A coffee with… Mark Monte-Colombo, head of refurbished, eBay UK

Mark Monte-Colombo has worked in retail since paying his way through college. He started as an operations manager at Homebase and worked his way up to head of the digital marketplace at UK supermarket retailer Tesco.

“That’s where I first fell in love with the idea of a marketplace and the benefits it could bring to businesses and B2Cs who wanted to scale,” he recalls.

After holding senior positions in the digital teams at Hallmark Cards, Mothercare and Amazon, he joined eBay in 2021 as head of refurbished goods.

As the proud owner of several refurbished phones and an air fryer, Monte-Colombo is a strong advocate for the potential of ‘re-commerce’. He points out that of the 2 million tonnes of electronic waste the UK disposes of annually, more than 50% of those items could have been repaired or refurbished.

TechInformed interviewed him over a brew about sustainability and the circular economy, the work he’s doing with social enterprises and the strangest refurbished items eBay has listed. Watch below…

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