eBay cutting 700 jobs in Vancouver

[eddly]

 

May 6, 2009 at 12:00 AM EDT

 

VANCOUVER — Online auctioneer eBay Inc. said Tuesday that it will close its Vancouver office, where about 700 customer service agents work, as part of a consolidation of its operations.

 

The company said it plans to increase the number of workers at its Salt Lake City officer, where it currently employs more than 900 customer service agents, and at other offices around the globe.

 

“While it is a difficult decision to close our Vancouver facility, we believe that consolidating our North America customer service operations will help accelerate our efforts to continually exceed buyer and seller expectations,” said Chad O'Meara, vice-president of customer service for eBay Marketplaces.

 

The company plans to close the Vancouver operation by Sept. 30.

 

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From the archives

 

EBay sales fall on weak economy

Last month, eBay reported a weak economy led to lower earnings and revenue for the second consecutive quarter.

 

EBay earned $357.1-million (U.S.), or 28 cents per share, in the first quarter, down 22 per cent from $459.7-million, or 34 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

 

When excluding items, eBay said it earned 39 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected 33 cents per share.

 

Revenue fell eight per cent to $2.02-billion, just above analysts expectations of $1.94-billion.

 

Revenue from eBay's marketplaces segment — which includes eBay itself and e-commerce sites such as StubHub and Shopping.com — fell almost 18 per cent to $1.22-billion.

 

On the news today eBay also used the recession excuse. Of course we know the real reason they are suffering. (Evil sellers )

 

 

 

[lizards2]

WTF do they need customer service for anyway :shrug: I wouldn't have guessed that they had so many....,

[Subliminal]

Now they will have an excuse as to why they are ignoring their customers, they don't have enough CS personnel to handle all the complaints

[Beau]

How many CS people does it take to email form letters that say they are aware of the problem and are looking into it, but cannot divulge the resolution? I'm pretty sure the automated reply server rack does that by itself.

[Forbush-Man]

"....we believe that consolidating our North America customer service operations will help accelerate our efforts to continually exceed buyer and seller expectations,”

 

 

 

Nothing like a good laugh first thing in the morning. (thumbs u

 

[Flaming_Telepath]

"....we believe that consolidating our North America customer service operations will help accelerate our efforts to continually exceed buyer and seller expectations,”

 

 

 

Nothing like a good laugh first thing in the morning. (thumbs u

 

Yeah, that one jumped out and kicked me right in the nads, too.

[Ringfinger]

"....we believe that consolidating our North America customer service operations will help accelerate our efforts to continually exceed buyer and seller expectations,”

 

 

 

Nothing like a good laugh first thing in the morning. (thumbs u

 

Yeah, that one jumped out and kicked me right in the nads, too.

 

[homerwannabee]

"....we believe that consolidating our North America customer service operations will help accelerate our efforts to continually exceed buyer and seller expectations,”

 

 

 

Nothing like a good laugh first thing in the morning. (thumbs u

 

That has to be the funniest coporate quote of the year. Never seen a statement be so wrong on so many levels.

[jordanscott]

"....we believe that consolidating our North America customer service operations will help accelerate our efforts to continually exceed buyer and seller expectations,”

 

 

 

Nothing like a good laugh first thing in the morning. (thumbs u

 

That has to be the funniest coporate quote of the year. Never seen a statement be so wrong on so many levels.

 

I wonder if these PR types go home and cry or shower with acid or the like to try and get clean after making statements like that.

 

 

[joe_collector]

I wonder if these PR types go home and cry or shower with acid or the like to try and get clean after making statements like that.

 

Nope, PR hacks have too many mental issues and are taking too many prescription drugs to even remember what they did one day to the next.

[Count]

"....we believe that consolidating our North America customer service operations will help accelerate our efforts to continually exceed buyer and seller expectations,”

 

 

 

Nothing like a good laugh first thing in the morning. (thumbs u

 

Yeah, that one jumped out and kicked me right in the nads, too.

 

Me too...

 

Exceeds? Did they ever meet the buyer and seller expectations? I'm still waiting...

[dekeuk]

"....we believe that consolidating our North America customer service operations will help accelerate our efforts to continually exceed buyer and seller expectations,”

 

 

 

Nothing like a good laugh first thing in the morning. (thumbs u

 

 

Ebay serves a purpose and I would hate to see them ever go out of business

 

BUT

 

They are one of the most evil corporations out there that continuously break the law:

 

They are breaking US anti-trust laws by forcing sellers to accept paypal and not advertise other forms of payment accepted

 

They refuse to allow paypal to be regulated by US banking laws (as it should be)

 

They own Stub-Hub (let me get this straight, it is illegal for me to scalp tickets on the street in all 50 states, but if I give a big cut of my scalping profits to a big corporation it is OK)

 

Whatever..........

 

They are what they are. They are not going away, but the company's best days are behind it unless they re-invent themselves like Apple & Amazon did.

 

 

 

 

[Bosco685]

How many CS people does it take to email form letters that say they are aware of the problem and are looking into it, but cannot divulge the resolution? I'm pretty sure the automated reply server rack does that by itself.

Exactly what came to mind when I read this announcement. I would think they could save even more by automating the response, and just use a random name generator to sign off on the form.

 

" Dear Buyer.

 

Thanks for your note about paying for a book, receiving a different book, and now the seller not responding back.

 

We take this very serious, and will be investigating immediately. Unfortunately, due to confidentiality concerns, we will not be able to inform you of our actions.

 

Good luck on your future purchases.

 

Bob Bigbootee

eBay Customer Support"

[Subliminal]

"....we believe that consolidating our North America customer service operations will help accelerate our efforts to continually exceed buyer and seller expectations,”

 

 

 

Nothing like a good laugh first thing in the morning. (thumbs u

 

That has to be the funniest coporate quote of the year. Never seen a statement be so wrong on so many levels.

 

If they were graded using their 5 star system by buyers and sellers their business would be suspended in less than 24 hours

[dekeuk]

 

 

If they were graded using their 5 star system by buyers and sellers their business would be suspended in less than 24 hours

 

[slym2none]

If they were graded using their 5 star system by buyers and sellers their business would be suspended in less than 24 hours

 

Someone needs to set up a web-site just for that purpose...

 

 

 

 

-slym

[sterlingcomics]

How many CS people does it take to email form letters that say they are aware of the problem and are looking into it, but cannot divulge the resolution? I'm pretty sure the automated reply server rack does that by itself.

 

Exactly. I thought they never had a "real" customer service department anyway.

[sterlingcomics]

 

 

If they were graded using their 5 star system by buyers and sellers their business would be suspended in less than 24 hours

 

 

It's funny b/c it's true.

[toro]

Wow! That was 699 more customer service agents then I thought they had!

[dekeuk]

Wow! That was 699 more customer service agents then I thought they had!

 

They call them c/s agents but the actual breakdown goes like this:

 

 

100 looking for bootleg CD auctions

100 looking for illegal porn auctions

100 looking to bust people that advertise they take money orders

100 looking for ways to increase fees on sellers

100 looking for ways to get rid of small sellers

100 looking for ways to make the ebay interface more user un-friendly

99 looking for ways to tinker with the feedback system

1 c/s agent

 

total = 700