AuctionBytes Editor Ina Steiner interviews Debbie Levitt about next month's As Was Conference for eBay sellers. The podcast interview is available online. The transcript of the interview follows.

AuctionBytes: This is Ina Steiner of AuctionBytes.com. Debbie Levitt of As Was is joining us to talk about her company's upcoming conference in Florida at the end of February. The conference is for eBay sellers. Debbie, tell us what this is about? And who should attend?

Debbie Levitt: Well sure, thanks for having me on Ina. Our conference is basically looking at all the aspects of being an eBay Seller. From product sourcing, to staffing, to research and strategies, software and all the tools that are out there, branding and marketing. Gosh, its such a long list I should have probably put it in front of me! But basically we are trying to look at all the aspects of being an eBay seller and how can we help eBay seller grow on eBay - a little bit off-eBay, but we are looking at about 80% focus on eBay because that’s sometimes where the some of the pain points are, plus there are a lot of other conferences out ther, but they're not really covering eBay the way we are.

AuctionBytes : And how experienced do you have to be, because it looks you are covering a lot of ground.

Debbie Levitt: We are trying to cover a lot of ground here. Basically we think this will be right for eBay Sellers at any level. But we want people to understand that this is not some sort of companion to Griff's class or something like that. We're going to expect the people who attend to be eBay sellers and have familiarity with eBay so that we can jump in with more intermediate and advanced techniques, strategies, products, services, tools and advice. So in a sense it’s for everybody, but we do expect people to have done some eBay selling at least. And we are gearing it towards the power sellers

AuctionBytes: I was just going to ask, if I have been on eBay for quite a while but I am not a high volume seller, does that make a difference?

Debbie Levitt: Not really, because we are trying to look at it from the point of view of what are all the things that eBay sellers at all levels need to know. Whether that's how they do research, what kind of strategies are going to help them lower their fees and make more sales. Whether it's what software tools are out there that make them work more efficiently. We have a great session on how to make shipping cheaper and easier. That’s going to be for everybody. We have sessions on how cause marketing and GivingWorks can help you. We have an interesting session that somebody's going to be doing, on the pros and cons of adding eBay consignment to your business. So we are trying to look at a lot of different elements and a lot of different angles. I should also mention that we have some eBay staff themselves coming out to speak at our event. Laura Della Torre will be talking in general about certified providers. Rich Lee from eBay Stores marketing department will be letting people know how to create your best eBay Store and we have an unnamed person - a player to be named later in a trade - from eBay's Affiliate Program who will be part of our session that I am quite excited about called "Turn traffic into Cash" and part of that will be looking at the eBay affiliate program.

AuctionBytes: I am interested since you mention eBay stores, is that really viable these days? I know a lot of people who got shook up because of the fee changes and the exposure store listings were getting. How important is it? Do eBay sellers have to have an eBay store?

Debbie Levitt: I wouldn't say have to. But to me, even at that basic level, for that $16 a month, I would think a seller has to be in a poor situation to feel like they don't have the $16 per month. I think in general an eBay store is a great thing. My feeling is that eBay stores biggest problem is that it is not named the right thing. I keep joking with eBay people that it really needs to be named the eBay Showcase because in a sense it doesn't have a lot of what people associate with a store. It doesn't have a checkout. It doesn't have a traditional shopping cart or at least a traditional checkout. You are really going one item at a time if you're not on eBay express. So to me the purpose of the store is not to replace what would be an off eBay ecommerce store but it’s really to take those eBay shoppers and get them only looking at your items. Because the eBay shopper can be the ficklel low attention span person who is probably pretty quick to hit that back button to go back to their search results and look at someone else. So we feel that by taking action to drive people into the eBay stores for that $16 or $50 a month, or whatever you want to invest in it, it can be a great way to just kind of corner people in your corner of the huge Wal-Mart and get them looking at just your stuff.

AuctionBytes: So the sessions from your conference are not going to be from steps one, two and three, how to open a store, but how to drive traffic to the store, how to make the eBay store more visible to shoppers. Is that the idea?

Debbie Levitt: And easier to use. So again, to answer the first half of your question, right, we are looking at our conference not to do what the EBay University is already doing. So people who are looking for some of those, what I would call more basic questions, like What is eBay? What can you do there? Things like that, we are not going to cover that. So when it comes to eBay stores we want to talk to people about both the As Was point of view and also richly from the eBay Stores themselves talking about features in eBay stores, what design techniques in eBay stores, what layout, what can you do with categories...What can you do to make an eBay store - for lack of a better word - a sticky shopping experience. One that is going to make people stay there, one that is going to make people quickly find what they want. To me that really is the number on thing an eBay store should do. Not win an award, not have your mother tell you it looks great, the number one thing an eBay Store should do is make shopping easy. It should make eBay shoppers - whom we know hate to read and we know don't like to think- should find it easy to do.

AuctionBytes: It says on your conference site that attendees would get one lanyard “oPINion” for each service they use or have used in the past. Tell us what that is about because I think that is an interesting idea.

