AuctionBytes attended the second annual eBay Live convention two weeks ago in Orlando, Florida. We went looking for news and to see what was on people's minds at the only "industry" conference of its kind.
The Exhibit Hall had over 50 third-party exhibitors and showcased many eBay services http://www.ebay.com/ebaylivesolutionscenter. There were shipping solutions, auction management services, photography services and more. Attendees swarmed the exhibit booths, getting product demos and taking home literature.
eBay offered "eBay University" classes on many topics. It was tough to choose which ones to attend, since most of them looked useful. I attended "Merchandising to Build Your Business" on Thursday afternoon. Much of the class dealt with fee-based options, like opening an eBay Store and using Bold and Featured Plus options on listings. Other advice was to cater to holiday shoppers http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y03/m06/i26/s00.
Everyone who attended the event received a CD-ROM containing the PowerPoint slides from many of the eBay classes. It's worth taking a look if you have it, there are many interesting factoids contained on the slides, although there's no audio to explain them.
Barbara Shaughnessy, an eBay PowerSeller and Trading Assistant, wrote some articles for AuctionBytes. In an AuctionBytes Newflash article, she wrote up two classes: "Nikon Point, Click & Sell" and "Improve Your Listing with Better HTML" http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y03/m06/i27/s02. Her other articles appear in this issue of AuctionBytes-Update.
A major issue on many sellers' minds at eBay Live was dealing with non-paying bidders. Sellers who take the trouble and expense to list an item for sale on eBay are peeved (and rightly so) when a high bidder does not come through with payment. eBay has a way for sellers to send a reminder and/or an alert. Details are found on this page on the eBay site:
Sellers were also looking for sources of inventory. One class called "Online Power Buying," moderated by Pat Hughes and presented by Asad Haroon of Liquidation.com, was packed. In fact, many attendees were turned away because there was not enough room; someone estimated that over 500 people attended the session. Asad posted the slides to his presentation on the Liquidation.com Web site at http://www.liquidation.com/about/ppt/index_frame.htm.
The thing that makes online auctions and ecommerce great - the low barrier of entry - also makes it possible to make some very big mistakes, very quickly. There are too many stories about sellers who send payment they receive from customers to drop-shippers, who then never ship the items to the buyers. The implications are serious, and in some cases, sellers caught in the middle have been arrested for fraud.
We don't recommend selling items on eBay if they're not in your possession or if you're not extremely satisfied that you're dealing with a reputable supplier. We'll be writing more about inventory sources in the future, along with ways to deal with suppliers.
eBay made some announcements at the show. One of the more interesting was the Buyer Protection Program for buyers who use PayPal to pay for their purchases. They promise to deliver an additional $500 in fraud coverage. Details of the program will be released before the Fall launch http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y03/m07/i02/s01.
It was the people I met at eBay Live that made the biggest impression, including lots of AuctionBytes readers and writers, including Barbara Shaughnessy, who was as delightful in person as she is "online." Everyone pitched in, including Barbara's husband Tom, who took some photos for us. Marjie (Abovethemall), another AuctionBytes writer, saved the day with her pictures of the keynote conference. You can see all 3 days of photos online at http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/ebaylive2003/ebaylivepics.
I had the pleasure of meeting readers Jim and Barbara Nelson of Grandpa's Trading Company and Jay Senese of "JayandMarie" (formerly onecentcds@aol.com) Jay and his wife Marie are the highest volume sellers on eBay. I shook hands with Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, and I met some great eBay "Pinks" (including Jerry and eBayDani). I got a massage from "Kramer," who flew out from Hollywood to help staff the Zoovy booth. (You can see pictures of him sprinkled throughout our eBay Live coverage pages in the Photo section.)
I met Julia Wilkinson (MyEZsale Ecommerce Guide) and Craig Stark (The Bookologist) in person for the first time. They are a wonderful part of the AuctionBytes team, and I wish we could get together more often. And I met lots of other people: some eBay members, some third-party vendors, and some members of the press covering the event for their own publications. Karen and Skip McGrath, who run Auction-Sellers-Resource.com, are long-time supporters of AuctionBytes. This year they exhibited at eBay Live, and it was a pleasure to sit down and get to know them better. (Check out their free 99 auction tips at http://www.99auctiontips.com.)
More information is on my eBay Live Blog at http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/ebaylive2003/ebaylivelog. The bad news was that I didn't have enough time to see everyone I wanted to see. The good news is, I brought back information about some interesting photography products and services specifically designed for online-auction sellers, and will write about them in future issues.
I'm grateful to the companies who sponsored the AuctionBytes coverage of the event: Zoovy, AuctionHawk, BidPay and CheckFree, as well as MyStoreCredit.com and Fast-Pack.com. They made it possible for us to cover the event and have fun doing it. And as always, my heartfelt thanks to all AuctionBytes advertisers. Our 100th issue of AuctionBytes-Update is next month, and we couldn't do it without your generous support. And thanks to you, readers, for helping us reach this amazing milestone.
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
