From collectables to cars, buy and sell all kinds of items on eBay
Advanced Search
Choose a Topic
All General Announcements  
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
Archived
Subscribe to all
announcements using RSS
Related Links
Community Hub
January 2007
***Coming Soon: Feedback 2.0 – Increasing Transparency in Feedback System ***

31 January, 2007 | 03:28 PM IST


Dear Members,

As eBay continues to grow, it is important that we continue to evolve the Feedback system to ensure it remains a credible measure of trust. For almost two years, eBay has been working on a new project to enhance our current reputation system. Feedback 2.0 adds a new dimension to eBay’s premier online reputation system, allowing buyers to rate transactions based on item description, communication, shipping time, and shipping & handling charges.

Feedback 2.0 adds the following new features:

Detailed Seller Ratings – Currently buyers are able to rate the sellers positive, negative or neutral and leave comments on the same. With the launch of Feedback 2.0, buyers will be able to rate the sellers on specific transaction aspects like item description, communication, shipping time, and shipping & handling charges. These ratings will be based on a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 being the lowest and 5 the being the highest rating. The average of all ratings will be displayed on the seller’s Feedback Profile page.

To see how the new ratings will be displayed on the Feedback Profile page, please Click Here. (For optimal view, click on the orange rectangle button that appears at right hand side bottom)

Item Title and Price – To give buyers more information while they are evaluating the reputation of a seller, the transaction’s item title and selling price will display beneath each Feedback comment on the Feedback Profile page for a period of 90 days.

Feedback 2.0 helps buyers feel even more confident about a seller’s reputation, while rewarding good sellers by recognizing and spotlighting the things you do to ensure customer satisfaction.

Pilot launching shortly

Last November, for one week, buyers were presented with the ability to leave detailed seller ratings and the results were very promising. Over 80% of all buyers leaving Feedback for sellers left Detailed Seller Ratings during this data collection period. This high rate of usage is important since it eliminates any negative impact to a seller’s score based on the occasional low rating they may receive for actions outside of their control. (Such as a lost package, or an item damaged in transit.) Detailed Seller Ratings will be representative of a seller’s overall behaviour as our buyer community views it.

In late February, we will pilot Feedback 2.0 on India, as well as these seven additional markets: Australia, Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom. We will continue to monitor the usage of Feedback 2.0 carefully to ensure there is no disruption to the marketplace. If all goes well, we plan to launch globally in Summer.

To understand Feedback 2.0, please view the Frequently Asked Question.

For any questions on Feedback 2.0, please feel free to post your question on this thread. We will be soon conducting an online workshop on the topic as well.

Regards,
Sharat Digumarti
Senior Manager - Trust and Safety
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***A Message from Sharat Digumarti – Launch of Safeguarding Member IDs on eBay.in***

29 January, 2007 | 08:28 PM IST

Dear Members,

I will like to take this opportunity to introduce a new project “Safeguarding Member IDs”. Safeguarding Member IDs (SMI) is a significant step forward in protecting eBay's bidders, who have increasingly become targets for unwanted commercial and malicious spam, such as phishing, spoof, and fake Second Chance Offers.

SMI adds a new layer of privacy by replacing specific User IDs with aliases (bidder 1, bidder 2, bidder 3, etc.). To ensure buyers continue to feel trust in the bidding process, SMI also provides an updated Bid History page with aggregate information about the bidders involved in a given listing, as well as their other recent activity with the listing's seller.

We're implementing this new system on listings with a high bid of Rs. 9000 or greater, which is where we believe it can have the greatest positive impact. The bid information for listings where the bid is lower than Rs. 9000 will display as it does today.

Here's what will change:

1. On the bid history page for each listing we'll replace member User IDs with aliases (such as Bidder 1, Bidder 2 and Bidder 3) in the order of their bids placed. For each bidder involved in a listing, we'll display the number of bids in unique categories that they've placed, a range that their feedback score falls within (i.e. 10-49, for instance), their percentage of positive feedback, their length of time as an eBay member, and the number of bids they've placed on the item. At the end of a listing, the winning bidder's User ID will be displayed on the item page. Please note: Sellers will still be able to access bidder information on their listings through the Bid History page and the My eBay selling table.
2. In My eBay, members will no longer have access to the high-bidder column from bid and watch tables.
3. On the item page, you'll only be able to see the high-bidder ID if you are the signed-in seller of the item or the signed-in high bidder.
Through the Advanced Search by Bidder link, we'll only show completed listings within the last 30 days.
4. Future enhancements are being designed that will provide even more transaction data about the bidders and seller involved in a transaction. We'll continue to update the community on these changes as these plans become finalized.