Debbie Levitt: Thanks. I haven't decided how I am going to pronounce it yet. Most I like to call it the oPINions. Basically the idea is - trading pins can whip you into a frenzy, we know this. But my idea is, what if pins had a different purpose. What if pins were ice breakers, what if pins were networking tools and what if pins were for the companies out there a little bit of marketing. So the idea is when attendees are registered on our site they get their badges, they get their bags and get whatever else we would have accumulated for them. They will also get these little one inch round pins. These are little retro eighties pins with logos of different companies and products who are going to be represented at our event. We expect you to put them on your lanyard, but don't sell them on eBay yet. Don't trade them away to friends. The point is we are going to give the pin only if you use that service or product or tool or company, or have used them in the past. That way if Ina is wearing an "AS WAS" pin and I am thinking of hiring As Was, or haven't heard of them, or not sure, I can go up to Ina and say "Hi have you worked with AS WAS, tell me what that was like" or "Hey you used Hammer Tap, I was thinking of Hammer Tap, how do you like them". So the idea there is to make it much easier way to break ice between the eBay sellers and to approach networking so that people can get - I know lot of the eBay community lives off the opinions they give each other and I thought why not turn that into something fun and colorful and maybe collectible. Sell that on eBay later but for now let it be a way to make some new friends.

AuctionBytes : I think networking is one of the big things you can get out of a conference and this is certainly an ice breaker to speed up the process and actually do some real research, so that is an interesting idea.

Debbie Levitt: Yes, because I just want to mention quickly that sometimes if you go to Google or through the ratings that eBay has on the solution provider’s directory website you just get a lot of negative things. I think people sometimes are happy to take time to say something negative about a product and sometimes aren't going to take the time to go out there to give a positive rating or a positive post in their blog. And so I feel if you can meet the real people who use these things or who have used these services hopefully you will get a more balanced opinion.

AuctionBytes : Well attending a conference can be expensive. Talk about how attendees can get the most out of this one.

Debbie Levitt: Well sure. First of all we have priced registration pretty much as low as we could possibly come up with without any lawyers or accountants beating us up. People can attend for just $299 per person and we have a special discount code for AuctionBytes podcast listeners. If you use the coupon code BYTES you will get another $25 off. Basically we think the conference would pay for itself in three ways. Number one, you can write it off on your taxes. Some eBay sellers thought that because they are going to Disney, kids are going to have fun and because they're going to swim and enjoy it, that they could not write it off. But the reality is that anything that is proper business that you can prove to the IRS as business is only a valid write off. So don't try to write off the Mickey Mouse ears you get that say Ina Steiner, the IRS isn't going to fall for that. So thing one is that you can write it off on your taxes. Thing two, our sessions are going to be teaching you ways to save on eBay fees and save on other expenses. So in that sense the conference is going to pay for itself and keep paying for itself.

AuctionBytes : So you are going to be talking about strategies for saving money on eBay fees. That’s interesting.

Debbie Levitt: Yes we are going to be talking about strategies for saving money on eBay fees. We have people coming in and talking about how to save money on shipping. We are going to be talking about product sourcing so maybe you'll end up with a source of products that saves you money. We are going to be talking about staffing. We are going to help people find staff who are better suited for the job. May be not cost them less, but may be cost them less in training and are likely to stay and be a better fit for their own job. So we think that there's a number of places where we can save people money.

And by the same token, our Number three way the conference would pay for itself is that lot of these strategies and techniques and products and services should be making you more money. We hope to be giving people advice like there's a session on "Driving Buyer Loyalty" and "Driving Repeat Business." We're hoping to give people ways to get people to come back. We know that when As Was designs people's eBay stores we sometimes hear that people are buying two items instead of one. If sellers can start putting ideas like that in to place they are going to start seeing more sales. So we hope to save them on fees and expenses and give them lots of new ways to make more sales. Plus other cash in your pocket like using the affiliate program and how blogs and search engines and shopping comparison websites can drive people to be buying from you as well.

AuctionBytes : So give us a quick run down on the conference location, dates, cost and where people can go for more information.

Debbie Levitt: Sure. All the information is available at www.aswasconference.com (http://www.aswasconference.com). The event is going to be at the deluxe Disney's Yacht Club Resort down in Orlando, Florida. The cost per person is again $299 but you get that $25 off if you say BYTES. Disney is going to be providing free round-trip airport transportation for all of our Yacht Club guests. So another great reason to stay at that hotel - don't pay for a rental car. Then it going to cost you flights and a couple of meals. Its going to be February 28th, February 29th and a half day on March 1st.

AuctionBytes : Florida sounds really good right now and to be able to write it off as a business expense sounds even better. So thanks Debbie. I really appreciate you taking time to talk to us.

Debbie Levitt: Thanks Ina. I am always happy to do it.

AuctionBytes: That was Debbie Levitt talking about the upcoming As Was conference for eBay Sellers.