The eBay Government Relations team recently hosted 24 eBay small business owners from around the country in Washington, DC for the 14th annual U.S. of eBay Advocacy Day event. The sellers hailed from 20 states and advocated for policies that would make it easier for small businesses to export via the eBay Marketplace and affordable, reliable and universal postal service. The sellers were joined by Devin Wenig, President & CEO, as well as other key eBay executives, including Jay Hanson, VP and COO, Americas, Marie Oh Huber, SVP, Legal Affairs, General Counsel, Cathy Foster, VP of Global Government Relations and Public Policy, Steve Wymer, Chief Communications Officer, and Suzy Deering, Chief Marketing Office, North America.
The Canopy Hotel in the waterfront district served as event headquarters and the first evening featured a reception at which eBay seller Angie Nelson, Co-Owner of eWaste Direct, Inc., received the eBay Small Business Ambassador Network (SBAN) Advocacy Leadership Award. This award is given each year to the SBAN member who has shown exceptional commitment and dedication to advancing policy issues that affect technology-enabled small and medium sized businesses.
The Advocacy Day kicked off the next morning with a business update and Q&A with Jay Hanson. Seven groups of sellers, executives and government relations staff then headed to Capitol Hill for a day of meetings with over 60 influential members of Congress and staff. Each meeting provided an opportunity for the sellers to talk about their experiences as eBay-enabled small business owners. They also highlighted how government policies on trade and the postal service were directly affecting them and what was needed to help their small businesses to grow. At a break for lunch, the sellers heard from Senator John Tester (D-MT) about the issues on which Congress was focused and some of the items he recently purchased on eBay.