eBay: the Green Online Giant?

eBay has always been about “reuse” – one man’s trash, and all that. So in a way, they’ve always supported a “greener” way of shopping. Well, the online giant is now capitalizing on that with a new spin on the old sell.

Now they realize the world is ready to shop greener, and almost without changing anything, their messaging has changed. Same online garage sale, now wrapped in green. And you know what? I don’t mind the new message. I don’t call it “greenwashing,” really. It’s just recognizing a new reason people are buying.


(It's really just a small part of their huge site, impossible to find from their main page. And they call it their "Green Team.")

eBay’s also taking other baby steps to help the planet, with their Giving Works - a way to donate a portion of sales to nonprofit causes - and MicroPlace - a micro lending service that supports sustainable development.

Hey, if every big company like this is making incremental changes in the way they do business, that’s a good thing. Now when they promote it, they need to drastically improve their advertising creative. (See my post from two days ago, below.)

(I got this tidbit from PSFK, “inspiration to make things better,” and they got it from TreeHugger.) I'm reading: eBay: the Green Online Giant?Tweet this!