The very first eBay Live conference was held in Anaheim in 2002, and many compared it to a Mary Kay convention. Attendees were excited to finally meet friends they had made online and to talk to eBay employees face-to-face. Many were passionate about the way eBay had changed their lives for the better.

Fast forward to eBay Live 2007 in Boston, and observers could see that the star-struck gaze of the 2002 attendees was gone. I was asked many times during the show why I thought attendance was lower this year - was it because it was held in Boston, or was it another reason? Over and over, vendors told me traffic was down at their trade-show booths in the exhibit hall - but they reported the quality of conversation was better.

Even the keynote address held on Thursday evening was more subdued compared to previous years. (All the announcements from the address are summarized here: http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m06/i15/s01.)

Certainly the location contributed to the lower attendance, but other factors may have played a role. Sellers may have chosen to go to other events this year put on by organizations such as Internet Retailer, PESA, IMA, Infopia and ChannelAdvisor, and one organized by Amazon sellers. Others may be concentrating on building up other channels, including their own web sites. Lower attendance may reflect profitability issues faced by eBay sellers, and it may also be inevitable as the company and industry get older.

The benefit of the annual eBay conference for sellers is to gain access to eBay and PayPal executives and meet with vendors. And it's a good show for new sellers to take classes, learn about tools and techniques, and have some fun.

AuctionBytes covered the event through news articles and photos, and through video and podcast interviews with eBay executives, vendors and sellers.

The eBay Live coverage section remains on the AuctionBytes website, here's a recap and must-see content.

Smile! - eBay Live 2007 Photos
You can see nearly 600 photos from the event - including pictures of most of the vendor booths on the trade show floor. You can scroll through the pages, or you can click on the first picture for a larger view and then navigate like a slide show. http://auctionbytes.com/ebaylive2007/gallery.html

Candid Camera - eBay Live 2007 Videos
We had some fascinating video interviews this year and tried to dig deeper to get some useful information for eBay sellers on topics like email marketing, multi-channel selling and search-engine marketing.

We also had the opportunity to interview top eBay executives Meg Whitman and Bill Cobb who answered questions about seller issues such as customer support, multi-channel selling, Feedback 2.0 and Trust & Safety initiatives. (I knew I must have done something right when Bill said afterwards that it felt like a 60 Minutes interview.)

I also highly recommend watching the interview with Brian Smith, who discusses techniques of interest to multi-channel sellers, and the interview with Jonathan Garriss, who talks about the issues from the high-volume sellers' point-of-view.

All eBay Live video interviews are found here: http://auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/tvguide_ebaylive2007

Hear Ye, Hear Ye - eBay Live 2007 Podcasts
AuctionBytes conducted audio interviews the entire week, beginning with the eBay Developers Conference. We scored many interviews, including those with John Donahoe, President of the eBay Marketplaces, and Max Mancini, Senior Director of Platform and Innovation; eBay's Alan Lewis and Adam Trachtenberg of the Developers Program; several attendees of both the Developers Conference and eBay Live; and a special interview with British bloggers Sue Bailey and Chris Dawson of Tamebay.com.

We asked a few sellers at the Meet & Greet, "if you could ask eBay CEO Meg Whitman one question, what would it be?" Listen to the podcast titled, "eBay Users at Pre-Conference Party in Boston" to find out the answers!

All eBay Live audio interviews are found here: http://podcast.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/podcast/pod.pl?eBay_Live_2007

Google Sideshow - Battling Giants
A battle between eBay and Google erupted prior to and during the show, with some comparing it to when PayPal crashed the first eBay Live in 2002 - right before eBay bought PayPal. You can read background here: http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m06/i13/s01 and here: http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m06/i14/s01

There was plenty of drama as eBay pulled its advertising from Google AdWords in the US, and eBay ejected two attendees they suspected of promoting Google Checkout during the show. For the very latest developments, be sure and read tomorrow (Monday)'s AuctionBytes Newsflash newsletter.

BuySafe Panel on Multi-Channel Selling
During eBay Live, I moderated a panel at a luncheon for eBay PowerSellers organized by BuySAFE. "Discovering the Secret Sauce of Multi-Channel Selling Success" took a look at the options available to sellers wanting to expand beyond eBay and included great tips on how to get started. You can read BuySAFE President Jeff Grass' take on the panel here: http://blog.buysafe.com/buysafeblog/2007/06/ingredients-for.html

The 100+ attendees were extremely attentive and asked some great follow-up questions, confirming my belief that this is an area of interest for many sellers. I've been using the AuctionBytes' podcasts, "Ecommerce Industry SoundBytes," to tackle some of these same issues, and plan to do more interviews with experts and practitioners in the coming weeks and months. You can subscribe to the RSS feed at http://podcast.auctionbytes.com

AuctionBytes Sponsors Made It All Possible
A special thank you to the sponsors who made this coverage possible.

Alibaba.com
http://www.alibaba.com

Auction Sellers Resource
http://www.auction-sellers-resource.com

DSI Insurance
http://www.dsiinsurance.com

Endicia
http://www.endicia.com

MarketWorks
http://www.marketworks.com

OnlineAuction.com
http://www.onlineauction.com

Terapeak
http://www.terapeak.com

Thanks also to our hardworking crew, including Julia Wilkinson, Phil Davies, Jim Whittaker and Tom Shaughnessy.

Julia Wilkinson did an amazing job reporting for AuctionBytes, and she found the time (and energy) to post to her own blog, including some fabulous pictures and even a YouTube video! http://juliawww.typepad.com/bidbits

AuctionBytes Coverage of eBay Live 2002 - 2007
If you want to take a look at previous years' conferences, all the articles, photos, podcasts and videos are archived on the AuctionBytes website. Next year's conference is June 19 - 21 in Chicago (as we reported last month in the AuctionBytes Blog). See you there.

eBay Live 2002 (Anaheim, CA)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/ebaylive

eBay Live 2003 (Orlando, FL)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/ebaylive2003

eBay Live 2004 (New Orleans, LA)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/ebaylive2004

eBay Live 2005 (San Jose, CA)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/ebaylive2005

eBay Live 2006 (Las Vegas, NV)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/ebaylive2006

eBay Live 2007 (Boston, MA)
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/ebaylive2007