eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

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AuctionBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on
ecommerce and the online auction industry
by Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com

October 30, 2009

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

By: Ina Steiner

Fri Oct 30 2009 14:38:57

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that eBay is kicking off a marketing campaign on Monday featuring the tagline "Come to think of it, eBay" and including print, online and TV ads.

eBay Marketplace Operations president Lorrie Norrington told the Journal, "We want to shift the buyer perception of what eBay is today."

Here's a link to information about last year's campaign, which seemed to consist mostly of coupons and a tie-in with Microsoft Cashback (seemed to be more of a pay-customers-to-shop approach).

In 2002, the tagline was: "Do it eBay" (To the sound of Frank Sinatra's "I Did It My Way"). In 2005, the tagline was, "Whatever it is, you can get it on eBay." And in 2007, it was, "Shop Victoriously."

"Come to think of it, eBay" sounds like an afterthought, it will be interesting to see the ads and integrated approach.

Update 10/30/09: The article has since been updated, I've just noticed. The Journal goes on to say that the ads feature high-end designer items, new products as well as overstock and out-of-season goods: "last year's model mp3 player still plays this year's music."

In addition: an eBay "pop up" store will also travel across the country in the coming weeks to show customers a "vast selection of new, in-the-box merchandise that eBay sellers are offering."

In launching a big campaign, many companies these days take a viral approach, alerting bloggers and social networkers to generate excitement. eBay told me this afternoon they have not issued a formal announcement on the campaign. The choice of pre-briefing the Wall Street Journal is an interesting choice, given its articles are behind a firewall, for paid subscribers only.

Clearly the message is for Wall Street: "We see a clear stabilization in the business as well as in the U.S. economy," said Ms. Norrington. "We feel confident enough that it's time to go out and re-engage consumers with the eBay brand."

Update 11/3/09: You can see the TV, web, print and banner ads here.

Comments (115) | Leave Comment | Permalink

Readers Comments

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: msyrtis

Sat Oct 31 23:19:33 2009

It reminds me of the old Kmart commercial with Jacquelyn Smith introducing her line of clothing there: even then, in the early 80s she had to say ''Yes. Kmart.'' Because, just coming from Charlies Angels the viewer would expect that she could have chosen much better.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: x_powerseller

Sun Nov 1 01:08:44 2009

Could this change of heart for eBay to finally advertize is mainly because of pressure by the Diamond sellers?

I noticed that buy.com just launched on Amazon!

Wouldn’t be a nice slap in the face, if the diamonds start to fold shop on eBay too?

Fire Donuthole, Norrington and the fat useless & liar Griff NOW!

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: MIng the Merciless

Sun Nov 1 03:13:06 2009

It is against one of ebafia's new policies for buy.com to sell the same merchandise on ANY other venue (including their own) that they're selling on ebay.

Start reporting buy.com using the report this item link in the upper right corner of the listing. Be sure to give specific item numbers from buy's wesbite and from Amazon.

Report this policy to the Federal Trade Commission. It constitutes restraint of trade.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Consumer Response Center
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580

1-877-382-4357

Online fraud complaint form:
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

DEATH to ebay corp. in 2009.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: Matt

Sun Nov 1 04:09:43 2009

I will be selling and shopping at "Come to think of it, Amazon".
They know how to treat their sellers and buyers with respect.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: TV ads

Sun Nov 1 07:19:54 2009

Where are the Bonanzle.com and iOffer.com TV ads? NOW IS THE TIME.
Come to think of it, i will do no shopping on corrupt ebay.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: rebel

Sun Nov 1 08:26:22 2009

Yeah, eBay is the pits and the ad may be lame, but at least they're getting their name out there and people, like sheep, will go where they are directed - To Ebay.

Which will leave us small sellers on smaller venues who refuse to spend money to advertise to get the name recognition, at a bigger disadvantage. Bonanzle, are you listening?

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: Hardrock Rules

Sun Nov 1 10:09:41 2009

@MING - Do you mean if I am selling a wolf touch lamp on ebay I cannot sell it on ioffer or another site ?

Has Donahoe really taken my right away to offer my products on any venue I want ?

Where is this policy on eBay ?

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: J

Sun Nov 1 10:15:38 2009

"Has Donahoe really taken my right away to offer my products on any venue I want ?"

No. He certainly wants to control everything but fortunately he has no right to and he knows it.

"Where is this policy on eBay ?"

