Live Coverage - Town Hall with Bill Cobb (5/31/07)

Hello all.  I'll be posting pictures throughout the Town Hall...so get that finger ready for rapid refreshing of your browser.  If you want to listen in to the live event go to eBay.com/townhall.

Town Hall MC Griff

"Using Research to Maximize your Profits" Workshop

Are your eBay sales needing a boost? Not sure which listing features will work best for a specific item? No worries - you can use research to gain a better sense of direction and an indication of which features will improve your sales. Reviewing what works and what doesn't for similar items can provide you with the necessary information you need to market your listings effectively.

Join Sara and Denise from Terapeak Marketplace Research on Friday, June 1 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time for the Using Research to Maximize your Profits workshop to learn how research can help you improve your eBay sales. Here's Sara and Denise with an overview of tomorrow's workshop.

Getting Ready for DevCon in Boston: Entrepreneurs Make the World a Better Place

What is the environmental or social cost of doing business? With one innovative idea, entrepreneurs can improve the lives of millions of people.

"Making the world a better place doesn't have to be something you do after you ran a business for a while. It's something you're doing while you're running a business."

--Pierre Omidyar, eBay Founder and Chairman of the Board

Pierre will be a featured speaker at this year's eBay Developers Conference 2007 in Boston. (Register today!) In this clip from the 2006 conference, Pierre shares his philosophy on how businesses like yours can make the world a better place.

"Entrepreneurs who may be the greatest force for good on the planet."

--Scott Cook, Founder of Intuit

In this clip from his conversation with Pierre, Scott (a member of eBay's board) follows with two stories that illustrate the power of entrepreneurs.

I get really inspired watching these clips - can't wait for this year. Enjoy, and I'll see you in Boston!

- Delyn

Help Needed with Webby Acceptance Speech

If you didn’t see my last post, the eBay Community is being presented with a Webby Award in June. The Webbys are an annual award ceremony honoring the best of the internet – and there’s almost nothing better on the web than the eBay Community! Even shopping for my favorite antique rugs falls short, and that’s saying a lot.

The problem is that we need your help with the acceptance speech. Meg (our CEO) will be accepting the award on the Community’s behalf, but as part of Webby tradition, the speech can only be 5 words long. If you’ve heard any of us here at eBay talk, you know we can’t limit ourselves to that, so we’re looking for your ideas. After all, it’s your award!

We’ve gotten some great suggestions already on our Chatter discussion board, and we’re looking for more. Go ahead and post to this thread if you have any ideas.

Congratulations again – you truly deserve it!

Meg teams with Shrek & Donkey for Charity!

It is likely that the latest "Pirates" installment (At Worlds End) will rule the box office seas this weekend, but until the final reporting is in, the reigning beast of the multiplex is Shrek the Third.  Keep that in mind when you are checking out the headliner of Meg Whitman's Give Fest listings: limited edition Shrek and Donkey dolls. 

Give Fest is an eBay employee event that's been going on this month encouraging everyone who works here to sell items for charity, and Meg certainly didn't want to be left out of the fun.  Not only is she listing autographed copies of The Perfect Store, assorted eBay collectibles, clothing, and personal items to go along with the special Shrek and Donkey dolls...but she has even tested out embedded video in her listing!  If you didn't read Jim Ambach's announcement, we recently changed our policies to allow this type of video, and she uses it effectively. That Shrek doll is way bigger (as you can see in the video) than I thought it was. Her listings will benefit Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT) - the same place that Ninad and Jeff volunteered at last year.

The World's Fastest Furniture

It's often said that you can get almost anything on eBay, and if this isn't proof, I don't know what is. As you may have seen on Engadget or a variety of other blogs, Marek Turowski recently used eBay on his way to setting a new speed record - while driving a sofa!

He won a charity auction on our UK site for the right to drive the souped-up couch - appropriately sponsored by sofa.com - and a chance at claiming the Fastest Furniture title in the Guiness Book of World Records for himself. When the uber-unique ride hit 92 miles per hour, he had done it (the old record was 87 mph). It's a good thing he broke it on the first try too, because he described the ride as "terrifying." No word on whether he sprung for the extended warranty or rustproof undercoating.

The video below sums up the experience nicely.

UA and Privacy Changes -- Some Q&A

As many of you now know, eBay is making some changes to our Privacy and User Agreements.

Earlier this week, Scott Shipman -- an old-timer here at eBay, and one of our top privacy lawyers -- sent an electronic letter to all registered members, notifying them of the changes.  This letter -- which I learned will take an incredible three weeks to reach the entire Community due to our very large customer-base -- has prompted a number of questions from the Community. 

Privacy and security are important issues for all of us, and we thought it was important to hear from our legal team about the concerns our members have expressed.  Scott was more than willing to share more detail about the changes, and what they mean -- and don't mean -- for our members. 

First, for those of you who may not have received the message yet, here is what it says:

Dear (eBay member User Id),

I'm writing to let you know that the eBay User Agreement and eBay Privacy Policy have been updated, effective immediately for users registering as of May 16, 2007, and on July 9, 2007, for current users.

The rules and dispute resolution policies you originally agreed to in the User Agreement have not changed in any substantive way. We've made some changes to this agreement to make sure our legal documents are consistent with the ways our sites and services are evolving and to better meet the needs of our user community. You'll notice some changes to our "Content License" and "Abusing eBay" sections to that effect.

The new Privacy Policy, like the old one, outlines the broad categories of information we collect from you, how we use this information, and what your options are with respect to the information we collect. You'll notice a few changes to the policy, which we've made to cover new programs and site safety projects we're putting in place.

* Combating Fraud. We're increasing our efforts to combat fraud on the site with a variety of programs. For example, we've made some changes that allow us to address "Ask a Question" and "My Messages" spam and other malicious activities using our message systems. And we're making sure our disclosures about cooperating with law enforcement allow us to respond to increasingly sophisticated fraudsters and criminals.

* Streamlining Services. We've heard your comments about how many steps it takes to complete a transaction or get customer support where multiple eBay companies are involved. So we've made some changes that will allow our Customer Support team to help you with questions that span our companies. And we're streamlining your use of the services provided by members of the eBay corporate family, so your experience across the eBay Inc. platform will be as seamless as we can make it. Some of our new programs also mean you'll see eBay services and content in a lot of places (not just on the site), so we've made some changes to reflect that.

* Customizing Your eBay Experience. We're rolling out programs and working with partners that help make our sites and services, and some of the ads you see on the web, more relevant and useful to you. Naturally, because we're a transparent community, we'll identify the new ads served with this program and provide you with choices about them. Beginning in July, we'll make a new preference available in My eBay--named AdChoice--that lets you tell us whether you want us to use the information we have about you to customize the ads you see. You'll be able to sign in and change your advertising preferences in My eBay at any time. You'll also notice links on the ads we serve this way, so you'll know an ad is served with the new program and be able to set your preferences right from the ad.

We hope you'll agree that these changes will make the eBay sites and services work better for you. If you accept the new User Agreement and Privacy Policy, you don't need to take any action. If you do not wish to accept the new User Agreement or Privacy Policy, please refer to our Help pages for instructions on how to close your account.

Thank you for using eBay and we look forward to many more successful transactions!

Sincerely,

Scott Shipman
Senior Counsel, Global Privacy Practices
eBay Inc.

Here are some of the most common questions we've seen from members across the community forums and in email, along with Scott's answers:

 

Member Question: Why does the notice tell me to close my account?

Scott: We certainly do not want you to close your account!  Actually, this is standard legal language we have used in the past. In fairness to you, we need to make sure you know about these changes and agree to them when you continue using the site.  If you continue to keep an account active after the effective date (July 9 for existing users), that will be acceptance of the new terms -- that’s what the language about accepting the changes was designed to address.  If you do not agree to these new terms, your way of indicating that you disagree is to close your account. 

 

We’ve made the changes to our policies so that we can provide some new and exciting programs that will help make eBay better, safer and easier to use. We always provide the eBay services subject to our user agreement and privacy policy. Keep in mind, though, that some of the policy changes tell you about the new preference we’re making available. You don’t need to close your account if you don’t want to participate; you can just change your preference in My eBay!

 

Member Question: What is AdChoice? Am I going to get a lot of ads or spam?

Scott: Privacy is all about providing you choices with the processing of your personal information. AdChoice allows you to choose whether or not you want ads customized to your interests. I’m aware that some people are not all that excited about the on-site ads. Whether there are ads on the site or not is outside my domain, but I can help by making them more relevant to you.

 

I think you’ll appreciate the new, more relevant ads when they start to appear on the site. But if you don’t want them customized, there will be a preference available where you can tell us so (without closing your account!). If you opt out or not, you’ll see the same amount of ads, in the same places (on the site or eBay ads on other sites) where you see them now, but we won’t customize them to your interests if you tell us not to. It’s not about spam, or bombarding you with ads, it’s about making the content we provide, including advertising, more interesting and relevant to all our users, and thus making the site better for everyone.

 

Member Question: Does AdChoice mean you’re sharing my personal information with other companies?

Scott: We'll be working with our partners who provide advertising on the site, but we won’t share your personally identifiable information (like contact or financial information) with those partners. We’ll send them only some anonymous data that helps them select which ads to show.

 

Member Question: Why did you change the Content License?

Scott: We did not change the content license. In fact, the content license has not changed materially since it was originally drafted in 1998.

 

We received a number of comments from members suggesting that they were confused by the parenthetical example that followed the content license language. (The parenthetical example did not even exist in earlier versions of the content license). 

 

So, in this latest revision, we removed the language to reduce confusion and to clarify that, as eBay grows and develops, we may broadly use site content, including user content, to enhance and improve our business and the website user experience. Importantly, the content license does not limit your ownership of your content. You do not give up your ownership rights, and you remain free to use and commercialize your content however you choose. (For example, you may choose to publish and sell a book containing all of the reviews you have posted on eBay). At the same time, when you post content on eBay, you give eBay a license to use that content through a variety of means to benefit you, the eBay community, and eBay's business.  For example, this license allows us to display listings and drive traffic to the site to increase the salability of items.

 

Here is a redline of this section showing the change to the prior content license, so you can see the parenthetical language which we removed:

 

When you give us content, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to exercise the copyright, publicity, and database rights (but no other rights) you have in the content, in any media known now or in the future. (We need these rights to host and display your content.)

 

Member Question: Does the new Content License mean that you can sell my personal information to other companies?

 

Scott: No. Our privacy policy continues to apply to the personal information we have. We’ve made a promise not to sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes without your consent, and this new content license doesn’t change that.

 

******************

 

Thanks for these answers, Scott --  And readers, if you have more questions or other topics, let us know by emailing chatterblog@ebay.com

eBay Celebrates in Lumberton - Our Community Counts Winner

Hey there - I'm a bit jet-lagged here still, but who minds a little lack of sleep after partying it up?

Last week I traveled back East to the town of Lumberton, New Jersey, who was the winner of our Community Counts promotion we held in November, 2006. I was part of the crew that threw all the eBay registered members of the town a big celebration to honor them and say thank you for being the most active Community on eBay. 

As background, for 3 weeks last November we held the Community Counts contest where members earned points for their local communities (based on each member's registered ZIP Code) each time they were active buying, selling, using the Community Forums, or taking part in eBay Giving Works.  We then balanced out the points on a per capita basis so that everyone had a fair chance to win.  We wanted to give the tiniest town in Kansas the very same chance to win as New York City.  To illustrate - Lumberton, who has 3,012 registered members, finished with a score of 234,580. Compare that to San Jose, eBay's hometown, which boasts 27,246 members but only tallied 1,277 points. 

Hundreds of Lumberton-based eBay members ventured out with their families to their local park to attend the celebration with us.  We provided a yummy dinner, and everyone sat down to eat while enjoying a performance from the local high school jazz band. 

Following the dinner and music, Gary Briggs, our Chief Marketing Officer (he's the guy who does our marketing updates), officially declared Lumberton the winner of the Community Counts promotion, and bestowed a big thank you and congratulations upon Lumberton's Mayor, Patrick Delany. In return, the Mayor had a cool gift for Gary. Since a simple key to the city was was too "bricks and mortar and not hip enough" for eBay, he gave Gary a "Smart Card to the City." That was hilarious (and awfully clever).