To learn more, please read our Frequently Asked Questions. I know you'll have more questions, so I will be hosting a workshop shortly after this project launches. Please stay tuned to the Announcements board for day and time.

Sincerely,
Sharat Digumarti
Senior Manager – Trust and Safety
Link to this announcement | Back to top

***Coming soon: Google Text Ads on Search Result Pages***

29 January, 2007 | 03:25 PM IST


Last August, eBay announced an agreement with Google which allows select country sites to display Google text ads on search result pages. Soon, we’ll begin a testing period in which our teams will be experimenting with the display of Google text ads on certain search results pages to learn what works best for the eBay marketplace.

While eBay has items of all kinds, there are still many instances when a search query will not return with any relevant listings. We’ll be testing ad placements at the bottom of these zero search results pages, as a way to improve the buyer experience in these situations. We’ll also be testing other placements on a limited number of other search results pages, when we know there is a high likelihood that the search will not result in a bid or purchase.To see how the ads will look, please Click Here

We have done a significant amount of testing and analysis with text ads in other markets and will use what we have learned as we begin to test with Google ads. Our number one concern is ensuring that the changes we make are right for our sellers and buyers. As we test, we’ll be monitoring the impact of any changes carefully, as well as listening to your input.

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***Free Gallery Plus Week for Mobiles and Accessories Category!***

28 January, 2007 | 12:05 PM IST



When is it?

Starting Monday, January 29, 2007 between 00:00:01 IST (12:00 AM plus one second) and ending 23:59:59 IST on Friday, February 2, 2006 (11:59 PM plus 59 seconds).

What is it?

Get Gallery Plus FREE for all listings created in Mobiles and Accessories category during the promotion period. The more listings you create the more you benefit from the promotion!

Who is eligible?

All sellers whose country of residence is India, are registered on eBay.in and listing on eBay.in during the promotion period are eligible for promotion.
Formats included are Auction, Fixed Price and Ad format.
Only Mobiles and Accessories category is included in this promotion.
Listings in 2 categories are included.
Listings created before the promotion period but going live during the promotion period are also eligible for the promotion.
Multiple quantity listings are also included in the promotion.

What you need to do?

While listing in Mobiles and Accessories category, Select the Gallery Plus option through SYI, Turbo Lister or Selling Manager Pro.

What Are the Benefits?

During the promotion period all listings with Gallery Plus will not be charged the regular fee of Rs. 0.25.

All other charges, Final Value Fees, and other feature fees will be charged as applicable.

What is excluded?

Shop format listings are excluded.
Listings created during the promotion period and going live after the promotion period are excluded.
Listings revised during the promotion period are excluded.

Happy Selling!

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***Free Gallery Week!***

28 January, 2007 | 12:00 PM IST



When is it?

Starting Monday, January 29, 2007 between 00:00:01 IST (12:00 AM plus one second) and ending 23:59:59 IST on Friday, February 2, 2006 (11:59 PM plus 59 seconds).

What is it?

Get Gallery FREE for all listings created during the promotion period. The more listings you create the more you benefit from the promotion!

Who is eligible?

All sellers whose country of residence is India, are registered on eBay.in and listing on eBay.in during the promotion period are eligible for promotion.
Formats included are Auction, Fixed Price and Ad format.
All categories are included in this promotion.
Listings in 2 categories are included.
Listings created before the promotion period but going live during the promotion period are also eligible for the promotion.
Multiple quantity listings are also included in the promotion.

What you need to do?

Select the Gallery option while creating your listing through SYI, Turbo Lister or Selling Manager Pro.

What Are the Benefits?

During the promotion period all listings with Gallery will not be charged the regular fee of Rs. 0.25.

All other charges, Final Value Fees, and other feature fees will be charged as applicable.

What is excluded?

Shop format listings are excluded.
Listings created during the promotion period and going live after the promotion period are excluded.
Listings revised during the promotion period are excluded.

Happy Selling!

