When Free Beats Your Price, Learn From Ebay with Yvonne Pop

What happens when competitors offer for free what you charge for?

Yvonne Pop, Director of Global Markets Pricing and Monetization at eBay, shares how eBay rethought its marketplace pricing by looking at who receives the most value, who is most willing to pay, and what makes customers choose one platform over another.

In eBay's UK business, the answer meant a major shift: stop charging certain consumer sellers and focus monetization on the buyer side instead.

In this episode, Yvonne reveals how to rethink pricing when free alternatives threaten your business, why customer perception can matter as much as the price itself, and how to balance sophisticated pricing with simplicity and trust.

**The next opportunity to meet Yvonne Pop in person will be at EPP 20 Years Global in Amsterdam on 17–18 November. Register here to secure your ticket.

Why You Have to Check Out Today's Podcast:

When free wins: Learn why eBay stopped charging certain sellers and shifted where it captures value. Price the right customer: Discover how buyers and sellers value the same marketplace differently. Psychology beats assumptions: See why what customers think they pay can matter more than what they actually pay.

"Do not ever ignore the human customers behind it and the human psychology."

– Yvonne Pop

Topics Covered:

02:00 – Managing Change in Pricing. Learn how Yvonne approaches pricing transformation through governance, standardized processes, and organizational change management.

04:00 – Who Should Pay for a Marketplace? Discover why eBay must consider both buyers and sellers when setting fees, while balancing supply, demand, and transaction value.