eBay Growth Advisors Engage With Sellers
Sellers report eBay has been cold calling or emailing with a pitch to have a growth advisor review their accounts and make suggestions - is eBay earnestly stepping up seller engagement efforts or is it just the same advice we've been hearing for years?
This r/eBay thread has some interesting replies.
I guess I scared off the eBay Growth Advisor from Ebay
Every time I talk to someone at eBay, they just tell me to offer free shipping. I have to explain that "free" shipping is a myth invented by Amazon (people pay a monthly fee for that "free" shipping!!). And that I sell very heavy, large items. It is unfair to jack up the price on my item to everyone when shipping to Florida is much cheaper than shipping to California (due to my location).
"Free" shipping means that you have to figure out the most expensive shipping, then factor that in to the price of the item. I'd rather list my item at a reasonable price, then offer local pick up and a variety of shipping options to fit people's needs.
I'd never agree to talk with them because their suggestions would just be what those script jockey's are when you call:
Accept everything and don't try to protect yourself. Give the customer whatever they want like a good little sales whore. Resistance is futile.
About 90% of the recommended specifics for my listings are just totally irrelevant and not applicable. What’s extra stupid is if you use the new listing tool it says somewhere how less is more, then you get an email the next day saying add more specifics.
The original poster added another comment, explaining why they had hoped to speak with someone at eBay and were disappointed at being "ghosted".
If there's anyone from eBay reading this (I know there are sometimes) - I think it's important for eBay to understand OUR side of doing business.
For example, I simply cannot do same/next day shipping all the time. I give myself a three day window in the event something comes up (weather, car breakdown) and so I have days to properly source and process new product into the eBay store.
I've taken all of that into consideration forever ago... and I think it's important for eBay to understand our side of things in that regard.
I'm with you on the "free" shipping... as it's not free.
Or there was the time I went with their idea of offering free returns regardless of reason. It would "increase my sales by 15 percent" I was told. And it did... but it also increased my returns by 200 percent. I went back to "no returns accepted" and presently have a 0.58 percent return rate... and one of those was due to the carrier apparently throwing the package under the truck from the looks of it.
That's a perfect example of what eBay really needs to be doing for seller engagement - sellers simply want to be heard and made to feel like the company that says they want to be our "trusted partner of choice" is actually interested in, well...being a partner.
Underscoring the continued seller trust problem that eBay faces, some sellers were skeptical of the offer, believing it may have possibly been a scammer posing as eBay rather than the platform itself honestly trying to help.
so i got a email from a eBay saying this is so and so your profile came across my desk, reason was my account showed significant growth and qualified for some private assistance by a performance rep. I kind of blew it off and then got another email. kind of thought it was a scam at first but was not and I will explain soon.
so the following day i got a call and on the caller id it said eBay and a full name. the name was of the rep that emailed me. so i talked to him. told him i get calls all the time asking for about student load, even though i never went to college or have a student loan. then another about my car warranty and I buy older used cars and never bought a warranty.
I was like what was the fee i received on a certain item and asked what a message read in my messages. cause he claimed he had access to visual see my entire account. not sure how I feel about that. anyway he did not ask for any info. i talked and he said if i agreed they would put a 2 week work order or something like that on my account and it will tell me my strengths and weakness.
That seller went on to explain that the account review basically just consisted of being advised to try Promoted Listings, which is something I've also heard from other sellers who received this sales pitches wrapped in "growth advice" clothing.
One seller on that thread gave instructions for how to opt out of future emails/calls of this nature by changing your account settings under Marketing Communications - calling out this is actually a marketing effort, not a "we really care and want to listen to you" seller engagement effort.
Two months ago I asked "does eBay have advice for sellers beyond discounts and ads?" and it would appear the answer continues to be a resounding "no".
Liz Morton
Have you been contacted by an eBay Growth Advisor recently? If so, was their advice tailored to your business and actually helpful or just a generic sales pitch? Let us know in the comments below!
