Motors 2.0, bugs, and other Townhall highlights
Posted by Ninad on February 26, 2007 at 03:15 PM in eBay Live! 2006 , General | Permalink
Last week's Town Hall provided some insights about where eBay is going with the "re-ignite the core" strategy. Jamie Ianonne, Vice President, Buyer Experience, noted that the redeisgn of eBay Motors (known as eBay Motors 2.0) shows the shape of things to come.
Bill Cobb and Jamie explained that the new eBay Motors integrates a lot of new tools to provide the auto buyer as much information as possible while they are shopping. A buyer can look at the Kelley Blue Book information for the vehicle they're considering buying, get shipping quotes, financing options, and Vehicle History Reports. (See the announcement for more info.) Catering to what buyers want in these ways -- so that their experiences on the site meet or exceed expectations -- is key to eBay's strategy.
Another leg of the strategy is improving the Finding experience for buyers, and as Jamie explained, his team will be incorporating our learnings from eBay Express -- and the new eBay Motors -- to improve the search experience on eBay.
I was struck by the number of technical issues that were called in into last week's Town Hall. The Back Button issue, which had been gaining some notoriety on the Community Forums, naturally raised its ugly head. (Thankfully, the worst seems to be over - read Laura's post for more information). Diehard fans of the old Sell Your Item (SYI) form, as well as those of Seller's Assistant, also pointed out difficulties in using the new products that eBay has introduced (i.e. the new SYI form and the Blackthorne products that replaced Seller's Assistant). Jim Ambach from the Product team acknowledged the difficulties some members were experiencing in transitioning to the new products, but also pointed out that it was a change that was inevitable. He explained that the technology behind these products was quite old (in some cases as old as 7 years, which on the internet timescale is almost pre-historic) and therefore a redesign had become imperative. He also pointed out that these changes are never easy for our community to make (he reminded us all that the switch several years ago to the old SYI was also painful). His team is well aware of the pain of learning and adapting to new tools, and they have been working hard to make the transition as smooth as possible.
Using Turbo Lister 2 with Microsoft's new operating system, Vista, was another issue. Matt Carey, our Chief Technology Officer, explained how a fundamental characteristic of the software industry can come into play during a major software launch such as Vista, and inadvertently cause difficulties for eBay users. He explained that, although Microsoft and other software makers typically share the relevant parts of their codebase to companies like eBay in advance of a launch (so that eBay can make its features compatible), often the software creators are making last minute changes to their code all the way to the launch date. This means that companies like eBay need a little time to catch up. Jeremy King, from eBay's product team, explained that the Turbo Lister issues should be fixed in the next week or so.
Members also wanted an update on eBay's excessive shipping policy and the process to report listings that stick out in this contentious area. The member who asked the question said frankly that they were very skeptical of eBay's implementation of the excessive shipping policy, and said that the reporting process was "obtuse." Bill responded by acknowledging that it was an issue we've been struggling to resolve, although we've taken firm steps, such as proactively suspending the most egregious sellers. He said we're still working on some product-based solutions, some of which could be launched as early as the second quarter this year. One of these solutions is the ability to give buyers the option to sort listings by total cost (i.e. inclusive of shipping). So... stay tuned again.
Other highlights of the Town Hall included a glimpse of what we have lined up for members at eBay Live! (Yes, registration is open, so sign up early!). We have over 150 classes for beginners all the way to experienced PowerSellers. Suze Orman will be there to offer financial advice, and for those interested in knowing who's playing in this year's gala event, it's Kool & the Gang! Bill reiterated what every eBay employee who attends eBay Live! feels. "We as employees get so much out of eBay Live! We realize what a great purpose this compnay has, and also how inspiring members are to us." Having been to two eBay Live! events now, I couldn't agree more!
An amusing moment for me during the Town Hall was Matt Carey, our Chief Technology Officer, introducing his team (who were all on hand in the room to answer any questions). He went down the list and then wondered, tongue firmly in cheek, "I'm not sure who's running the site right now." You can catch that moment by listening to the archived audio of last week's Town Hall.
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