Next, Gary honored the unsung hero in Lumberton - Kathy Pfeiffer, their postmaster.  She's been the Lumberton Postmaster for ZIP code 08084 since 1993, so she and her team are "very familiar with eBay packages that come and go from the post office daily." 

Finally, it was time for the big money to appear. As part of the promotion, we had pledged to donate $10,000 to the charity of Lumberton's choice. It was with a lot of pride that Gary was able to hand over the money to the Burlington County Animal Alliance. 

From my point of view, everyone seemed to have a great time. The casual atmosphere helped everyone feel comfortable, and to enjoy talking with their neighbors and the close to 40 staff members from eBay and PayPal who traveled to throw the big bash! 

Now I just need to readjust back to the West Coast time zone...

"How to Compete in a Crowded Market" Workshop

Many eBay sellers ask how they can optimize their sales before and after they find a product to sell on eBay. Using multiple sourcing techniques is a key factor when maximizing your profit margins. Once you identify a product that sells well within your market, having renewable sources through a variety of methods puts you a step above the competition.

Please join Colette Marshall, Business Development Manager for Product Sourcing Experts WorldwideBrands.com, on Tuesday, May 22 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time for the How to Compete in a Crowded Market Using Multiple Product Sourcing Techniques workshop. During the workshop, Colette will show you how to use different Product Sourcing techniques to gain a competitive edge in any marketplace, and earn the highest profit margins possible. Here's Colette to tell you a bit more about tomorrow's workshop.

Making a Difference in Uganda - and For Nonprofits Too

Meet Roman Garcia. Roman is one of the stars of our eBay Giving Works team, helping our Community buy and sell to support nonprofits. He recently shared a fantastic story with us about his friend's organization that helps villagers in Uganda. Not only was he able to directly help the cause, but his story shows just how easy it is to get nonprofits involved with eBay Giving Works so that they can expand their reach and benefit from eBay sales. It's a great example of how someone can make a difference, even if they don't have much to buy and sell themselves. Take it away Roman....

---

I openly express to anyone within earshot that I have the best job at eBay (no offense Meg). I work with thousands of nonprofits, companies with hearts, and the occasional celebrity. And the one thing in common they all have is that they use eBay Giving Works.

Despite my daily proclamations of "best job ever", funny enough, one of my friends didn't even know what I did at eBay! So Gwen (the friend, and not Stefani who's doing her own charity auctions) one day asked if I'd donate some clothes for an upcoming trip to Uganda. 

I wasn't sure why she was going to Uganda, so I asked, "So Gwen, why Uganda?"

"Uganda is home to many homeless and parentless children ravaged by AIDS and civil wars. My nonprofit, Asayo's Wish, focuses on one specific village."

Already with a lump in my throat, I asked her what was needed from me.

"Honestly, they need so much that a little is a lot to them. Our goal is to someday make things different than what is the norm in Uganda, and this village. Children sleep 40 to a small room; they line up 300 at a time for food and water. Preventable illnesses that seem insignificant to us are life-threatening to them".

After Gwen's answers, I decided to rally the troops to get some clothes. Without much trouble, I got eBay hats and shirts donated from groups in Salt Lake City and San Jose. But in all the excitement I forgot for a second what I did at eBay! So I explained to her about the eBay Giving Works program and how we partner with MissionFish to help nonprofits similar to Asayo's Wish.

Her response was, "Do you have to be a big nonprofit to participate?" And I said NO! That's the best part about this program. You can be the Red Cross or a small nonprofit in  Salt Lake City like Asayo's Wish! The program is designed to support any size organization, and we do so equally.

Three weeks later Gwen came back with these incredible pictures, and I have never been more proud about the company I work for! Asayo's Wish will soon be joining over 10,000 other nonprofits that are part of eBay Giving Works. Their goal is to raise money through direct and community selling, so they can return to Uganda to start building new living quarters for over 300 children.

I plan to list some items to benefit them once they've been added to our directory, and I'd encourage you to join me! Or even better, I encourage you to find a nonprofit you support and tell them how easy it is to join. You can even recommend the nonprofit directly to MissionFish at http://www.missionfish.org/NPMMF/npregrecommend1.jsp.

It's a great (and relatively simple) way to make a difference.