eBay's third annual user conference takes place in New Orleans in less than 3 weeks. This year as part of our eBay Live coverage we'll have a page of exclusive time-limited coupons. Keep your eye out for special deals from many of your favorite services. If you would like to advertise in the coupon section, email David at dsteiner@auctionbytes.com, the cost is $100. All proceeds from the coupon section will be donated to the Disabled Online Auction Users Association (DOUA), which helps differently-abled people start their own online-auction businesses through education and mentoring programs.
The DOUA is co-hosting a reception during the conference in conjunction with the eBay Elite. They will hold a live-auction fundraiser at the reception called "the eBay Community Celebrity Auction" and have graciously invited me to participate. I don't consider myself a celebrity, but I think lunch at a New Orleans restaurant with online-auction users to raise money for a good cause sounds like a fun time! With room for only 500 at the reception, being held at the New Orleans Aquarium, AuctionBytes readers who are interested should hurry to get tickets, see details in today's This & That column.
The subject of today's industry profile is Jerry Lynch, founder of AuctionHelper. Jerry began developing a tool to automate his own eBay business in 1997 and turned his software into a commercial product 2 years later. He offers candid and thoughtful answers to questions about the auction industry. This is the third interview in an ongoing series. Please let me know if have someone you would like to nominate for future profiles.
An eBay seller posed an excellent question recently. He asked, "What do most people do if their item doesn't sell on eBay and other auctions? Are there any good classified-listing Web sites? Do you know which are the biggest/most popular?" We published a story in March about Craigslist (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y204/m03/abu0115/s02) and one of our current advertisers is LiveDeal (http://www.livedeal.com), a classified site that brings regional buyers and sellers together.
Clearly it depends on what the item is, but I was intrigued by the possibilities. It sounds like an excellent topic for the discussion boards, so please visit http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=10002 if you would like to share your strategies for selling your online-auction duds.
This week's issue of Business Week magazine profiles eBay sellers Marie Senese (jayandmarie), Marjie Smith (abovethe mall) and Shelly Hudson (shoetime), along with an article about "Mompreneurs":
"The Rise of The Mompreneurs: EBay has given corporate dropouts a new
way to balance work and family," by Michelle Conlin (Business Week, 6/7/04) http://digbig.com/4bfnb
(You must be a Business Week subscriber to access the other articles online.) The articles demonstrate the diverse backgrounds of online sellers, and the empowerment of starting your own business. Kudos to all small-business owners!
Thanks for reading,
About the author:
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.
