By Devin Wenig, President and CEO, eBay
People are basically good. This is the founding principle of what is now one of the world’s leading marketplaces, enabling over $84 billion of commerce every year.
Based on this simple belief in people, we have used commerce as a force for good, empowering people and creating opportunity for all.
The United Nations placed small businesses, the online marketplace and women at the heart of the 2017 UNCTAD E-Commerce Week.
Credit: Embassy of Italy in Washington DC
When Americans think of tech hubs, they often think of Silicon Valley or Austin, Texas. Increasingly, tech companies are locating in the “Silicon Slopes” of Utah, where eBay boasts a sizeable footprint, including our LEED-certified customer support center and a world-renowned data center. Utah Governor Gary Herbert wants to see more eBay-like development across the state, so he convened some of Utah’s most respected businesses – including eBay – at the Governor’s 11th Annual Economic Summit.
Recently the German Retail Association (HDE) and eBay held an event in Berlin bringing together stakeholders from the retail industry, associations, politics, academics and media to talk about the success of eBay's SMB initiatives in the cities of Mönchengladbach Diepholz, enabling small retailers to grow their businesses online. Among the panelists were members of German Parliament Dieter Janecek and Hansjörg Durz, retail scientist Prof. Dr. Gerrit Heinemann, Stefan Genth of the HDE and Stefan Wenzel of eBay.
From left to right are Francisco Herrero León, Maria Naranjo Crespo, and José Angel Lopez.
On 10 April, eBay lodged a submission to the Australian Senate’s Inquiry into the Treasury Laws Amendment (GST Low Value Goods) Bill 2017. The Senate Economics Legislation Committee is conducting an Inquiry into the Bill which will see all online overseas shopping imported into Australia subject to Australia’s domestic Goods and Services Tax (GST) and proposes that online marketplaces collect. The move is unprecedented and unworkable.
Each year the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham) runs a number of successful political delegations on issues core to the success of US businesses in the Australasian region and bilaterally in both Australia and the US.
Earlier this week eBay hosted a board room event with the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham) in eBay’s Sydney offices where the Hon Jason Clare MP, Shadow Minister for Trade and Investment addressed a group of high profile CEOs and industry to discuss trade and delivered an official speech entitled “Wayne the Welder and the Politics of Trade: A Cautionary Tale”.
Today, Brian Bieron, eBay’s Executive Director, Global Public Policy, testified at a United States International Trade Commission (USITC) public hearing focused on global digital trade. Brian’s testimony will help shape a report the USITC is writing titled, Global Digital Trade I: Market Opportunities and Key Foreign Trade Restrictions. The report, which will be finished in August, will help inform US officials in charge of negotiating trade agreements of barriers that U.S.