eBay has announced the appointment of Saskia Meier-Andrae to a newly created role, combining leadership of all of the marketplace's activities within the European Union. According to her LinkedIn profile, she has been general manager for the German market since March 2024 and head of the Central Europe region since September 2025.
In her new role, she will continue to lead the German market and will report to Oliver Klinck, vice president and general manager of global markets and C2C. Promoted internally, she previously worked for the American online furniture seller Wayfair, where her last position was country manager for Germany.
Oliver Klinck praised her track record: « Au cours des deux dernières années et demie, Saskia Meier-Andrae a joué un rôle décisif dans l'élaboration de notre stratégie de croissance. Elle sait également comment allier les avantages d'une mise à l'échelle avec les exigences spécifiques de nos marchés européens. Elle est donc la personne idéale pour rapprocher nos marketplaces de l'UE et pour façonner la prochaine phase de notre développement en Europe. »
An organisation between European scale and local roots
According to the press release, eBay wants to give greater priority to the European level, develop cross-market capabilities and roll out proven solutions more quickly. Responsibility for each national market will nonetheless remain with local teams, the goal being for national marketplaces to collaborate more closely.
Asked about this logic, Saskia Meier-Andrae summed up the trade-off at stake: « Pour nous, la question n'est pas : européen ou local ? La question est : où la mise à l'échelle européenne crée-t-elle le plus de valeur – et où la proximité locale constitue-t-elle l'avantage décisif ? » She added: « La proximité avec notre communauté est l'une des grandes forces d'eBay et reste donc un élément essentiel de notre modèle. »
The Depop deal in the background
This reorganisation comes after eBay announced in February the acquisition of the second-hand marketplace Depop from Etsy, for around 1.20 billion US dollars. The group has also rolled out an authenticity verification service for second-hand fashion and luxury items, available in Allemagne, and since August also for buyers and sellers in France and Italie, with verification continuing to take place in Allemagne. Approved items benefit from increased visibility across the three markets.
