Last week 25 eBay Sellers from 22 states visited Washington DC’s Capitol Hill for eBay’s 11th annual U.S. of eBay Advocacy Day event. Hosted by the eBay Government Relations team, this event brings together eBay sellers to meet with Federal officials and advocate for sound ecommerce public policy. This year participants held more than 65 meetings with U.S. Senators, Representatives and members of their staff to discuss important issues that affect small and medium sized businesses, like Internet sales tax and cross border trade.

While members of Congress are regularly lobbied by large businesses and other special interest groups, eBay’s event is unique because it brings our customers to Washington, in addition to employees and executives. This is an impactful model, because it provides Members of Congress the opportunity to hear directly from small business constituents that add jobs and create value in their state or district.   

Internet sales tax continued to be a primary area of discussion, and with good reason. In February of this year, the U.S. Senate passed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015. However, in order to get this bill passed, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) promised proponents of Internet sales tax legislations a vote on one of the current proposals. eBay has been opposed to the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) and the Remote Transactions Parity Act (RTPA), because both pieces of legislation would impose burdensome sales tax collection requirements on eBay sellers. This year’s group of Advocacy Day sellers reinforced with their Members of Congress just how devastating the MFA and RTPA will be to US internet-enabled small businesses if passed in their current forms.

Showing just how important this event is to protecting eBay sellers from bad public policy, we were joined by a number of eBay executives including eBay’s SVP and General Counsel, Marie Oh Huber, Head of North America, Hal Lawton, Chief Communications officer, Dan Tarman and Head of Global Operations, Wendy Jones. We were also once again joined by eBay CEO Devin Wenig. Not only did Devin join sellers for meetings on Capitol Hill, but he also met with key international policymakers to discuss cross border trade facilitation for small businesses. One of the highlights of Devin’s visit was his keynote speech at the third annual Internet Association Charity Gala, an event that brings together Internet industry leaders and senior government officials, while also serving as a benefit for the After-School All-Stars organization. Attending lawmakers included House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), eBay’s Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Senator John Thune (R-SD)

This annual event was once again a major success. We’d like to thank the 25 eBay Sellers who took time away from their businesses to advocate for all internet-enabled businesses and eBay entrepreneurs.

To get a better appreciation for the event, check out the event overview video below: