Live Coverage of the Trust 'n' Safety Town Hall

Hello and welcome to the latest installment of the eBay Town Hall.  The event will be Trust 'n' Safety focused, but other questions will be handled as well.  I'll be posting pictures throughout the event. We got the technical issues that delayed the start of the Town Hall resolved, and again, thanks for your patience while we fixed them.

Hope you all enjoy!

Chief Marketing Officer and your substitute Town Hall M.C., Gary Briggs

Don't Miss Today's Trust and Safety Town Hall with Rob Chesnut

A few weeks ago, Rob Chesnut, our Senior Vice President, Rules, Trust & Safety was on Oprah to explain how people can protect themselves from "spoofing" and "phishing" scams that have become so prevalent on the internet.

Rob and thousands of other eBay employees around the world are dedicated to stopping fraudsters who target eBay members. Today at 2:00 pm Pacific time, Rob will talk about eBay's Trust and Safety initiatives in one of our frequent Town Hall events. Joining him will be Dave Cullinane, eBay's Chief Information Security Officer.

I'm planning to blog about the Town Hall in the next few days, but there's nothing like listening to it live via internet radio. Rob and other eBay leaders will be taking questions from members during the Town Hall, so send in your questions to TownHall@ebay.com or better still, call 877-474-3302 during the event to ask your question live on the air.

Member Spotlight: gateway2adventure

Hello again, and welcome to our latest installment of the New Member Spotlight.  This time I'm very pleased to be able to share with you a member's personal story of how using eBay helped her family through some very difficult challenges.

Don't forget...we want to hear your stories too. Remember, it can be anything from a uniquely interesting item you sold, to how eBay has led to a dramatic change in your life. You can submit your stories directly to chatterblog@ebay.com (team), ryank@ebay.com (me), or on our dedicated discussion board thread. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our RSS Feed, so you can get updates each time a new post goes up.

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eBay Helps Provide a "Gateway to Adventure"
by gateway2adventure

What does a parent do when faced with overwhelming therapy expenses and unable to pay for need therapy for a child.  That was the situation my family faced about 1 1/2 years ago when our child was diagnosed with a developmental disorder known as Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID).  One of the worst situations any parent can face is know that your child desperately needs something, and be unable to financially provide for that need. We are dedicated to educating people about this Developmental disorder our child has been diagnosed with, and have dedicated our About Me page to educating others about SID.

Faced with what was overwhelming situation we decided to start selling items from our home on eBay.  We were already members of the eBay community who had items, so we thought we would give eBay a try. We prayed that we would make a little extra money to help pay for some therapy sessions.

We started off selling a few items, and quickly learned the ins and outs of selling on eBay.  After some trial, and of course a few errors, over the first few months we soon had extra money coming in and were able to pay for therapy and some much need developmental appropriate toys to work with our child. What started out as a desperate need by parents slowly grew into a small business.  We truly entered the business world through the back door.

Learn more about Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID) at: Sensory Naton Sensory Processing Disorder Center Incredible Horizons

We currently are proud Power Sellers, and operate an eBay Store where we specialize in selling quality outdoor clothing items. To continue to grow our eBay business we attended eBay Live! last year in Las Vegas. I had chance to meet Bill Cobb personally and share our families story with him (and that's me with Griff in the picture above).

Thanks to the eBay Community we have been able to pay for ongoing therapy for our child for over a year.  Last year our child was completely non-verbal and at least one year behind developmentally.  He is now talking, and quickly making huge developing strides.  We are grateful from the bottom of our hearts to the eBay Community for helping our family!

Please know one thing…we LOVE our child with our whole heart and souls.  We would do anything under the sun, moon and stars to help him!  Thank you eBay for allowing us that opportunity! Sharing this information with the eBay Community is one way to increase awareness of this developmental disorder.

Thank you for talking the time to hear our story!

49 Days Until eBay Live! - Check out the pins

Hey All You Chatter Readers,

It's less than two months away now until eBay Live! opens in Boston.  I got the scoop on this year's collectible pins and I know how popular they are so I ran over here to the Chatter to blog about them as quickly as possible. 

