A documentary called "The eBay Effect" will air on the cable television network CNBC next month. The program is scheduled to air on June 29 at 8p and 11p; Friday, July 1 at 8p and 11p; and July 3 at 9p,12a (all eastern times). CNBC had a camera crew at the PESA (Professional eBay Sellers Alliance) meeting in Atlanta as part of a profile of Marjie Smith of the DOUA. I'm not sure who else they are featuring, but I've heard through the grapevine they interviewed eBay's Jim Griffith; taped some eBay University classes; and interviewed a fraud victim.
A previous documentary by CNBC won a Peabody award - "The Age of Wal-Mart: Inside America's Most Powerful Company" (http://digbig.com/4dhwn). If we learn anything more about the eBay Effect, I'll let you know.
AuctionBytes is gearing up to cover the eBay Live convention in San Jose on June 24-25. I'll be going out early to cover the eBay Developer's Conference, which is taking place June 22-23, while David will be coordinating everything from the office. We have covered all three prior conferences with photos, news stories and my weblog, and will have some incredible coverage (maybe a few surprises?) of this year's conference as well.
Each year, companies sponsor our coverage, and, like last year, we will offer a special coupon section. Coupons benefit readers in two ways. One, you can save money using the coupons, and two, you can take out an ad in the coupon section to advertise your own business. We require that coupons offer the holders a special discount or offer of some kind, however. The coupons are valid for use for 15 days, from June 19 through July 3.
If you are interested in advertising in the coupon section, contact David at dsteiner (at) auctionbytes (dot) com for more information. The coupons will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The cost is $125, with 20 percent of the proceeds going to the Disabled Online Users Association (http://www.doua.org).
If you don't receive the AuctionBytes-Newsflash newsletter, you may have missed an article about California's AB 1178, which seeks in part to clarify whether eBay drop-off stores fall under the state's code for secondhand dealers and pawnbrokers (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m04/i29/s02).
Other states are also working on regulations affecting eBay sellers. Last week, eBay posted a request for consignment sellers in Texas to contact their legislators about House Bill 2152, which would require eBay Trading Posts and Trading Assistants to be regulated as licensed auctioneers in Texas (http://digbig.com/4djag). I'm trying to keep up with developments with the help of Kathy Greer, editor of Unravel the Gavel, a New Hampshire newspaper about antiques and auctions (http://www.thegavel.net). We've written a number of articles about the issue and will continue to write about new developments.
The day's Newsflash headlines always appear on our home page. And to make it easier to read more than one day's worth of news, David created a special page on our site where you can view a week's worth of headlines: http://auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/rss
I hope you enjoy today's issue, and 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.
