eBay Internal Memo on Ethics - Conversation with Rob Chesnut August 24th

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eBay CEO Jamie Iannone sent employees a message about ethics this week in light of recent events. He told them that if they see something, they should say something. 

He also invited a former colleague, Rob Chesnut, to speak to the company about ethics. Chesnut, who ran eBay's Trust & Safety division from March 1999 through September 2008, recently published a book about corporate ethics.

Excerpt from memo from CEO Jamie Iannone: Rob is the former Chief Ethics Officer at Airbnb and recently published a new book, "Intentional Integrity: How Smart Companies Can Lead an Ethical Revolution." Our focus will be on bridging the insights Rob offers in his book with past events here at eBay and the respect he has for our culture and our team. I'm looking forward to hearing Rob's perspective on how we can further advance our efforts. The calendar invite will be out shortly for Monday, August 24. We'll also record the session and share it with everyone.

Full article https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2020/8/1597415769.html

It's a good start and kudos to Mr. Iannone for opening up this conversation.  I sincerely hope the conversation doesn't stop at bridging Rob's insights with past events, but takes the even more important step to look at how those insights can and should apply to eBay in the present and future as well.

Broadcasting this publicly would also be a huge step in engaging with sellers and would show some real integrity, transparency, and leadership.  This is the perfect opportunity for Mr. Iannone to differentiate himself from past executive leadership and show us that he really does take these issues seriously.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Ebay and ethics? I just choked on my coffee.

Want ethics, Ebay big wigs? Come here to the forum. Read. Ask questions. Answer questions. Don't just make a flyby feel good post and never show up again. Find out what it's REALLY like. How about list some stuff - deal with the same stuff we deal in day in and day out.  Find out what it's like to lose money to a scammer who has free reign because your company doesn't have the cajones to do a REAL buyer ban. Find out what it's like to lose money you have to refund a buyer because  your company doesn't have the cajones to either extend by weeks, or remove entirely the overenthusiastic delivery date. Find out the double hurt when that delayed package gets delivered a week later and the buyer has both your item and the money for that item.

Come on...come find out.

Do that for a few months, and then come back and talk about ethics.  Until then it's all just empty words on a screen.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Edit time ran out, dang it

Don't even get me started on the legions of sleazy sellers that are allowed to continue to sell here with no repercussions. That's a whole 'nother bucketful of Ebay shame.

[gwzcomps]

It is all about optics.  You gotta pretend to care long enough for people to forget about the pig mask in the room

[mtgraves7984]

'Ethics' are rather subjective. Quite often, eBay's don't line up with mine. But, hey... I can still play in their sandbox.

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@gwzcomps wrote:

It is all about optics.  You gotta pretend to care long enough for people to forget about the pig mask in the room

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@gwzcomps  I tend to agree and that's why I said I hope they don't just focus on the past.  If this is just about "the pig mask in the room", it will be a shame and a real wasted opportunity in my opinion.  

"Openness, honesty, respect and doing business with integrity" could apply to so many current and future aspects of eBay as well.  I know many dealing with the switch over to Managed Payments could use a lot more of all of those things, not to mention how that could and should apply to many other issues we all face here.

While I don't expect miracles to occur, I'm willing to give Iannone a shot at showing us all something different.

[chapeau-noir]

A great deal pivoted on Wenig being CEO - having a second-rate egotist at the helm is going to have impacts throughout an entire company culture.

I'm willing to see what Iannone has to say.  Not everything is bad.

[zamo-zuan]

I think it's a great START of a dialogue... 

But I think actions speak louder than words. They have a perfect opportunity with what's going on right now. And I've said it a few times... The way they're handling the situation with USPS is in many ways downright unethical.

There's 6 days until the INR service metrics might give a penalty to the sellers who experienced the worst issues. I don't believe that's ethical at all. Especially when eBay promised to protect sellers from situations that are outside of their control.

So far, they're not protecting sellers from those situations. 

And as mentioned in other topics around here recently, nearly everything about the Service Metrics system in itself is unethical to begin with.