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***Retiring the Old Sell Your Item Form***

25 January, 2007 | 05:43 PM IST


Dear Sellers,

We launched the new and improved Sell Your Item form in June 2006 and gradually moved sellers to this form. Today 70% of our sellers list items using the New Sell Your Item. Our statistics show that the average seller completes a listing 20% faster with the new form, which is great news.

Sellers can still click the “List using the original Sell Your Item form” link and use the old form. However, we plan to disable the old Sell Your Item form in the first week of May. This means that the “List using the original Sell Your Item form” link will not be available on the Sell page.

In case you are still using the old Sell Your Item form, we strongly encourage you to use the New Sell Your Item form. For any questions with the new Sell Your Item Form, please do contact us.

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***Scheduled Maintenance for This Week***

25 January, 2007 | 12:00 PM IST


The eBay system will be undergoing general maintenance from approximately 11:30 IST to 13:30 IST on Friday, January 26th. During this maintenance period, certain eBay site features may be intermittently unavailable or slow.

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***A Message from Rob Chesnut – Trust & Safety Priorities***

19 January, 2007 | 11:02 AM IST



Hi,

I’m Rob Chesnut, Senior Vice President in charge of Trust & Safety for eBay. I work with our teams worldwide, including Sharat Digumarti, Senior Manager, Trust and Safety - India, to ensure that our community of users feel safe and confident when buying and selling on eBay.

As the Internet continues to evolve, there are many more online shopping choices for buyers. This competition means our buyers' expectations are growing.

To keep pace with the changing of the Internet, we’re evolving eBay’s Trust & Safety philosophy. Where we’ve so far put an emphasis on transparency and free choice for buyers on eBay, we’re now more actively protecting our buyers from fraud and other bad experiences on our site.

My team has been working on solutions that address these two priorities worldwide:

• Taking a new, more proactive approach towards Trust & Safety to protect our members from fraud.

• Improving the buyer experience on the site by holding sellers to higher minimum standards

A More Proactive Approach to Trust & Safety
In India we recently restricted ability of Sellers with Private Feedback to list on site. This gives buyers the ability to make an informed decision, by accessing a sellers’ complete Feedback record.

Aside from visible changes like these, we’ve been working on others. One issue we’ve fought on eBay is counterfeits -- these are illegal and not welcome on eBay. We’ve cooperated with Rights Owners around the world through our VeRO program to remove counterfeit listings for years, but recently we put stricter measures in place. For some items reportedly favored by counterfeiters, we’ve started requiring additional seller verification, we’ve eliminated the ability to list these items with 1 or 3-day auction durations, and we’ve put in additional restrictions for people selling these items cross-border.

These efforts appear to be working with minimal disruption to our legitimate sellers, and, going forward, we’ll be considering similar projects. We’re continuing to balance transparency and convenience with the need to keep our Community safe.

Holding sellers to higher minimum standards
It’s a fact that the majority of bad buyer experiences result from circumstances controlled by sellers. Buyers are less likely to return to the site after having a frustrating experience - like finding the shipping & handling charges are excessive, receiving an item that is not as described, or experiencing poor customer service during a transaction with a seller.

It’s clear we have a shared responsibility with our sellers to make sure our buyers have satisfactory experiences. eBay’s philosophy till now has been to allow practically anyone to sell, with few restrictions. Going forward, we’ll apply higher minimum standards for selling on the site. These changes will improve the marketplace for the vast majority of sellers who deliver a good customer experience.

Here are some ways we’re addressing this issue:

Private Feedback – In October 2006, we eliminated the ability for sellers to make their Feedback private. This was important, as it eliminated the ability for sellers with poor track records to hide their negative reputations from prospective buyers.

Cross-Border Trade Requirements - We’ve also implemented new requirements for sellers who want to sell cross-border. To list outside one's home registration site, sellers must establish their identity by becoming PayPal Verified (sellers with established track records will not be affected by this requirement.)

Feedback 2.0 - eBay pioneered online reputation systems with the
Feedback system back in the ‘90s. Although debated for its merits, the fact is, it’s a great system, but it needs to keep pace with our marketplace.

