eBay Academy: The new education program for sellers

In this podcast episode, everything revolves around our E-Learning platform "eBay Academy," launched in February. Our guest Torben Schwanke from the Product Engagement Team at eBay.de talks about the many advantages of the online courses on a wide range of topics related to selling. eBay sellers and especially anyone who wants to become one can learn flexibly for their business, on the go, from the office, or from home. He also gives an overview of the platform's wide variety of options and interactive formats.

**Important links**

About eBay Academy: https://www.ebay.de/verkaeuferportal/programme-gewerbliche-verkaeufer/eBay-academy

eBay Academy registration: https://academy.ebay.com/sl/f87d1de5

David: A warm welcome, dear listeners, to a new episode of our eBay podcast for sellers and anyone who wants to become one. We’re very happy that you tuned in again. My colleague Tino and I have another very exciting topic today, and we’re especially looking forward to our guest today.

Tino: Yes, hi David, and you know what? Today we’re getting thrown a bit back into the past again, because we’re basically back in school. Because today’s episode is all about E-Learning.

David: Yes, I’m getting some light flashbacks too, Tino. But as I said, today we’re talking about our E-Learning platform eBay Academy, and for that we’ve invited a knowledgeable colleague who can tell us all about it: Torben Schwanke! Hi Torben!

Torben: Yes, hi you two! I’m really happy to be here again and thank you very much for the invitation.

Tino: Yes, indeed. Torben, you’ve been our guest before. But still, maybe you’d like to briefly introduce yourself again.

Torben: Yes, of course, happy to. Exactly, Torben Schwanke, I take care of seller experiences for commercial sellers in Europe and look at various tools, features, and programs, including eBay Academy.

Tino: And that’s exactly the keyword, because today we want to talk to you about the new eBay Academy. It was only launched recently. So what exactly is it?

Torben: Yes, so eBay Academy is a so-called online or E-Learning tool that we provide to our sellers. We launched it on February 28, and since then sellers have had the opportunity to go through the courses individually. We have a wide selection of courses, and you can simply look at them however you want. So if I want to learn something as a beginner, for example, how do I set up my eBay member account or what is an eBay Shop good for? How do I optimize my listing description? Then I can do that anytime. On demand, more or less, and wherever I am. So a really great thing. We developed it in-house with the help of our colleagues from the various departments, together with customer service. And yes, it’s simply a great thing because you can really choose whichever course you want at any time. Or if I have some time in between and happen to be on the train, I’ll look at something new, and why is that so interesting? I simply have the option, depending on where I currently see myself as a seller, to take the appropriate courses. So at the beginning we focused a lot on beginners, on starters who are just getting started on eBay. Then we have another course for: I’m in the process of growing my business on eBay. I’ve already successfully made it through the first 2, 3, 4 months, so to speak, and at the moment we still have a fairly manageable number of courses for advanced users. And in all of this, we’re currently getting a lot of feedback and are also in the process of expanding it further.

Tino: And how long does such a course take? You just said, on the train, can you watch a course like that there?

Torben: That’s a good question. How long does a course like that take? So the courses are generally designed so that you need 10 to 15 minutes for one course. Under certain circumstances, sometimes longer too, depending on whether you put something aside for a moment or do something else briefly on the side. But in general, they really take about 15 minutes and then you’re through it nicely. The nice thing about a course like that is that at the end of the course I also have a quiz that I can go through to see: Did I actually understand the whole content? Or not? And the interesting thing is, I’ve gone through all the courses myself, so not only originally helped develop them, but later on also went through them again for a while and didn’t achieve full marks. So it’s not like you say, okay, Tauchen has been with us a long time, he can do everything, he’ll get through it. No, he won’t. And that’s actually the exciting part. You always learn something new, no matter how long you’ve been around.

David: How do I picture it? Is it some kind of video on demand that I watch, or what does a course look like?

Torben: Yes, so we structured the courses modularly. I don’t just have a kind of endless stream of content I have to read through, but we built it to be interactive. Some parts include videos, we have cards built in that you click on and that then flip over, so it’s a bit interactive, giving you some variety. And we also brought in help on how to build E-Learnings so that people stay engaged, but also so it’s varied. Because we know ourselves that one or another feature on our site is quite dry, and to bring a bit of fun into it and also spark interest, we simply had experts on board.