It is worded as a strong suggestion somewhere. They can KMA in that regard. My items, my control.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: On Lies and Secrets

Sun Nov 1 10:51:12 2009

@rebel

In all honesty, if you are selling on one of the other sites, depending on what you sell, I really wouldn't worry about ebay getting a boost in sales from advertising on television or taking any sales away from the smaller companies. First, there is a tremendous amount of negative word-of-mouth about ebay. Lots and lots of people hate ebay. After all of the recent scandal and corruption and public bail-outs of large corporations, I suspect that being a small company has its advantages these days in terms of public perception - I think consumers look at corporations with a new kind of skepticism and cynicism.

I also suspect that the competition is more between Amazon and ebay than between ebay and bonanzle or etsy. Bonanlze, Etsy, Ruby Lane, ecrater, etc. seem to be differentiating themselves from ebay in terms of welcoming authentic antiques/semi-antiques, second-hand items, one-of-a-kinds, real vintage items, handmade items, curiosities, some collectibles, etc. and ebay has pretty much turned its back on these niches which do have viable markets. There are many things that you can find on these other sites that are not available on ebay anymore . Moreover, Google has made it easier to find these items than ever before.

Ebay television ads may drive some traffic to their site, but traffic isn't the same thing as sales. Ebay's search is profoundly broken and the site is hard to use. Ebay search frequently brings back irrelevant items and there are several frames of information on the page not to mention a big block of advertising (''Sponsored results'') that appears before the links to the next page of search results. Consumers are not likely not to find what they want in the first page of results (unless they conduct a hopelessly broad search) and they may not realize that there are more pages because ebay interface is badly organized. People can't buy an item if they don't find it, so I suspect that ebay advertising may result in a bit more traffic, but not necessarily any more sales because of the poor site design and complexity. It is simply too hard to use ebay effectively without having both experience and tenacity. I suspect that busy and harried holiday shoppers aren't looking for the type of challenge that shopping on ebay presents.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: LUCIOUS VAN DER KREIG

Sun Nov 1 12:00:41 2009

the ''COME TO THINK OF IT'' is a copy from a 1980's beer commercial, It went ''COME TO THINK OF IT.......I'LL HAVE A HEINEKEN'', they are copying a beer commercial from the 80's, thats a joke right??? So they are saying we need to be drunk to buy on ebay,i can agree with that.I would have to be drunk to try listing there again, i had a succesful gun parts and antique collectable militaria bussiness there for 7 years before donahoe screwed it all up.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: Hardrock Rules

Sun Nov 1 12:09:16 2009

@J - I was gonna say, I do not make $22,000,000 a year to destroy peoples income.

I am using Lamps for example only, but I have children to feed, and if it is legal for Donahoe to tell me if I make $100 a week on eBay selling lamps, and I am not allowed to offer those lamps on any other site to make $200 total for my kids food he can shove it !

That should be illegal, to control someones freedom like that ! So I hope Ming is not right, my kids need food, and I will sell the same item on eBay and every other site if I choose !

And it is my sincere prayer that Donahoe cannot take my freedom to do so.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: Harriet

Sun Nov 1 13:43:42 2009

Google is the one that does not allow you to list the same item on two or more different sites

http://google.com/support/merchants/bin/answer.py?hl=en&a
nswer=160074

Go there and look at duplicate and borrowed content.

These are all their updated policies.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: Buck Efay

Sun Nov 1 15:05:37 2009

And don't forget our listings placement is now also weighed by number of "impressions" in best match.
meaning everytime your item is wrongly included in a search because of
Ebay dunderheaded engineers parameters, and doe not sell, you lose again. Has a greater team of morons ever been assembled on earth? Oh yeah, "The Gang That Could'nt Shoot Straight" is as close to the level of idiocy from feebay nowadays as I can find.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: Harriet

Sun Nov 1 16:04:39 2009

I think the entire site has become so complicated with all the changes and lack of good computer people (because they let a lot of them go) that when they make one small change, it makes other changes in things they did not intend--unintended consequences--collateral damage.

But, that is really no excuse. That should not be happening. There is too much time spent on overthinking every little thing, studying graphs and pie charts and convoluted crayon drawings, and not enough time spent on nuts and bolts basic monitoring of the site by people who know what they are doing, to ensure that collateral damage does not happen.

Of course, the enormous amount of changes in themselves are detrimental to good sales on the site. That is a given.

The two problems combined form an exponential growth in negative problems.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: Buck Efay

Sun Nov 1 16:19:15 2009

The geniuses at Ebay can't be bothered to do things like oh you know TEST on the beta site!!! They are really reaching now, it's like Germany at the end of WW2, throw anything up in the air. They had great Engineers and lousy leaders too, thank god for us:) Ebay, you can't engineer your way out of this mess, best bet is a total system reset, get rid of all your hoops, bars & badges, you had a perfect old Detroit 442 classic running well with a few knocks, instead of fixing the knocks, you added 17 layers of crap like PCV valves & emissions, and now Ebay's putting along like a 2nd hand yugo. Until the core is fixed, failure is inevitable.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: Ming the Merciless

Sun Nov 1 17:39:28 2009

Nearly everything that's wrong with ebay can be attributed to two major factors.

