145% every time something sells. 

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That was pointed out to me too. Pending on how things go (and how quickly they go there) I was going to change my item location back to Canada and stress I'm shipping from Canada (which means if there's a tariff, the importer has to pay it). Those who give me business advice were telling me that if I say I'm shipping from Canada and the buyer has a tariff to pay, the buyer might think I didn't pay the tariffs and pushed it off on them (like how dare I do that, because they don't realize they are the ones supposed to pay the tariff).

I'm drafting some verbage for my listings to stress any tariffs assessed are the buyer's responsibility (plus point out the inventory is shipping from Canada in case someone doesn't notice the update in the listings). I'm concerned about unclaimed packages at the post office having to be refunded because tracking doesn't properly show the package was not paid due to tariff/customs. I've had to refund a couple times in the past on refused packages (due to customs) because eBay's tracking did not properly update that info from the carrier (but you could see the info on the carrier's site, eBay says they don't go to third party sites to look at tracking, and decisions are done by BOT).

C.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@chapeau-noir 

"Let's stick to the topic. What will eBay do NOW - follow Etsy or wait until this all shakes out?"

Thanks! Yes, I'd like if we could all stick to the topic, which is not about politics or tariffs, but about ebay MARKETING.

[chapeau-noir]

This situation changes from day to day and is almost impossible to predict, but I think Etsy is following the overall message of domestic manufacturing/sales which I think is a good call. I'm thinking that eBay doesn't need to over-complicate the matter - even messages on their splash pages and an email burst or something like that would be a simple campaign, but I'm just guessing here. Tariffs don't even have to be mentioned.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@chapeau-noir  That's my understanding---etsy isn't mentioning tariffs in its marketing, it's just highlighting attributes that some buyers might be looking for. And this isn't just the US----I can easily imagine ebay.ca emphasizing that a seller resides in Canada or is selling something manufactured in Canada....without actually mentioning tariffs or any other tensions between the US and Canada. Accentuate the positive, and remain neutral as to any mention of political or economic issues.