You can use this as a check list for yourself to mark down the ones you collect when you arrive in Boston:

• Paul Revere
• Boston Tea Party
• Faneuil Hall
• Boston Marathon
• Mayflower
• Lighthouse
• Lobster
• Zakim Bridge
• Education Specialists (first school in US) - be sure to print out your eBay Live! agenda builder and take the copy to the Education Consultants Center to receive this pin.  This is the only way to get this pin.

Now that all you loyal Chatter readers have the 411 on this years eBay Live! pins, feel free to head over to the eBay Live! discussion board to start sharing your knowledge. I'll even let you take the credit for knowing where you got this information if you're asked where you found this out.  You just have to promise to come up and say hello to me when you're at eBay Live!

I also overheard some fellow employees saying these are this years "Don't Miss Events" at eBay Live! 

• Thu June 14 Keynote Address with Meg Whitman at 6pm
• Sat  Jun 16 Town Hall with Bill Cobb at 11am -
• Sat Jun 16 Closing Gala with entertainment from Kool and the Gang at 6pm

For those of you who can't be with us in Boston, we'll be broadcasting the Town Hall live over the internet so you can listen in at home from your computer.  And finally, at the Gala we'll announce the winners of the annual Community Hall of Fame award.  This award recognizes outstanding members who go above and beyond with their contributions to the eBay Community. 

Okay, I think that's all I have for now about eBay Live!  I'll keep snooping around here at eBay headquarters in San Jose for more information to share with you. 

Brian

Web 2.0 Expo hits the mainstream

Back in my chair from Web 2.0 Expo last week. This event officially answered any lingering questions I had about whether Web 2.0 has hit the mainstream yet. This crowd of aspirational entrepreneurs grew from expected 4,800 to estimated 11,000 by the end of the event. Step right up! Who wants to be the next Kevin Rose?

Besides the WSJ article that broke first morning of conference, I enjoyed Kevin Lynch's keynote demo of San Dimas and John Batelle's chat with three entrepreneurs: Joe Krauss of JotSpot, Mena Trot of SixApart and Jay Adelson of Digg. Jeff Bezos also sparred a little with Tim O'Reilly (pictured at left) at the beginning, whose interview-style is entertaining in that excruciating, David Brent, avert your eyes kind of way.

Also, learned a few fun things, such as:

• Jay from Revision3 (pictured on the right here) talking about user "snacking" on video clip snippets that currently may happen mostly on a computer screen, but also that deeper video content and hosted shows are increasingly being viewed on devices like iPods and set-top boxes like DVRs

• companies are currently able to target content at individuals viewing pages (or more correctly their online clickstreams) without revealing PII (personally identifiable information) as opposed to just targeting based on the context of content of whatever page they happen to be viewing at the time. We're getting very Minority Report.



• adding a local dimension to your app can up your CPMs you can charge to the tune of 10X (a search for "attorney" costs $1.59 while the term "attorney in denver" nets closer to $10.00)

We also did the after-party circuit in San Francisco and checked out the FMP party at House of Shields, Snap.com party at TWO Restaurant and finally the netvibes party at 111 Minna bar and gallery. After all that fun, it was a little more challenging than usual to get back to business as usual in the office last week!

- Delyn

It's not easy being Green... or is it?

Like many people, I spent last Sunday -- April 22 -- doing ordinary things.  I worked on projects around the house, drove an elderly neighbor to an appointment, and spent time with the kids.  Like many, I didn't think much (ok,at all) about the fact it was Earth Day. 

But it was, and, according to their website, Earth Day Network's Mission statement is this:

"... to grow and diversify the environmental movement worldwide, and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle for promoting a healthy, sustainable planet. We pursue these goals through education, politics, cultural events, and consumer activism."

It made me wonder -- is the growing awareness about global climate fluctuations and the fragility of our polar icecaps and ecosystem showing up on eBay somehow? 

