eBay is waiving fees for sellers in Ukraine and is facilitating donations to support Ukraine relief aid from buyers and sellers on its platform. “In support of our Ukrainian sellers, we are waiving their seller fees,” said eBay Chief Marketing Officer Andrea Stairs in a post on the US Seller Announcement board on Friday.
Stairs said eBay was also protecting sellers in Ukraine from late shipment penalties, feedback, and other account penalties. That protection will also extend to sellers shipping to Ukraine. “Also, we are supporting the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine by raising funds for The American Red Cross, Nova Ukraine, and Save the Children,” she said.
eBay is allowing buyers to support those organizations through “Give at Checkout,” and sellers can choose to donate a portion of their sales.
eBay will match up to $250,000 in customer donations through the end of March. In addition, eBay will be matching all employee donations at a 2:1 ratio.
At Thursday’s Investor Day, eBay CEO Jamie Iannone opened the conference by saying a few words about the company’s support of Ukraine. “At our core, eBay exists to help people in communities around the world. It’s part of our purpose, and it’s why so many of us work here. And so for us, it’s very clear. We stand with Ukraine. We understand the gravity of this situation, and we know there are limitations to what one company can do to help, but we are doing what we can. We’re taking steps to support out sellers in the region. We’ve also paused all transactions for buyers and sellers with addresses in Russia.
“To the people of Ukraine, our hearts are with you. We support you, and we grieve with you. Even in the midst of this crisis, we sincerely hope for peace and safety.”
You can find more on Iannone’s keynote address to investors and Wall Street analyts at the March 10th eBay Investor Day in this EcommerceBytes Newsflash article.
Etsy CEO Josh Silverman had similarly offered a message of support for Ukraine during his company’s fourth-quarter earnings call 2 weeks ago.
Amazon has also been working to offer assistance in support of Ukraine in several ways, including donating $5 million to UNICEF, UNHCR, World Food Program, Red Cross, Polska Akcja Humanitarna, and Save the Children. It has also been working closely with Ukrainian customers and partners to keep their applications secure. And it has suspended shipments of retail products to customers based in Russia and Belarus and is no longer providing customers with access to Prime Video in Russia.
