eBay Launches ‘Ask Me About’ Series to Replace Monthly Chats

eBay has launched a replacement to its monthly chat sessions where sellers could chat with employees and ask questions, which it ended with the last chat taking place in January of 2024. The new “Ask Me About” series will kick off next week with eBay’s new Product Research tool as the topic. (See EcommerceBytes’ May 7th article, “eBay Sellers Can Now Check 3 Years of Sold Prices on Mobile.”)

eBay was low key about announcing the new series, electing not to publish the news on its Seller Announcement Board, but instead, pinning a post to the top of the Selling section of its discussion boards.

The introductory Ask Me About session will feature the eBay Product Research Team to field questions and share their expertise. eBay outlined instructions on how sellers could participate:

“Submit Your Questions by May 9th: You have until Thursday, May 9th, to reply to this post and submit your questions about product research. This is your chance to get personalized advice straight from the source.

“Answers Provided Next Week: The Product Research Team will compile their responses and provide comprehensive answers to your queries next week.”

eBay said the new Ask Me About series was designed to bring sellers “closer to the heart of eBay’s operations and provide you with insider insights that can help grow your business.” eBay called it an interactive series, but one seller asked, “Not to sound too picky here, but in terms of “discussion” and “conversation”: will there be an opportunity for readers to post responses to the “comprehensive answers to your queries next week”? It’s not really a dialogue otherwise; it’s more like an FAQ if we can only post questions in advance and then read whatever is issued as a response in the following week.” The post and reaction can be viewed on this thread of the eBay discussion boards.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.