In addition to leaving an overall positive, neutral or negative Feedback, from next month buyers will have the option to leave Detailed Seller Ratings for the seller on four aspects of a transaction:
-- Item Description
-- Communication
-- Postage time
-- Shipping & Handling charges

The average score of the Detailed Seller Ratings received by a seller will be displayed on the seller’s Feedback Profile page. It’s a system that rewards sellers by recognising the things they do to ensure customer satisfaction.
Next month, we’ll be launching Feedback 2.0 in certain countries and we will share more about this soon, so stay tuned.

Finally, I want to thank our Community for your help and support in keeping the site safe. We receive reports every day of suspicious activity from conscientious buyers and sellers, and each one helps us to investigate and take action to stop negative activity where appropriate. We appreciate everyone’s contribution in making eBay a great place to buy and sell.

Sincerely,

Rob Chesnut
Senior Vice President, Global Trust & Safety
Link to this announcement | Back to top

***Calling Sellers to Participate in Valentines Day promotions***

18 January, 2007 | 05:01 PM IST


Dear Sellers,

We will be starting our Valentines promotions, which are likely to go live by next week. These will be promoted through onsite merchandise, buyer mailers, portal placements etc.

The categories that will be promoted are predominantly from the gifting categories -

Flowers
Jewellery
--Rings
--Pendants
--Earrings
Branded Jewellery
Gift hampers
Apparel
--Indian
--Western – scarves
--Lingerie
Handbags
Movies
Perfumes
Watches
Candles
Soft toys
Photo frames

It will be a great idea to increase your listings in these categories to make the most of the promotions. Please ensure that all the products are listed in the correct categories so that it’s easier for us to promote them and give the buyer a good shopping experience.

For any suggestions or queries regarding the promotion, please post here.

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***Scheduled Maintenance for This Week***

18 January, 2007 | 12:00 PM IST


The eBay system will be undergoing general maintenance from approximately 11:30 IST to 13:30 IST on Friday, January 19th. During this maintenance period, certain eBay site features may be intermittently unavailable or slow.

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***Calling Sellers to particpate in Diamond Jewellery at 1 Paisa Promotion***

17 January, 2007 | 06:56 PM IST

Dear Seller,

Valentines Day is just around the corner! Over the years, it has proved to be one of the biggest buying festivals online. This year too, we will present our buyers with the “Jewellery @ 1 Paisa” promotion - an opportunity to buy diamond jewellery at great prices.

This promotion will be on the lines of the very successful "Mobiles @ 1 Paisa” promotions. All these promos have been backed by a co-coordinated splash of merchandising on the Home Page, mailers, and Portals and Alliance websites.

Details of the Promotion

Q) What is the promotion?
A) Diamond Jewellery @ 1 Paisa with Free Shipping

Q) When is the promotion?
A) The Promotion starts on Tuesday 24th Jan and ends on Saturday 4th Feb.

Q) Who is eligible?
A) All sellers who have a feedback score above 20 are eligible to participate.

Q) What type of listings are included in the promotion?
A)All listings need to be:
--‘No Reserve’ Listings starting below or at Re 1, with "ZERO" shipping charges.
--All the listings must have a Gallery image.

Q) What product lines are included in the promotion?
A) Following product lines will be included in the promotion:
--Necklaces (Gold {14K or above}/ Genuine Diamond /Gemstones)
--Rings (Gold {14K or above}/ Genuine Diamond)
--Earrings (Gold {14K or above}/ Genuine Diamond)
--Pendants (Gold {14K or above}/ Genuine Diamond)

Q) How to sign up for the promotion?
A) Create you listings, send the item IDs to roadtosuccess@ebay.com on or before 3PM on 23rd Jan.

Please ensure that your items are listed on eBay by 2PM on 23rd Jan.

For any question on the promotion, please send an email to roadtosuccess@ebay.com.

Happy Selling!

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top

***Buy Bold – Get Subtitle Free (15 Jan to 19th Jan 2007)***

14 January, 2007 | 12:00 PM IST


Buy Bold and get Subtitle Free! Enhance the conversion potential of your listing

When is it?
The promotion starts on Monday 15th January, 2007 between 00:00:01 IST (12:00 AM plus 1 second) and ending 23:59:59 IST on Friday, 19th January 2007 (11:59 PM plus 59 seconds).

What is it?
Every listing with Bold gets Subtitle free. i.e., with every Bold (worth Rs 5), you get Subtitle (worth Rs 2) for the same listing absolutely free. There is no limit to the number of listings that a seller can make during the offer period with the above combination of features.