Here's a bit of a personal story.....I'm probably like most people. I recycle, I turn the lights off when I'm not in the room, and whenever someone develops a hybrid or biodiesel minivan, sign me up.  Up until recently, I've lived with this very casual attitude toward environmental issues -- sure, I'm for saving the earth, but I probably wouldn't go too far out of my way to act on this attitude.

But, as the years go on, things are changing for me-- I live in a coastal area that is feeling the effects of climate change and pollution. In my small, blue-collar town's newspaper, not a week goes by when we don't read about a new climate-related story, whether it is regional or global.  I was moved by Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, and when I look at my 10 and 8 year olds, I sometimes wonder what kind of world they will inherit, and how different their worries will be from mine. 

So, I'm finding that I do have an "inner activist" when the right buttons are pushed.   A couple weeks ago, city employees announced they were going to cut down six antique maple trees that are 80 years old and 3 stories high in order to fix the sidewalks.  As the homeowner next to them, I'm all for fixing the sidewalks -- they really are a hazard.  I'm also tempted by the fact I wouldn't have to rake 100 bags of maple leaves each fall.   But -- how many trees can we really afford to keep cutting down? 

Trees help combat the negative impact of the carbon in the atmosphere -- they slow the phenomenon known as global warming.  Trees seem so ordinary, but they really are extraordinary, and I was frustrated that no one was AT LEAST considering the alternatives out of respect for a treasured resource.  And these trees are truly beautiful, a landmark that makes the street unique. 

So, with the help of my husband and kids, I started a local campaign.  I posted fliers on the trees, delivered fliers door-to-door, and started a calling campaign to the mayor and other city leaders.  I live in a very nice town with good decent people.  But we all need to slow down and THINK differently if we're going to have a hope of solving today's problems. I'm pleased to say this neophyte "treehugger" (thanks to the vocal community who love these trees and supported the cause with their phone calls and emails) won, and the trees will stay. 

It was a good exercise -- people's voices do count, and little steps add up to a lot.  People told me "you can't fight City Hall" but they were wrong.  We changed some minds and helped bring about a positive outcome that wouldn't have happened if we hadn't taken action.  It all started, though, because I'm also changing.

Which makes me wonder about others -- as more of us get shaken out of our comfort zones and begin to seriously look for ways to "go green," how are we mobilizing and taking action?  What are eBay members doing, as an example?  Are you starting cottage industries around environmentally-friendly product lines?  Buying tools and technology on eBay to help you harness wind and solar power? Changing your packaging to be more eco-friendly? 

If you have story about how you are "going green" on eBay, write to us at chatterblog@ebay.com.  As for me, I'm off to look at biodiesel cars on eBay....

Update on Virginia Tech Support through eBay Giving Works

When I posted about the Virginia Tech tragedy last week, our eBay Giving Works team was working with the school to figure out how best we could help our sellers support the families and victims. The "United in Caring Fund For the Victims of the Virginia Tech Tragedy" has now been added to their directory, meaning that sellers can now officially have proceeds from their sales directly routed to the cause. The fund has been established by the United Way of Montgomery, Radford, & Floyd, and was created with a $10,000 gift from VT alumus and current Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick.

Even if you don't have any items to sell, you can still help out by buying items from sellers donating to the fund. You can easily see the listings here. On behalf of everyone here, thank you for your support.

A Member Teaches How to Drive Traffic via MySpace on eBay Radio

Meet Danna Crawford. She's a self-described PowerSelling Mom and is the brains behind AskDanna.com. She's also a huge fan of eBay Radio with Griff, and recently appeared on the show to talk about one of her areas of expertise - driving traffic to your eBay listings from MySpace.com. After the show, she kindly put her thoughts about the experience on paper (well, electronic paper) for us here at The Chatter. Enjoy!

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On March 20th I was invited to be a guest on eBay Radio and I was thrilled with this news. But when I found out I was going to be interviewed by Griff, I was even more thrilled!

I have always had great respect for Griff. I read his eBay Bible, listened to him on the radio and watched him teach at eBay University on DVD (part of my Education Specialist Class). Now, I was getting to spend 8 min with him on the radio - a great honor for me!

