Justin Wilson, a Senior Manager for US Federal Government Relations with eBay, is the newest member of eBay’s Government Relations team. The team is hard at work in the halls of power, from state capitals to Washington, DC, working to make sure eBay sellers are represented anywhere decisions are made that impact them.

Before joining the eBay team, Justin worked as Manager of Federal Affairs for Cruise, an autonomous vehicle company, where he expanded his knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI) policy. In his role at eBay, he focuses mainly on federal policy related to commerce, including consumer protection and AI.

We sat down with Justin to find out what drew him to this role and what he enjoys about working with eBay sellers. It turns out that small business advocacy is a thread that runs through Justin’s life. Welcome to the team, Justin!

Question: What do you like so far about working with the team and advocating for ecommerce and small business policy?

Justin Wilson: I grew up in the 90s amidst the beanie baby craze, amidst collecting baseball cards and different other sporting cards — there are still a ton of Pokemon cards at my mom’s house — and the marketplace for all of that when I was younger was always eBay. It was always: “Hold on to this; you could make a lot of money off this on eBay;” “You never know: this is going to be worth something on eBay one day.”  I always thought that was really cool. I always thought there was a value in those things.

Question: What does being an advocate for small business sellers on eBay mean to you personally? Why is it important?

Being somewhere I can help represent small business sellers and make life easier for them and allow them to provide for themselves and provide for their families and have an impact in their communities means a lot to me.

I grew up seeing a lot of small businesses in my community. My parents — and my dad in particular — were advocates of small business. My dad had a couple of his own small business endeavors, so I know what those things can mean to people.

Small business represents a way to not just make money, but be independent: to do something that you love and that you are passionate about. It’s an outlet for people. It gives people a really unique opportunity to be their own boss. I’ve always thought that was really cool.

In law school I worked at the small business clinic. We helped think about how small businesses could do things in the community legally, whether that was a privacy memo for a school to help them determine when they can and can’t take photos, or just thinking about small businesses in the community from a legal perspective.

It’s always been a thread throughout my life and eBay is the most recent extension of that thread, and I’m really excited about it.

Question: You’ve seen a lot of small businesses get involved in public policy, so what do you think is the most important thing for sellers to know who might be thinking about getting involved with policy at the federal level?

Justin Wilson: Today was my first SBAN (eBay Small Business Ambassador Network) meeting, so I had a chance to hear from a lot of sellers. I think the message I would relay to sellers is that you have the opportunity to be at the table and have your voice heard and be impactful when policies or legislation are being made or being thought about. The more you are in that room and at that table, the more impactful you can be in shaping those decisions, stopping people from making bad ones, and helping people to make good ones.

I would say to sellers: you have a very unique opportunity if you choose to use your voice. If you don’t choose to use your voice, unfortunately people will make those decisions for you.

Congress is full of people who have benefited from, worked in, or started their own small businesses, but it is also filled with a lot of people who have not.  We don’t get to determine who makes those decisions because we don’t get to determine committees. You have a really unique opportunity to make sure that the people who need to hear from you are hearing from you.

At eBay, I’m excited to carry that voice. I’m excited to work with Ashley and the rest of the team to make sure that we’re amplifying the unique voice that sellers have and letting people on the hill know just how important these businesses are to communities, districts, states, and the American economy.

Question: I know you said that you used to save things to sell on eBay or you looked for things on eBay. What is the best item you’ve ever purchased on eBay?

Justin Wilson: There was a polo line called Rugby when I was in high school and college - they had a store in Georgetown. There was a particular polo rugby shirt that I wanted that I was able to get off eBay when I was in college. So that was great.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to the team.