Who is eligible?
- Sellers who list items on eBay.in during the offer period are eligible for the promotion.

The following are also included under the promotion:
- The Online Auction, Fixed Price and Ad formats.
- All Categories.
- Listing in 2 categories.
- Listings created before the offer period and going live during the offer period.
- Multiple quantity listings are also included in the promotion.

All other charges, FVF, and other Feature fees on the listings will be charged as applicable.

What do you need to do?
Choose Bold with your listing.
For all listings that you have chosen Bold, select Subtitle as well

What is excluded?
- Shop Format Listings
- Listings created during the promotion period and going live after the promotion period
- Listings that are revised during the promotion period

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***New promotion block on Home Page - '1 Paisa Auction with Free Shipping'***

11 January, 2007 | 08:04 PM IST

Dear Sellers,

We would like to announce the introduction of the "1 Paisa Auction with Free Shipping" promotion block on the eBay Home Page.

This promotion "1 Paisa Auctions with Free shipping" will give sellers multiple benefits, such as:

- Increase in traffic (Many buyers prefer to experience the thrill of auctions)
- Increase of interest (Even if buyers do not bid immediately, they keenly monitor such auctions)
- Increase in sales (Auctions have a better conversion ratio than fixed price listings)
- Prominent Promotion on Home Page

Listings meeting the following criteria will be eligible to participate in the promotion:
- Starting price of Re 1/- or less
- Free National Shipping
- 10-day listing duration
- No reserve price
- Gallery image

Listings from the following categories will be focused on during this promotion. Apparel & Accessories; Cameras & Optics; Computers & Peripherals; Consumer Electronics; Fitness & Sports; Health & Beauty; Home Decor & Furnishings; Jewellery; Kitchen & Home Appliances; Mobiles & Accessories; Tools & Hardware; Toys, Games & Baby; Watches.

When does it start?
The Promotions will start from next week onwards.

For any questions or clarifications, please send us a mail on roadtosuccess@ebay.com.

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top

***Top Picks section to be discontinued***

11 January, 2007 | 07:50 PM IST


Dear Sellers,

We wish to inform you that from next week onwards, the "Top Picks" section on the Home Page will be phased out to make way for the new "1 Paisa Auction with Free Shipping" section. We will not be picking up any fresh listings for Top Picks section.

For any questions or clarifications, please send us a mail on roadtosuccess@ebay.com.

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***Scheduled Maintenance for This Week***

11 January, 2007 | 12:01 PM IST


The eBay system will be undergoing general maintenance from approximately 11:30 IST to 13:30 IST on Friday, January 12th. During this maintenance period, certain eBay site features may be intermittently unavailable or slow.

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***Reminder - Join Open House Discussion with Rajan Mehra, Country Manager, eBay India, on 10th Jan (5 - 6 PM)***

09 January, 2007 | 10:27 AM IST

Hi,

I just wanted to remind you about the Open House Discussion on Wednesday, January 10th, 2007 at 5:00 PM. Please join me for an open discussion on buying and sSelling on eBay.

You can submit your question now by clicking on this Thread

Looking forward to see you tomorrow!

Sincerely,

Rajan Mehra
Country Manager
eBay India
Link to this announcement | Back to top

***Calling Sellers to participate in 2007's first biggest promotion - Mobiles @ 1 Paisa and Free Shipping!***

04 January, 2007 | 02:33 PM IST


Dear Member,

Here’s your chance to participate in the First Promotion of 2007!

eBay will be launching a Mega Auction Promotion in the Mobile Handsets Category.

The Promotion: - Mobiles @ 1 Paisa with Free Shipping.
The promotion will be backed by a coordinated splash of merchandising in the Home Pages, Mailers, Portals and Alliances.

Criteria for the Promotion

1) Sellers with feedback scores Greater than or Equal to 20 can participate.
2) 1 Paisa No Reserve Listings
3) "ZERO" shipping charges (Free shipping all over India).
4) All the items must have a Gallery image.
5) New Handsets (only) from all brands.

When is the promotion?

The Promotion is for 13 days starting on Tuesday 9th Jan ends on the 21st Jan 2007

Who is eligible to participate in the promotion?

All sellers who have a feedback score above 20 are eligible to participate?

What are the types of listings included in the promotion?