If eBay is going to discuss ethics, I'm hoping and awaiting some action to be taken. As so far, even their promised protections for INR aren't applying to those who followed their policies as written...

[coolections]

@zamo-zuan 

@zamo-zuan 

They've already changed all the handling times and estimated delivery dates so nothing new there. What is Ebay doing so unethical that they need to change ? I'll return later with my popcorn. 😀

[zamo-zuan]

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@coolections wrote:

@zamo-zuan 

@zamo-zuan 

They've already changed all the handling times and estimated delivery dates so nothing new there. What is Ebay doing so unethical that they need to change ? I'll return later with my popcorn. 😀

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- They promised to "protect those from situations out of their hands" - they aren't.

- They promised protections for "Item Not Received" when the only place you see the words "Item Not Received" in seller hub is on the Service Metrics page, which is not protected (and gives a penalty to sellers stores).

- They promised to remove the defects if an item is delivered late, and they will NOT do that if you actually followed their INR policy and refunded the customer as directed.

- There's literally dozens of items we have that were delivered after INR cases were closed. EBay's INR page says that customers have to "either send the item back or arrange payment for the items". EBay is not enforcing that.

- Those who got hit by the USPS situation hardest are the ones who will be receiving a punishment in 6 days from now, for a situation that eBay claims they would "protect them" in.

While you enjoy your popcorn, please ponder how many of these could you argue fit the definition of "Ethical"?

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Why doesn't ebay just hang out a big sign that says NOW is the time to get FREE STUFF! 

Buy buy and buy some more....a week or so later file INR, you'll have your money back within a few weeks and then the item will show up a few weeks after that. FREE! 

Now that's lipstick on a pig and no way am I listing anything. 

Granted it's Trump not ebay that created this issue, but ebay has to have a seller's back when it comes to their MONEY. 

Who cares about reducing or stopping your "service metrics"? I don't give a rat's patootie about service metrics if ebay's going to yank the money from my account and give it back to the buyer and let them keep the item. 

It's all fluff unless they put money where their mouth is. 

[zamo-zuan]

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

Why doesn't ebay just hang out a big sign that says NOW is the time to get FREE STUFF! 

Buy buy and buy some more....a week or so later file INR, you'll have your money back within a few weeks and then the item will show up a few weeks after that. FREE! 

Now that's lipstick on a pig and no way am I listing anything. 

Granted it's Trump not ebay that created this issue, but ebay has to have a seller's back when it comes to their MONEY. 

Who cares about reducing or stopping your "service metrics"? I don't give a rat's patootie about service metrics if ebay's going to yank the money from my account and give it back to the buyer and let them keep the item. 

It's all fluff unless they put money where their mouth is. 

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The service metrics are a problem because that will cause the shipping times for your store to be delayed even further.

So if other sellers with your handling time and shipping method are being told "Arriving by the 20th", your listings may say "Arriving by the 23rd" or something along those lines. 

That is taking money from your account in a different way, as buyers will go elsewhere... 

[ersatz_sobriquet]

We sell different stuff Zamo. Much of what I sell is rare enough that competition is not about arrival date, it's about quality of items, photos, description, and seller reputation. I see what you are saying though, with mass produced items it matters far more greatly. 

[chapeau-noir]

I mostly just sell pre-owned items, but I know that resellers like myself are a small minority - new items, many of them commodities, make up over 80% of eBay's listings, and lately eBay has been picking up cross-over business from Amazon which has its own logistics, bringing another whole complication into the picture.

[tev4all]

PREVIEW

The Big Wigs  have to have morals first. That point is debatable, past actions could make one wonder. I'll leave that for future discussion.'

Having a big wig become a lowly seller would only reenforce their obstinance for how things should be equitable for their partners(sellers).

  They would have more than enough money to buy inventory, place listings with all kinds of upgraded fee add-ons, pay shipping/postage cost upfront, pay employees to do the work and buy forgiveness from disgruntled buyers. Also, they would have all of the home team backing their every move. 

  Kinda unrealistic idea. but would/could be a learnable moment without  the advantages.

With power, comes great responsibility. Only time will tell if the integrity they speak of and say they seek  will be honorable.