Connecting eBay Employees and You

On Friday, April 25^th, the Community Development team held a special event in the eBay Café to launch a very special new program. Normally, I don't blog about internal events since they would be of no real interest to anyone but employees. However, this is one that I think every buyer and seller will find of interest.

eBay employees say "Hello" to you!

I am a lucky guy. I have the honor and privilege of talking to thousands of eBay sellers and buyers in the course of a year, either in person or via email or through eBay Radio. Through our constant conversations, I learn volumes about you and your experiences with eBay and other eBay members. What I learn from you allows me to do my job well (as an instructor, guide, ombudsman and "ear.") I consider my connections with you to be priceless and the reason I get up in the morning. In fact, when anyone asks me what I love most about my job, I do not hesitate telling them that it's my daily interactions with you, our Community.

Many of my teammates in Community Development are equally as fortunate, as they, too, get to meet with so many of you throughout the year. But for many other eBay employees, the opportunities for direct interaction with you are limited. It's not that they are unwilling; the majority would love to learn more about you. For them, the obstacles are "how" and "when." Since we in Com Dev are experts at the "how" and "when," we created a special program to help every eBay employee who so desires or needs, to meet and talk with you. The program is called Customer Connect.

Customer Connect will facilitate a myriad of different connections between eBay customers -- that would be you -– and eBay employees using existing features like the Community forums, live events like eBay In Person, our Voices program as well as new features like home visits and customer support "listen ins." Our hope for the program is that it will bring more employees into direct contact with eBay buyers and sellers so that they, the employees, can attain a better understanding of your needs, your own challenges as either sellers or buyers, your suggestions for improvements and changes and in general, a better picture of your day to day experiences using eBay's marketplace.

 

The launch event was a resounding success. In two hours, our team members spoke individually to over 200 employees and signed up nearly that many as "early members" who expressed interest in connecting with you through one of four main channels: Voices, Visits, Forums or Community Communications. We gave away lots of specially branded tchotchkes like big glass mugs, t-shirts and tin flower pots with real grass seeds to water and grow (like a chia pet!).

Signing up employees for Customer Connect

In addition, we had four local eBay members come to the event to meet with and talk to employees (a special thanks to them!).

Employee Lisa Laursen (Lulu) speaks with eBay member Randy Hicks during the event.

We received quite a bit of interest from employees in all aspects of the program but especially in becoming "pinks" so that they could chat and converse with you on our forums (a definite need in the Community!) I feel confident in predicting that in the coming weeks and months, you will notice more employees actively engaging with you both on and off the site.