David: And what are the main focuses at eBay Academy?

Torben: So currently we have focuses for beginners. So what are the basic steps I need to take on eBay? How do I prepare? What should I have ready so that I can even register an eBay account as a commercial seller? Legal topics: What is my right of withdrawal? How long is my withdrawal period? Do I have terms and conditions? Do I want to include terms and conditions? My bank details, which I have to provide in order to be able to pay at all, but of course also to receive the proceeds from sales. I get taught the seller standards. How does eBay work? What do I actually need to meet? And furthermore, we also have courses like Seller Cockpit Pro. Some people will then say: I’m new to eBay. What is Seller Cockpit Pro? But ultimately, Seller Cockpit Pro is the starting point for sellers. In other words, the heart of eBay, with which I can manage everything on eBay. Unless I eventually get bigger and then use third-party software. So it’s clearly aimed at beginners who are just starting out on eBay. Then we have the second course aimed at: I’m expanding my business further. There we have courses like: How can I start different sales promotions? How do I improve my current performance? How do I better integrate the catalog? So what does the catalog do for me? What do item specifics do for me? So that’s where it really gets into the details. How can I create my listings faster? How, where can I simply save time? Because that’s a very important issue for: I’m starting fresh on eBay, I first need a certain amount of time to even get familiar with the listing process. Moving on to: How can I optimize the time until my listing is live? And then something that is also very important right now and a matter close to our hearts: eBay for Charity. There is also the option to sell products on eBay and donate a portion of the proceeds. And then we currently have the third course for advanced users. It’s a bit limited in terms of the courses available at the moment. There we currently have: How do I motivate buyers to buy again? So, how do I create regular buyers, repeat buyers? Then eBay Fulfillment, the classic. Another great feature we have: Multi-User Account Access, so how can I set up my eBay member account so that various employees in my company can handle certain things on my behalf? And then we’re already moving into international trade. So what do I need to do as a seller to perhaps first tackle international trade with shipping, as a first step. And the second step would then be listing items on other marketplaces outside of eBay Germany. We make a distinction there because it brings other complexities with it.

Tino: And I think that’s super exciting, especially everything you’ve mentioned for the experts, so to speak. I also work a lot with sellers who have been with us for a long time. And those are exactly the ones who asked for courses like this. And I think it’s great that this has now been implemented with eBay Academy. One more very short question on that: But if we now have an expert, I think as a “refresh” it definitely makes sense to look at the basics again from time to time. Or is it only for, let’s say I’m an expert, I’ve been a customer for a long time, can I only watch the expert videos?

Torben: Exactly. So I can choose: Which courses do I want to watch? When do I want to watch them? And as you just said: I’m an expert, I’ve been around for a long time. Is it perhaps worth it for me to look at one or another beginner course or course on expanding my business? Absolutely yes, because one thing or another may get lost over time, simply fade away. And it should be said that we now have a basic framework that is live. But we are working, based on the feedback we have already received so far, both from sellers and from colleagues, to expand eBay Academy further. And that is a very important component. As a marketplace, we are constantly evolving. That’s just part of the nature of the thing. And it’s the same with eBay Academy. That means we are in the process of adding more courses for the individual steps. That will happen over the next 2 to 3 months. So there will be a significant expansion of the courses, where we will really provide courses for, let’s say, the absolute top sellers, the professionals, as well. And also to support them, while of course also working with them to say: What are the questions that are on your mind? Questions that someone who is just starting out may not even have, because the complexity of the matter simply isn’t there. For example, should I have one eBay member account for every currency? Or should I have an eBay member account for every, for every country? What are the advantages? What are the disadvantages? And there are various models that you can simply look at, and we then reflect that in the corresponding courses as well.

Tino: Torben, would you like to tell us a bit more about the individual courses? Let’s start with the basics now. What is the course “Basics” about?