The topic was about an eBook I wrote called “Creative Networking from ‘Your’ Space to the Marketplace,” about how you can drive traffic to your eBay listings by using MySpace. It’s available in my Store by the way....plug, plug.

Griff seemed to be very interested in this topic. He asked "How do we view your MySpace page"? After I told him, there were a few seconds of silence, followed by a few "happy sounds" from under his breath. I felt like he was sincerely impressed with my MySpace page!

He was even surprised to see that he, Meg, eBay Radio and eBay Giving Works all had Fan pages in MySpace!

It was as if I had opened up a whole new world to him - a world full of opportunity for eBay sellers to use as a traffic-driving tool. For reference, MySpace holds the number two spot in my Traffic Report from my eBay Store (with eBay as number one).

I explained how important it is to "Network", which means gain many friends with the same interest as you. Then you create a flow of traffic from MySpace to your eBay Store and/or your eBay items by inserting direct links. My ebook suggests ways to search for people that may collect the types of items you are selling. The concept is so simple, and yet so effective.

If you missed it, you can easily search the eBay Radio archives for the show by looking for the 3/20 date. My eBay Radio experience was smooth sailing - I sold a few ebooks and I gained a few new MySpace friends. But the ultimate part for me was to get to speak with Griff!

I encourage everyone to join the eBay Radio Group to get updates on when Griff will be live on the air [Jeff’s note: I solemnly promise Griff didn’t ask Danna to include this note].

Meet Han Solo (aka Harrison Ford)

I've still got Star Wars on the brain from our promotion with the USPS, so I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw that our "IT of the Week" (featured on our homepage) was to have lunch with Harrison Ford. The auction is just one of three extremely cool experiences being offered to benefit the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, which is focused on global warming, poverty, and the loss of biodiversity. Whoever wins it though - do this Stars Wars geek a favor and ask him if Greedo truly shot first.

The other listings available would make for some truly once-in-a-lifetime gifts. You could win the rights to name a newly discovered orchid, or a newly discovered microbial species (I think the "Jeff Orchid" could have a nice ring to it, but my coworkers are arguing hard that naming the microbial species after me would be more appropriate.) Check out the details here.

Which PayPal Buyer Protection Program Applies?

Answer Center celebrity kathiesklown1970 asked me a question the other day about how the various PayPal protection programs work together, and it got me thinking that the answer would make a good blog post.  I know there's a lot of confusion out there on this topic, so let me try to clear things up a bit.

Consider this situation: a buyer sends a seller $1000 via PayPal for an eBay purchase that only has $200 worth of protection. The buyer never receives the item, so he files an Item Not Received (INR) claim with PayPal. The seller has $500 in his account at the time the claim is filed.  If the buyer wins the claim, how much does he get?

First, regardless of where the transaction takes place and with what seller, PayPal recovers all the money we can get from the seller. In this case, it would be $500.

Second, because the purchase was only eligible for $200 worth of protection, and the buyer already got more than that back from the seller ($500), then PayPal would not provide any additional reimbursement. However, if the purchase had qualified for PayPal Buyer Protection (PayPal's top tier coverage, up to $2000) then we would top off the coverage to the full amount of the purchase or the full protection amount (in this case, an additional $500) from PayPal's pocket.

All that takes place behind the scenes, invisible to the buyer. Third, and finally, in one refund we give the buyer all the money they're entitled to. If the payment was PBP eligible, we would refund the buyer $1000 and then take the seller negative (in this case -$500) the amount that PayPal had to pay on the claim.

The coverage the payment is eligible for is important. For instance, off-eBay the buyer can only get money from the seller, there's no additional PayPal protection. However, we do keep trying to get the remainder back from the seller, but with no guarantee that we'll be able to secure it. We also do not take the seller negative, because PayPal didn't have to pay out any money in protections; we just restrict the account until the seller pays the remainder, so we can give the buyer the rest of the money they're owed once the seller pays up.

I understand it can seem a little complicated, especially because the buyer receives their refund in one lump sum without much explanation about how it was computed.  Hopefully this explanation helps to clear things up a bit!