Although most of the action at this year's eBay Live conference takes place in the Mandalay Bay hotel Convention Center, eBay sellers and software companies, being the resourceful bunch they are, have a whole host of events going on around Vegas and in different parts of the convention hotel.

eBay Sellers check out the Alibaba.com "Meet & Greet"

Many eBayers stopped by the Alibaba event at Mandalay Bay's Border Grill. They were serving up free Mexican food and drinks, as well as giving away their signature bright orange tote bags. You could also enter to win one of the raffle prizes displayed at the table by the bar.

eBay Powerseller and author of multiple books about eBay Skip McGrath (www.auctionsellersresrouce.com) was there giving a presentation about wholesale sources of inventory. Skip spoke about his "top 4" wholesale sources, including alibaba.com; the search engine on his site, skipmcgrath.com; merchandise marts; and trade shows. He said one of the items he bought via alibaba and sold successfully was the "ezcube light tent," which can be drop-shipped. He also said a "great item to sell is a phone card from Cosco." (He and his wife Karen regularly troll Cosco for bargains and potential inventory; Karen has successfully flipped Gloria Vanderbilt fitted stretch blue jeans).

But it's not all about learning. This is Vegas, after all, and there's some fun involved...and games.

PeSA (The Professional eBay Seller Alliance) is hosting a Charity Poker Challenge Thursday, June 15, from 1 pm to 5 pm in the Four Seasons Ballroom atop the Mandalay Bay Hotel. The event features celebrity poker players Robert Thompson from Bravoís Celebrity Poker Showdown, Las Vegas entertainer Jeff Hobson, and syndicated poker columnist Alex "The Insider" Outhred. www.gopesa.org

The gathering, sponsored by buySAFE (www.buysafe.com), will give eBayers and third-party vendors a chance to try their hands at "Texas Hold 'Em." Proceeds from the event will be donated to the New Orleans Aquarium and the NetSmartz Workshop (www.netsmartz.org).

Some events are being held elsewhere in Vegas. FoundValue hosted a party at the Tropicana hotel Wednesday night, June 14 at 5 p.m. And Overstock Auctions hosted a "2006 Appreciation Reception" Wednesday night from 7-10 p.m.; limos were provided to ferry people to and from the "Overstock Auctions Oasis," where the word was the popular model from the Overstock.com ads, Sabine Ehrenfeld (who has a cult-like following), would be in attendance.

There were lots of other private parties and receptions going on throughout the week. Snappy Auctions held their franchise meeting, and Brenda (divas_attic) hosted parties including a poker tournament (http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=1000281321).

Finally, Hammertap, makers of the DeepAnalysis research software, sponsored the "Meet the Authors" event Wednesday in the Mandalay Bay's Orchid Lounge from 1-2 p.m. Wednesday June 14. Organized by AuctionBytes' own Ina Steiner, author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars, the gathering gave people a chance to meet authors of many eBay-related books all in one place, including Janelle Elms, Skip McGrath, Dan Nissanoff, Scot Wingo, Debra and Brad Schepp, Lisa Suttora, Chris Malta, Lynn Dralle, Joel Elad, Phil Dunn, Ron Mansfield, Catherine Seda, Joseph Sinclair and Julia Wilkinson (yours truly).

Julia Wilkinson Author, "The eBay Price Guide," (No Starch Press, 2006, powered by Hammertap) and"eBay Top 100 Simplified Tips & Tricks" (Wiley, 2004-6); "What $ells on eBay for What," http://www.aolmemorabilia.com/whatsells.html; Publisher, Yard Salers and eBayers, http://www.yardsalersebayers.com Blog: "bidbits" at http://blogs.gowholesale.com/julia_wilkinson juliawilk@aol.com