Torben: So what is the basics course about? We looked at: What is the challenge that a new member on eBay has? Where do many new customers stumble, and what do we need to do differently? So just putting up a help page and saying: Look at the help page, that’s not enough anymore. As a marketplace, we’re complex. We know that and at exactly this point we thought about it and looked at the feedback too: How can we support sellers better? Namely not just through a help page, but also by connecting the dots. By saying: What do I do with, for example, service standards? How can I influence them? What do I do with the item description? How I optimize it is one thing, that’s on the help page. But how I can actually check the optimization, namely by using a tool called “Sales Reports” or “Traffic Report” as a basis for analysis, to see: I changed something in my listings, how does it affect things? Do I have more impressions? Do I have fewer impressions? If I have fewer, then maybe I should change something back or try something completely new. If I have more, then I’ve done something right, and I can transfer that to the rest of my inventory. And this linking of the individual functionalities that we have on the site, that is what we want to achieve with eBay Academy. So we really look horizontally across all the functionalities we offer sellers and no longer just explain the individual things, but how do I connect everything? Like a clockwork in the end, because I can use everything together, but I first have to understand it. And eBay Academy is exactly there to give sellers that understanding. How does one thing connect to another? How can I influence it and how can I control it and adjust it? And in fact, you can do that very well with the Traffic Reports, which are actually real-time as well. That doesn’t mean that if I make a change now, I can look five minutes later and say: Oh, now I already see the change. You do have to give the whole thing a bit of time, of course. At the end of the day, the buyer decides. But you can very well use all the tools we provide to check success and then scale from there. And that’s what we want to convey with eBay Academy, namely to impart knowledge across the board.

David: So that means you’ve already learned quite a lot. When I’ve completed this first course once, what do I move on to next? So, how does it go, how does it go on once I’ve completed the introductory course and then maybe want to get started myself for a bit, want to apply the knowledge I’ve acquired. Which course can I take next?

Torben: Well, that’s a good question. What can I do next? So I think there’s always something to do, eCommerce is very broad. Of course you also have to look at where the preferences of one person or another lie. Do I want to see how I can perhaps highlight my specific inventory? In the sense that I then say: Okay, maybe I run a sales promotion, I place, I run an ad with one or another product. Or is it more that I say: Okay, how do I want to, how can I generate more visibility without additional marketing measures? You can definitely do that by thinking about: Okay, what other options do we have? And what’s exciting here is that we then say, if I look at a listing on the site and select edit listing, it will also show me: Okay, more item specifics lead to my listing simply gaining more visibility. And at the beginning, when I’m new, I’ll probably meet the minimum requirements for my listings and the mandatory item specifics, otherwise the item can’t go live. But if I then say: Okay, I want to expand my business further, I want to scale it, then of course I look for options. What can I do? And it’s not just marketing things, but with small things, additional item specifics, I can actually generate more visibility for my listings both on eBay and outside of eBay, and thus also more revenue. And those are courses that we then really cover in the second learning path. And what is coming up next at that point is also that we said, if I expand my business, then not just nationally, but also look beyond the borders. And how can you do that? The easiest step, for example, is to offer shipping to Austria. That’s the first step into international shipping. I have the same language, so it’s a good fit. But I’m already cross-border, and then further challenges arise for me as a seller. Whether of a legal nature, possibly of a tax nature. At this point we have to be very clear: we can provide neither legal advice nor tax advice. But these are the kinds of things sellers can and should deal with, and then use that to work more than just the regional German market and offer their listings. One more thing at this point: what we’ll also be doing is introducing seller tips as a course soon. Seller tips is a relatively new feature that allows sellers to neatly represent legal topics such as the Battery Act, waste equipment disposal, and the Youth Protection Act. And so, we also introduce new functionalities there. That means it’s not just a one-off thing where I look at something and say: Okay, now I’ve learned something about expanding my business, international trade. Rather, we also present functionalities, explain how this feature can help me scale my business further and make the whole thing easier and more effective in the end.

David: Torben, you’ve already mentioned cross-border trade and that it’s worth really checking out the courses regularly because we keep adding new ones. What’s the plan there? What new courses are coming? How often does that happen?