· 1 Paisa No Reserve Listings.
· "ZERO" shipping charges (Free shipping all over India)
· All the items must have a Gallery image.
· New (not used) Handsets from all brands.

What is the process to be followed?

Create you listings
Send the item ids to roadtosuccess@ebay.com on or before 8th Jan, 2PM Kindly ensure that your listings are live on the 8th by 2PM.

How will the Auctions be promoted?

The auctions will be strongly promoted on eBay and alliance websites.

On eBay
• eBay Home Page
• Mailers to our database
• New landing for the promotion

Alliances
• Dedicated Mailers to Hotmail, Indiatimes & Rediff users
• Promotion in other Yahoo, msn & Rediff pages
• Promotion in Yahoo shopping home page

Search
• Buy keywords on various search engines to get maximum exposure for the listings

For any question on the promotion, please mail to roadtosuccess@ebay.com.

Happy Selling & Happy 2007!

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***Scheduled Maintenance for This Week***

04 January, 2007 | 12:00 PM IST


The eBay system will be undergoing general maintenance from approximately 11:30 IST to 13:30 IST on Friday, January 5th. During this maintenance period, certain eBay site features may be intermittently unavailable or slow.

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***Message from Rajan Mehra - 2007: Looking at The Road Ahead***

03 January, 2007 | 07:42 PM IST


Dear Members,

Wishing you all a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year!

With the New Year, I will be taking on the additional responsibility for the eBay India Marketplace. I recognise that while this is an exciting opportunity it has many challenges that come with it. My team and I look forward to meeting your high expectations from eBay and I have no doubt that with the support of our community eBay India will continue to be India’s premier online shopping destination.

I’d like to take this opportunity to look back on some of our achievements in 2006 and outline some key 2007 priorities for eBay India.

2006 was an excellent year for eBay India. Our successes include:

• eBay being unanimously chosen India’s No.1 online shopping destination by all surveys
• The eBay brand becoming pre-eminent in the mind of Internet Users
• Strong growth in Global Trade, opening a new business opportunity for Indian sellers
• Greater safety for buyers through an enhanced Buyer Protection Program
• Localisation of site policies (with significant help and feedback from our community)
• Successfully partnering with the government and law enforcement community to enhance safety on site

While we’ve tasted success in 2006, we still face a few challenges that we need to address in 2007 and beyond.

A key priority for me is to continue to make our site simpler and more convenient. Given the explosion of organized retail, the Indian consumer has many choices and we recognize that. It will be our endeavour to ensure that eBay is the first choice for any consumer looking for a wide variety of goods, at a range of prices and wishing to have a convenient shopping experience. We believe the marketplace format is the most suitable to deliver to this consumer value proposition; however we also recognize that we cannot achieve our goals without the support of our seller community. It is important for eBay and our seller community to work towards ensuring that our consumers have a safe transaction experience that delights them; in our consumers delight is our success. As a first step in this regard, I have recently reorganized our team structure to reflect the importance we place on this priority. I know that some of our best sellers already delight their customers and I’d encourage them to share their best practises with the community to ensure increased vibrancy of our platform.

Global trade on the eBay platform has been growing rapidly and India is poised to gain disproportionately from this phenomenon. At eBay India, we will continue to evangelize the benefits of global trade to the Indian seller community and work hard to ensure that sellers understand the benefits of global trade, as also the expectations of our global consumers. Access to a global selling platform is the ultimate form of empowerment and allows eBay to create impact like no other company; it is one of the reasons I feel proud to work for eBay.

The Indian internet industry has tremendous potential and Indian e-commerce will undoubtedly grow exponentially. That said, it is important to ensure that the consumer has a safe trading environment. In 2006, we have worked closely with various government and law-enforcement agencies to ensure a safe trading platform and will actively continue our work in this area.

None of what we hope to achieve can be accomplished without the support of our community. Our community has always been our most vocal supporter and our strongest critic. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for support in the last few years and look forward to your continued support in 2007. I’d also love to have your feedback on our plans and will be available for an Open House Discussion on 10th Jan from 5 -6 PM.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Gautam on behalf of eBay India for his exemplary leadership and the fantastic work he has done in the past few years. His passion for eBay and its Community is unmatched and I am sure that he will not be an easy act to follow :-).

See you on 10th!

