Ina's Web Log
Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com, keeps a
diary of her visit to eBay Live in New Orleans. Scroll down for the later entries.
Wednesday,
June 23, 2004 - 10:00pm CST
It was hot and humid in the Big Easy as eBay users descended upon the sultry city of the
south on Wednesday. Coming from Boston, I was enchanted with the architecture and romantic
nature of New Orleans.
I met some eBay sellers on the shuttle from the
airport, including 2 Boston-area clothing Store owners, a bookseller from Melbourne,
Florida, and a seller who sells a bit of everything. This was their first eBay Live
conference, and they were revved up to have a good time.
I checked in to my hotel, which is very "New
Orleans" with its high ceilings, wood floors and ceiling fan. One wall consists of
windows which go all the way up the 20-foot high wall. (Thank goodness the air-conditioner
works great.)
I trekked off to the convention center, which is a
short walk from the hotel. The Developers Conference was in full swing, and I made my way
to the press room to meet Randy Ching, VP of eBay Solutions Platform. Randy patiently
answered all my questions about developments in the developers program (no pun intended).
Some things he couldn't talk about, like a new Non-Paying Bidder program which is coming
in July, sources tell me. It's called "Unpaid Items," or UPI, but I don’t
know how it differs from today's NPB process.
Naturally I liked Randy when one of the first
things he said was, "I read AuctionBytes every day." And he offered to help with
an article about the features of My eBay, which he says is very robust.
I also had a chance to talk to Jeff Jordan and
Maynard Webb and listen to a talk with Tim O'Reilly (the king of tech publishing) and
Pierre O (don't ask me to spell his name, it's been a long day; besides, Pierre is like
Cher, there's only one!).
I ran into Paul Lundy of Auctionworks, which is now
called Marketworks. His company is sponsoring these eBay Live coverage pages, thanks Paul!
Rumor Central
- eBay Live will take place in San Jose, California, next year, according to high-level
eBay sources. No word on whether that was part of the agreement eBay negotiated with the
city of San Jose when it worked out a land deal to expand its headquarters. If so, it's
possible the conference could find a permanent home in the Bay area.
- eBay will roll out a new-generation Non-Paying
Bidder process called Unpaid Items next month.
- I could not get any more information about a
rumor that surfaced about 2 months ago that eBay was considering rolling out a fee-based
enhanced Completed Items search. At the time, eBay spokesperson Hani Durzy said eBay is
committed to a free Completed Item search capability, but couldn't say whether eBay would
come out with a fee-based option at some point in the distant future, or words to that
effect.
- Andale is not exhibiting at the eBay Live
conference. They pulled out at the last minute, possibly due to recent management changes
(CEO Munjal Shah stepped down.)
_________________
Thursday, June 24, 2004 -
11:30am CST
After covering the Developer's conference, which was
getting rowdy even before the Beer Bash, I headed over
to the French Quarter with freelancer Julia Wilkinson.
We found a cute little restaurant, and I ordered a
muffaletta, which I've heard is a must-have when in
New Orleans. I'm happy to say this unique sandwich
lives up to its reputation.
Thursday morning came too fast, I was at the Hilton at
7:30 am to cover the annual shareholder's meeting.
There were no suprises. This year there were more
shareholders who were also eBay sellers, and they
asked some interesting questions. (See Newsflash
article.)
On my treks around the convention center I've run into
some interesting people, including Tasha from
Checkfree; Barbara Crews from About.com; Kara Gordon & Shirley Muse from wsRadio;
Griff.
I'm on my way to the Hilton to have lunch with
AuctionBytes freelancers Barb & Tom Shaughnessy, Nancy Hix and Julia Wilkinson.
The eBay live conference hasn't officially begun, but
there are orientation sessions and a lot of networking
going on!
_________________
Friday, June 25, 2004 - 1:00am CST
To kick off the AuctionBytes coverage of the eBay Live event, Julia Wilkinson, Barb
Shaughnessy, Nancy Hix and I strolled over to Kabby's Restaurant at the Hilton. Our waiter
epitomized the happy carefree nature of New Orleans and was charming to the max. When he
discovered we were eBayers, he broke into the eBay song heard on commercials.
The four of us strategized on how to best cover the conference, and lingered over lunch.
Catfish and crab bisque were on the menu, so I was happy. And I was thrilled to be able to
thank Barb, Nancy and Julia for taking the time away from the conference to write up
articles and submit them to AuctionBytes. They are all charming and talented.
