Lorrie Norrington

Today, we announced some exciting news that will go a long way toward meeting our goal of a healthy, vibrant marketplace. We also provided the audience with some updates on the changes we've rolled out over the past six months, including how members are responding to incentives, pricing and Feedback. Overall, we're pleased with what we've seen, but as with anything we do, we are committed to listening to all of you and looking for ways to improve.

I know that many of you have seen a lot of change over the past six months, and for some it hasn't been easy. But as I told the audience here, people simply expect more when they come to eBay ... and it's our job to make sure we meet their expectations.

Although we have more work to do, we're seeing signs of real progress. The news we announced today builds on what we've done to date ... and I know these changes will make our marketplace stronger.

I'm providing a summary below, and I encourage all of you to read our overview page to learn more about all of the changes announced today.

Improved Protection from PayPal When You Buy or Sell on eBay
PayPal is one of the safest ways to pay on eBay and already used by a majority of eBay's buyers and sellers. This year, our partners at PayPal are making another significant investment in building trust on eBay.

Starting this fall, eBay and PayPal are rolling out improvements to Buyer and Seller Protection on eBay.com. This is huge!

For sellers -- ALL eBay.com sellers will receive improved seller protection benefits previously available only to PowerSellers. Specifically, this means:

• There is no additional cost to receive this protection
• There is no coverage limit!
• There is no cap on items sold or dollar amount!
• You're no longer required to ship to confirmed address to be covered ... just send the goods to the address provided by PayPal and keep proof of shipment!
• Protection covers shipments to any of the 190 countries in which PayPal is accepted, so the world is more open than ever for U.S. sellers.

For buyers, I can sum it up in a phrase: "Pay with PayPal and you're covered."

This means you're covered on eligible transactions for the purchase price and original shipping costs. Again, this coverage is provided at no additional cost and with no cap on coverage, whether an item costs $50 or $50,000.

For more details about the improved PayPal protection and some eligibility requirements, please read our Frequently Asked Questions.

More rewards for PowerSellers
Last fall, we told you that detailed seller ratings (DSRs) would be an increasingly important success metric for seller standards and rewards. We also stated our intention to turn the PowerSeller label into a badge of distinction, one that buyers would come to recognize as a mark of trust. Today, the PowerSeller program is just that – it rewards sellers for their success in driving sales and buyer satisfaction, as demonstrated by great DSRs.

What's more, I'm pleased to share that sellers have done well improving their DSR averages over the last few months. When we first announced the PowerSeller incentives in January, we knew that 60% of PowerSellers had DSRs of 4.6 and above ... today 67% have DSRs 4.6 or greater.

Also in January, 15% of PowerSellers had DSRs of 4.8 and above ... today, 33% have a DSRs 4.8 or greater – that means that we have more than doubled the number of our best sellers!

In response to this great progress, we announced two new PowerSeller rewards to further encourage and reward our best sellers:

• Starting with July invoices, PowerSellers who have a 4.9 or higher across all four DSRs will receive a 20% discount on their final value fees. Today, 16% of all PowerSellers qualify for this substantial new discount ... and we hope to see that number grow.

• And - thanks to our partners at UPS - PowerSellers may now receive savings of up to 23% off UPS Ground Daily Rates. This is in addition to the current UPS Special Pricing Program for all eBay sellers, which offers Ground Daily Rates with savings of up to 31%. PowerSellers can enroll now at www.ebay.com/UPSPowerSellerSavings.

Pricing
Back in January, we announced that we were going to reduce the risk of listing and move towards success-based pricing. It's working ... we've seen an increase in volume.

Between now and the holiday season we'll do more to support your success and ensure we are price competitive in every key category. The intent of all this change is obvious: We want great stuff and great deals on eBay – new, used, and collectibles.

Please stay tuned for more pricing information on the Announcement Board later this summer.

Investments in our best buyers
We're investing heavily to make eBay.com safer and easier to use for all buyers. This includes enhancements in our search and user experience, so buyers will see more relevant, high-quality products than ever before on eBay.com.

We're also giving top buyers a bigger reason to keep coming back to eBay. Starting in May, we began sending coupons to top buyers. This is good for sellers too because we know that buyers who redeem these coupons go on to buy more frequently. By the end of June, we will have delivered millions of coupons to top buyers, and we’ll do even more during the holidays.

Top buyers are also getting more attention from us in terms of service. Starting at the end of June, we will be providing live customer phone support to our top buyers. We've been offering phone support to our top sellers for many years, and it is time to extend that to top buyers.

Feedback progress
I want to acknowledge the concerns many of you have shared about the changes to our Feedback system in May. As we outlined in January, we felt strongly that we had to make significant changes to preserve the system's integrity and to reduce the bad experiences created by retaliatory feedback that were driving buyers away. Many of you have written to me personally about your concerns, and I want you to know that we are listening.

I also want to share that, while it's still early, we're seeing encouraging results. Although sellers feared buyers would leave negative feedback more often, I’m happy to report that the combined rate of negative and neutral feedback is unchanged over the first month. Also, the percentage of buyers who are leaving detailed seller ratings has increased: Now buyers who leave Feedback leave DSRs 76% of the time, showing an increased confidence in the Feedback system. And when buyers have more confidence in feedback, they have more trust in shopping on eBay.

That said, this is an evolving system. For example, we’re looking at enabling buyers to withdraw/change their Feedback in limited circumstances to help resolve issues or correct the occasional mistake. Our goal is to address this by the holidays. And we're doing this based on input from our Community, including at eBay Live!.

We'll continue to monitor the effects of these changes carefully, and rest assured, we’ll make additional improvements as needed.

I'm so proud to work for a company that means so much to people ... and we at eBay are more committed than ever to making our marketplace better for all of us.

Sincerely,

Lorrie Norrington
President, eBay Global Marketplace Operations