Best Regards,
Rajan Mehra
Country Manager – eBay India
Link to this announcement | Back to top

***Until We Meet Again - Note from Gautam Thakar***

03 January, 2007 | 06:59 PM IST


Wish you all a very happy new year!

As we enter 2007 I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on the year gone by as also share some news while wishing you a fabulous 2007.

Effective Jan 1 2007 I will be taking on the role of Senior Director, International Marketing with eBay and relocating to the US. In this role I will be responsible for coordinating the marketing efforts across eBay's 32 markets outside the US. While I am sad to leave the opportunity to guide the business in India to the next level, I am excited at the chance of making a difference across eBay globally. In this new role, I am confident that I can continue to champion the cause of the India business and help make positive business changes that will help all of us.

I believe that in large part, I have received this opportunity to take on a global role because of the strong progress of eBay in India and that was because of all of you. 2006 was the first full year on the eBay platform and all of us in eBay India owe a huge thanks to our community for all your hard work, efforts, feedback, dedication and perseverance to help change things for the better. I know that we have at times taken a firm stand on areas where we did not think change was justified and that we haven’t always been able to fulfil your expectations on timing – especially on some of the changes that have global impact. We are committed to improving on that score and will do better in 2007.

This change in 2007 will be spearheaded by Rajan Mehra who will be the new single country manager for all of our India operations. Some of you may know Rajan who was the Country Manager for New Ventures & Payments till date and he has been a long time veteran of ecommerce. Rajan is very passionate about localizing and truly making eBay India customer focused by integrating all aspects of the business that impact you – from Trust and Safety, Customer Support & Account Management to PaisaPay. Towards that end and to dramatically improve the user experience we have reorganized the team structure and he will share more details about that and his vision for the Indian business shortly.

The team under Rajan’s leadership is committed to helping you grow your business and I am sure that you all will support Rajan and help him with your usual innovative ideas just as you helped me through the last many years. India can and will become one of the biggest eBay businesses over time and I know that with all your support we can make that happen much faster than imagined.

While I relocate to the US after close to 7 years with Baazee and eBay, my heart remains very much with the Indian community and I hope to remain connected with all of you. I will miss a lot of the insights from discussions in the community about the product and other ideas. Hence I have requested Sapana to keep me informed about the top community issues and interactions. I also hope to come on the discussion boards and host open houses like in the past. For those of you who sell internationally (and I hope all of you do), you may just find orders from my id and I look forward to receiving products from you in the power seller packages :-).

Most importantly I want to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a wonderful prosperous and joyous new year. May all your dreams come true in 2007 and I look forward to watching your business grow manifold over the next year.

Warm Regards
Gautam
Link to this announcement | Back to top

***eBay announces Rajan Mehra as Country Manager, eBay India ***

03 January, 2007 | 06:08 PM IST


Rajan Mehra takes on the responsibilities of the Country Manager, eBay India with effect from January 1, 2007. In his new role, Rajan Mehra will lead the entire eBay Portfolio in India, including the eBay India Marketplace, eBay B2B India Motors, the Kijiji classifieds website & PaisaPay. Rajan has been closely associated with the Baazee and eBay business since the past 6 years.

In his earlier role as Country Manager for New Ventures & Payments of eBay India, Rajan successfully led the B2B Motors business, the Kijiji classifieds website & PaisaPay. Rajan is looking forward to this opportunity of leading the eBay India Marketplace business and interacting closely with the eBay community.

Gautam Thakar, formerly Country Manager, eBay India Marketplace will now take on the role of Senior Director, International Marketing, eBay. Gautam’s new responsibilities will include coordinating eBay’s marketing efforts across its 32 international markets and driving global trade across the eBay sites. Gautam will be relocating to the eBay headquarters at San Jose, USA.

Wishing Rajan and Gautam all success in the new roles!

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top
***Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous 2007!***

01 January, 2007 | 12:00 AM IST


It's time to draw the curtains on 2006, a time to look back on the joyful times and to be thankful for the good things in life. But more importantly, it's time to embrace the New Year - with its promise of happiness, prosperity and success.

eBay wishes all its users a HAPPY and WONDERFUL 2007! May it bring you everything that you have wished for.

Wish other community members here

Regards,
The eBay Team
Link to this announcement | Back to top

Feedback Forum | Discussion Boards | Community Values

About eBay | Announcements | Register | Security Centre | Feedback Forum | Site Map | Help