I. Ebafia's corporate culture has terminal cancer.

A. Too many senior executives with oversized egos, no ethics, and no social conscience (except when doing so is profitable) making decisions about things they really know next nothing about such as the dynamics their marketplaces.

B. Too many over ambitious, short term junior executives trying to develop their resumes for their next job.

C. Over reliance on EXPENSIVE consultants who don't understand the marketplace, either. They think the ebay marketplace works like others, LOL.

II. GREED

A. GREED

B. GREED

C. GREED

Want to cut costs and try to recover from your death spiral, ebay?

I. TRASH Best Match NOW. It doesn't work, never has worked, is probably illegal, and the more "fine tuning" you do, the worse it gets.

II. Fire the consultants until you do the exact opposite of what they tell you.

III. Fire Frank Luntz and survey companies. Talk to your REAL sellers and restore the level playing field. LISTEN to your sellers and act accordingly. When you finally get it through your head that when sellers succeed, ebay succeeds, you will have learned the single most thing about how ebay works or should work.

Now, what you've created is a monster paradigm that creates dangerously antagonistic relationships with customers, creates distrust between buyers and sellers, and creates anger and hostility among sellers.

IV. Reduce ALL fees across the board and renounce all further use of unnounced, hidden fee increases.

V. Restore the original feedback system You lied about why you changed it anyway. FIRE BRIAN BURKE.

VI. Allow checks and money orders in item descriptions. You shot yourself in the foot with this one.

VII. Fix the plethora of technical problems. Make ebay more streamlined, stable, and EASIER to use not the junky, over coded piece of cr*p it is now.

VIII. STOP LYING TO SELLERS. STOP STEALING FROM SELLERS. STOP HELPING BUYERS TO DEFRAUD/STEAL FROM SELLERS. FIRE GRIFF - hee certainly doesn't advocate for most sellers; in fact, quite the contrary.

IX. Pull the third party ads from seller's listings NOW. Did it ever occur to you that the reason you felt compelled to do in the first place is because you created a seller hostile environment and sellers left leaving a very large revenue hole?

Probably not. You probably would have done it anyway because you're GREEDY, and there's never enough revenue to suit you.

X. The three most things ebay can do to maximize its chance of survival.

A. FIRE JOHN "The Ho" DONAHOE
B. FIRE LRORRIE "The No" NORRINGTON
C. REPLACE THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS with people who understand this unique business and the idiosyncrasies of ebafia.

The Ho has a wooden head and won't listen to anyone so

DEATH to ebay corp. in 2009.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: toolongseller

Sun Nov 1 18:11:32 2009

Come to think of it ebay...I am going to throw the biggest party when I finally close my store which was oh so successful for years until the ebay nazis took over and have ruined everything. All there is left now are a bunch of non-paying buyers or paying buyers that act like they own you are rude and snotty. Seriously, a huge weight will be lifted the I leave ebay...come to think of it.

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: Buck EfaY

Sun Nov 1 19:14:29 2009

The hits keep coming... Ebays billmelater bank partner just filed for bankruptcy!
http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/01/news/companies/cit_grou
p/index.htm?postversion=2009110116

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: buck efay

Sun Nov 1 20:21:33 2009

scam warning from bay board:

SO WHAT NEXT I SEE A LIST AT COLLEGE ON WAYS TO GET FREE STUFF ON EBAY
Nov 1, 2009 3:28 PM Report
I ACTUALLY SAW A LIST OF WAYS TO GET FREE STUFF ON EBAY

I teach a few classes on business and marketing at UNLV . On Friday I was in the student union and was looking for a play posting when I saw a tear away posting with a list of ways to get

"free stuff for the holidays on ebay "

-buy damages or discounted goods at stores like t.j maxx and then buy a new one on ebay and send the broken or damaged one back -good for cosmetics and clothes

-included on the list was how to file a snad and mail back another item you wore or want to get rid of

-go to large sellers and buy several items and say it was incomplete get a refund which pays for your other items

- use a credit card and dispute so you immediately get your money back

- send item back parcel post if you can takes longer and file with your cc so you can do a few more before you close you i.d.

- how to use several i.ds to do this

their was over 20 items on the list I pulled the one i saw down and gave it to campus security . they really could do nothing as it is a student whaling wall I was told
Come to think of it, I like Paypal aided & abetted theft!

eBay Holiday Campaign to Include TV Commercials

by: Hardrock Rules

Sun Nov 1 20:43:33 2009

@TOOLONGSELLER : Right on Brother ! You and me both !

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