Not everyone is happy with eBay. I took a pic of Nancy Spaulding, whom I had interviewed before the
conference. Nancy was out in the hot New Orleans sun picketing the convention protesting
eBay's billing glitches which have yet to be fixed. As I was headed out, Henry Gomez, head
of eBay Communications, promised to hook me up with some techies who could explain the
problems and hear first hand what eBay was doing about it.
The Exhibit Hall opened at 4:30 with lots of food. Attendees scurried around to find
nourishment, collect pins and get their inserts stamped (Nancy will explain more in her
article.)
After schmoozing, I headed to a media reception at the Hilton, and then headed over to the
Aquarium for the eBay Elite meeting. I was delighted to meet some of the powersellers I
had met in New York. And the charity auction was a smashing success! I am feeling an
over-inflated sense of importance, having been bid up to a whopping $550 for lunch with me
in the French Quarter. My thanks to the high bidder, Scott Marlatt (ebaeseller) who has
two eBay Stores, www.ebaystores.com/ebaesellersworld
and www.ebaystores.com/the-other-world-empire.
I will fill you in.
I met so many people at the reception and throughout the show. It's after 1am and if I'm
going to make it to Meg Whitman's keynote address, I had better hit the sack!
_________________
Friday, June 25, 2004 - 5:45pm CST
I imagine many eBay Live attendees are feeling like I
am right about now, Friday afternoon at 5:45 pm:
pooped! We've all been running around taking classes,
perusing the vendors in the exhibit hall and
networking.
But we will perk up when it's time to head to the
French Quarter, have a scrumptious New Orleans meal,
and explore the "Big Easy." I haven't made it to the
casino, and likely won't have time to, but I've run
into some people that have "deposited" some money
there.
I met with Scott Marlatt (ebaeseller) who "won me" at
the celebrity auction last night to benefit the DOUA,
coordinated by BuySafe and held at the eBay Elite
summit at the aquarium.
Scott and his colleague Jerrod (not sure about the
spelling, sorry!) and I had lunch at Mulates
Restaurant across from the convention center.
Scott is a powerseller selling aquarium products, pet
supplies and toy swords. He has 11 employees, 2 eBay
stores and his own ecommerce site.
_________________
Saturday,
June 26, 2004 - 12:45am CST
They closed the press room as I was writing my last
entry, and so now here I am at 12:45 am playing
catch-up! The challenge of the eBay Live conference is
to attend events, meet people, write up news articles,
write the blog, and find time to sleep!
Friday morning started off with Meg Whitman's keynote
address. She brought Jeff Jordan onto the stage to
give a presentation (see Newsflash article). There was
no Weird Al, no earth-shattering announcements. The
coffee kicked in while Jeff was speaking and I missed
5 minutes of his speech (never enough stalls in the
ladies room). Someone told me he talked about category
rollup, so I'll have to find out more and report back.
I met with Vaughan Smith, Senior Director of Internet
Marketing for eBay, after the Keynote address. Just
between you and me, I think Internet Marketing another
term for affiliate marketing. Which Vaughan and I
discussed quite a bit. At the show, eBay announced
they were adding an affiliate tier to their API
program.
Some of you might remember articles we did about some
of eBay's affiliates who engaged in keyword spamming.
The part eBay sellers objected to was the copying of
content from auction descriptions onto these 3rd party
sites with no permission from the sellers themselves.
I asked Vaughan if eBay still allows affiliates to
republish individual auction descriptions, and he said
yes, as long as the terms & conditions are followed.
Vaughan said they had hit some early hiccups when the
pilot program first launched, but the affiliates must
abide by strict terms and conditions, and things are
much better.
We also talked about some of the positive aspects of
the program, such as increased traffic to the site;
the ability of eBay sellers to participate in the
program and earn extra money. In July, eBay will be
increasing the affiliate commissions. The lowest level
affiliates now earn $5 for every new user they bring
to the site who registers; in July, the lowest rates
will jump to $10. And for every visitor who bids, the
rate jumps from 5 cents to 10 cents (for the lowest
level).
While this brings traffic to eBay and encourages
bidding, it also becomes more attractive for
affiliates to come up with "creative" ways of earning
their commissions. We will keep an eye on the
activity.
I saw no signs of picketers in front of the convention
center on Friday. Thursday's picketer, Nancy, headed
for home. She said she stood outside the convention
center for 2 hours on Thursday and handed out 100
pieces of literature.
It's now 1:10 am, and I haven't gotten through all of
the Friday activities but must end here for now. I had
a delicious meal tonight at NOLA's, one of Emeril's
restaurants - thank you Catherine & Company!
Stay tuned, Saturday should prove interesting.
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