Is it Goodbye eBay France, or just au revoir?
by Mike Butcher
on December 9, 2008

This week I’m at the Le Web conference in Paris, which will hopefully come up with a few ideas about how tech/companies are going to weather the absolute Tsunami of Pain (closures, cost-cuttings, redundancies etc) which is currently crashing on our doorstep and coming back for more next year.

But meanwhile, a few people are taking it all on the chin, as are the staff of eBay France, which – as rumour has it – is poised to close, alongside some general eBay EU streamlining. [I have a call in to eBay to get the exact details but they are aleep right now...] We’ve already seen what happened in the UK.

Somehow it all seems a lot more upbeat than the shit-fest around smaller firms laying people off, but then if you’re all going out the door, you and the CEO, there’s a certain cameraderie in that, right?

So it is that eBay France staff have made the below video.

Enjoy.

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  • Patrick

    I worked for a US outfit in the UK back in the dot com bust and the same thing happened.

    Gutless US management cut everything in Europe to save their own fat asses and keep the share price up.

    Didn’t work in the long term and they lost market share to european startups who focussed on the local market and took market share.

    Ebay will lose all their local knowledge and expertise – just to cut costs for 2 years.

    Good luck to all the Ebay staff in the UK and France, sure you can find a better employer anyway.

  • http://liginmaclari.blogcu.com/10-aralik-carsamba-dinamo-kiev-fenerbahce-sampiyonlar-ligi-macinin-go www.liginmaclari.blogcu.com
  • UnAmerican

    This will sound mean but if I was their boss watching the youtube film I would feel justified.

  • http://tinycomb.com/2008/12/13/ebay-closing-french-counterpart/ tinyComb » Blog Archive » » eBay Closing French Counterpart

    [...] attempted to get the site shut down for operating illegally, to dismal traffic since its inception. Rumor has it (coming from employees), the site is going to close along with other European eBay counterparts [...]

  • bob

    You’re right, it does sound mean. You must be a wonderful people manager.

  • http://www.bonanzle.com ma

    They already had a pink slip. I think it was grand of them to leave with a party. Makes better for getting a new job than being a bitter sore looser.
    Besides those of us using ebay know what is going on.

  • http://www.bonanzle.com Mark Dorsey

    What a cool video. Unique, honest, and fun. Kind of sounds like Bonanzle :) If you miss that “feeling” then you might want to give us a look. You can have fun again.

    Take care and best of luck to you.
    Mark Dorsey
    http://www.bonanzle.com

  • http://www.bonanzle.com ma

    wow see the wonderful support we at Bonanzle have. They answer emails in minutes and they are professional and fun too. The way the other place used to be a long long time ago.
    Thanks Mark. I hope they email you. ma

  • http://www.buildaskill.com/blog/2008/12/21/sunday-papers-21-december-2008/ Sunday Papers 21 December 2008 – BuildaSkill.com

    [...] just caught up with a post by Mike Butcher from TechCrunch that’s a few weeks old – seems eBay France is closing down completely from what he’s reported from the Le Web conference.  First I’ve heard of it, as he [...]

  • http://www.durashopping.com joe

    I partnered with the top Ebay competitor!
    I quit Ebay! Now Iam out for revenge! Lets stick it to them like the greedy sons of ####### did to us. I now have my own website where I sell Amazon products, that means I make money off other peoples auctions. Plus I can list all the products of my own that I want, (I do not have to list them with Amazon first) I just put them up on my website. I can also put all the affiliate links banners and digital products that I want on MY webpage and get paid for it. I have my own domain name so Iam building my own brand name and customer base. It was a turnkey website setup and ready to go when I started it, but with the online editor you get with it you dont need to know HTML or any programing to add your own products,banners, affiliate links, or digital products. I can change the site to look anyway I want its very easy to do. And I offer my costomers Free online games,news ,weather, sports and more. All for $20 a month. Why pay Ebays fees when you can have all of this and amazon will pay you to sell other peoples poducts along side yours , and you dont have to list anything on amazon if you dont want to? Go to my site Durashopping.com to see an example of this Website. I have modified the site(you will not get one just like it) to look the way I want, you can do the same very easy. If you also want to do this- just click the green banner at the top of the page.

    durashopping.com

  • Nick Chandler

    I’m a professional ebay seller and won’t miss the buyers from France. They’re generally self ritious scammers. 50% of all my negative feedback came from France when I sold there. And I’m talking out of thousands of transactions, 10 negatives and 5 from France.

    Won’t miss you douche bags!

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