Torben: I can’t see into the future. Yes, so I can tell you today the current state of where we are. We are currently planning to add almost 15 new courses in the next few months. If you consider that we currently have 17 courses, that’s almost a doubling. So there’s still quite a lot happening, and more is planned. Of course, it’s always a question of how quickly we can implement it and get the content live. Internally, we of course have to look at it. The whole thing also has to be written up and put into a suitable form. It should of course also be appealing for sellers. And what we’re also doing at the same time is not only bringing the courses live, but also talking to one or another seller. How does that come across? How easy is it to understand? So we keep getting feedback at this point as well. Is it easy to understand? Can you work with it? Can we release it? And that also takes a bit of time. Of course, it doesn’t happen within one or two days. But the next 15 courses are planned by the end of July, and in the second half of the year more courses will be added. And of course we are also continuously bringing more features to the marketplace, and we will present and integrate those there as well.

Tino: Torben, that’s actually quite a large number of courses that our sellers can participate in. Where can you find eBay Academy?

Torben: Yes, so either I go to eBay and then through the help at the top I click on “Help” and enter eBay Academy. Or I can, as probably most sellers do, use a classic Google search and type in “eBay Academy.” And then I either end up on the so-called landing page of eBay Academy or I get there via the eBay seller portal and am redirected to eBay Academy.

Tino: Yes, very nice. We’ll definitely link the landing page in the notes here too. That way our sellers can find it very easily. What about the courses? Is there some kind of certificate for our sellers too?

Torben: Yes, great that you mention it. I actually have the option of having a certificate issued to me at the end of the course. So as confirmation: I have successfully completed the course, understood the content, and I have that for each individual course, so that I can really say: Okay, I’ve now worked through the whole thing, absorbed it, and can put it into practice. So certificates: yes, at the end of every course.

David: Do I get the certificate once I’ve consumed the content or only after I’ve passed the quiz at the end?

Torben: Yes, neither. That’s the nice thing about it! That means, on the one hand, you’ve consumed the content, yes. Taken the quiz, and then at the end of each course you have to say “Complete course.” And that is then the confirmation that we say: Okay, now comes the certificate, which is then also sent by email.

Tino: Very nice! David, we should see if we can somehow complete a course like that ourselves. I’m curious how we’ll do.

David: I think it’s definitely exciting for colleagues and for me too to go through the whole thing, because as Torben already said, he basically helped set it up and even he didn’t get full marks. And if, if even the creator doesn’t always get all the points, then I think to myself that there’s definitely still something for us to learn here and there.

Tino: Yes, but Torben, definitely an incredibly helpful and great program for all our sellers. It’s really a gigantic added value. And as you surely know, we’re actually already at the end of our podcast. But right at the end there’s always one more question! You already know this from last time. We naturally want to know once again: What was the last thing you bought on eBay?

Torben: The exciting question. You keep stumbling over it because you keep thinking, what did you buy, what did you buy? I actually bought some tasty chips on eBay a few days ago, I don’t even know exactly when. A few days ago it was. I once ate delicious chips at a celebration, I don’t know, two or three years ago, called salt and vinegar there. And unfortunately you don’t find those everywhere in the supermarket. If you google them, you also find the company they’re from. I don’t even know anymore whether they’re sold in Germany, but abroad, yes! And then they actually came to me from the Netherlands.

Tino: Oh, how lovely!

Torben: And yes, it was a great thing and tastes really great too.

David: But I always like that about eBay, that you can also find things there that you don’t necessarily find so easily in local retail, because the seller is in the Netherlands or Belgium or somewhere else. I always find that quite nice. It’s a small advantage that I keep finding again and again when browsing on eBay. Yes, thank you very, very much, Torben! With that, we’re already saying goodbye to you again, dear listeners, and we hope you enjoyed this short talk about eBay Academy just as much and were inspired to check it out again. Thank you very much, Torben, again for your time, and to you out there: We always appreciate your feedback in our community. You’re also welcome to leave your questions there. We’ll gladly pass them on to Torben or other colleagues, and of course on the podcast platform you’re listening to us on right now, you’re welcome to subscribe to and rate the podcast.

Tino: Yes, many thanks Torben. You’re always welcome back, it’s always great talking with you or listening to you. I think that’s super exciting. And yes, David, thanks to you too, of course, as co-host—it’s always a pleasure. And with that, we’ll hear from each other again in the next podcast soon, and until then we say goodbye!

David: Yes, definitely until next time. Bye!

Torben: Yes, thanks. Thanks for having me here and take care. Ciao.