Supporting Jacob's Cure

Those of you who watch The View know that this aired last month - but it's news to me because I just found out about it :) The show featured a segment about Jacob, a boy who suffers from a very rare brain disorder called Canavan Disease.  Jacob's mom, Jordana, went on the show to talk to Rosie (she was still there at the time) and Elizabeth about Jacob's Cure, the non-profit she started in 2000 to raise funds for research on the disease.

It happens that PayPal also heard about Jacob's story, and decided to donate $50,000 to the cause, which was given to Jordana on the show. It's a very touching segment, so check it out below.

eBay Gets "Transformed" - Check out the homepage and contest

As most of you probably noticed already, the eBay homepage has been taken over by Transformers. In fact if you didn't notice there is a good chance that Megatron ripped out your optics (I'm starting with the Transformers: The Movie references right away).

If you are unfamiliar with the Transformers, I would usually shun you, but I'm in an especially good mood today after eBay managed to get us into a special screening of the new movie last night, so I will be extra nice and give you a break if that is the case. 

There are a bunch of robots on a faraway planet.  The nice ones are Autobots, the bad ones are Decepticons, and they are fighting over energy.  They end up on Earth and are able to disguise themselves by transforming into Earth vehicles.  This is the latest version and it was a lot of fun...but I don't think anything can ever replace the animated classic from 1984. 

Well to coincide with the upcoming release of the special effects extravaganza, eBay's home page has been transformed to a special Transformers theme.  We also have a special Transformers page (transformers.ebay.com) with the soothing sounds of Optimus Prime (voiced by the original actor, Peter Cullen), vintage transformers noises (I couldn't come close to spelling them phonetically), games, contests, and more.  While you are there be sure to vote on the Transform Your World video contest.  There are great member videos describing how eBay has helped to change....I mean TRANSFORM...their lives.

eBay Live! -- The Gory Details

At the end of an epic movie, when the credits roll, we sometimes get nuggets of information about the lead characters (such as "Paulie 'The Scowl' Azzuri entered the Witness Protection Program and now lives quietly, making hand-painted dolls," or "After that night, the Manila Folders never won another game" or "Jeff is still at large.")

Here then, in the same vein, are some interesting follow-up facts to nicely wrap up that epic event of two weeks ago - eBay Live! (We got these fun facts from Abby and Rebecca, the heart of the organizing force behind eBay Live!) Enjoy!

• 10,071 people registered for eBay Live! this year.
• 96,500 pins were handed out during the 9 times we heard the foot-tapping beats of the "Celebration song" (kudos to the hard work of pinrunners like Aubry).
• 9800 people attended education classes.
• 6000 people came to the Keynote.
• 16 times the fire alarm went off when Bill Cobb was rehearsing the Keynote.
• 7000 people went through the clapping tunnel - in 30 minutes. (Wow!)
• 655 staff from eBay, Inc.
• 1 time the fire alarm went off at the Westin and the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, unnerving many (except Jeff, who, thinking the fire alarm was playing "Celebration," handed out pins to puzzled hotel staff. Just kidding - actually he was in the gym and missed the drama).
• 1902 books sold in the first ever eBay Live! Bookstore.
• 130 exhibitors on the Solutions Center Floor.
• 33 eBay booths.
• 72 hours to set up the show floor. (And only 4 hours to tear it down after the event - a nice indication of the contrast between creation and destruction.)
• 5 layers of padding under the carpet at the PayPal booth (perhaps to cushion the droves of members swooning with joy at the Security Key?)
• 1 person run over by a scooter, went to the ER for injuries and still made it back in time for the Gala! (That's the true eBay Live! spirit!)
• 656 PowerSellers went to the PowerSellers dinner on Thursday night.
• 857 Top Sellers attended the Top Seller Reception.
• 1 Developers Conference with 550 attendees.

And last, but certainly not least....

61,171 pounds of food served during events at eBay Live! (and that doesn't include the 15,000 sodas given out during the Thirst Quencher Breaks in PowerSeller Central.) Now those are truly impressive numbers.

Own Griff's Blinding Mylar Jacket

I thought mylar was normally reserved for festive balloons, but apparently not. Those of you at eBay Live! were treated to Griff doing the lead-in to the keynote address in this blindingly-reflective mylar blazer. If you were thinking "wow, I desperately need one of those," it's your lucky day! Griff is auctioning it off to support one of his favorite charities, the Disabled Online Users Association.

Check out this very unique piece of eBay-abilia, and make sure you read Griff's description of how he picked out the blazer in the first place - thinking of him as "fat Kirsten Dunst" is hilarious (and a bit disturbing).

Why Do We Call It "Finding"?

It's a question we get fairly often. If you read our announcement board posts, attend our Town Halls, or generally keep up with what's going on around eBay, you've probably noticed that we use the term "Finding" instead of the more widely-utilitzed "Search" to describe how members go looking for items.

For an explanation of why we do so, we tracked down Jeff King, the head of our Finding team. He sat down with us for a few minutes and helped us "find" our answer (thank you, I'll be here all week!).

Check out the eBay Live! Chatter

Hopefully you all really enjoyed the massive coverage (46 POSTS!!!!) from eBay Live! last week, and really feel like you "were there".  I'm here to add one more layer to that, with a chance to check out the print newsletter we handed out at the event.  Unfortunately we can't mail every member a copy, but hopefully this PDF will help give you all a taste. Or I guess you can just buy one on the site (there's only one listed at the time of this posting, but it's for charity!)

The file is about 1.7MB (sorry if you are on dial-up) but I think it will be worth the wait. We'll also have a link for it in the sidebar for a little while.

Video Interview with 2007 eBay Star Developer AuctionAds

"eBay's API, one of the strengths of it, in my opinion, is that it doesn't change tremendously. They might add new features, they might tweak a few things, but it isn't changing underneath us like some people's APIs do ... the API, the foundation, is so stable."

-- David Dellanave, development lead of AuctionAds, on the task of keeping up with changes to the eBay API

Jeremy Schoemaker and David Dellanave of AuctionAds out of Lincoln, Nebraska joined us at DevCon in Boston to speak about their affiliate service, and how they were looking forward to learning about useful services for eBay members at eBay Live!

Listen to Jeremy and David's thoughts in their Star Developer Award interview (clip is 5:01 in length):

- Delyn

Other Takes on eBay Live!

You've been reading our view of eBay Live! for the past week (and we thank you heartily for it!), so I thought it'd be a nice break to let some others do the talking. Here are a few reviews of the show from newspapers and websites around the country:

BusinessWeek: Beantown's eBay Circus

The Boston Herald's "Working Stiff"

ecommerce-guide.com's "Best In Show"

USA Today's recap of the Keynote

You can also check out short blog recaps from some of our members: newbostonme, vintreasures, 1a1z3k, and arecibosannexllc.

If you just want some pictures, bobal and other members have posted a bunch to this thread on the eBay Live! discussion board.

What a Kool Gala - See you in Chicago!

Now that our team is back in San Jose, and has had a few days to let our keyboards cool off from the furious posting last week in Boston, it's time to recap the final event of eBay Live! 2007 - the always-fun Closing Gala.

Taking a cue from last year in Las Vegas when members started lining up really early to get in, our crack eBay Live! organizers put together a pre-party for those in line this year. As I walked by, it was like a mini-carnival. Clowns on stilts were roaming the line and cracking jokes, balloon-animal-makers and face painters were busy gussying people up, and jugglers were showing off their skills. A rock band was playing in the background, and snacks were being passed out to those waiting (it was very hard not to grab an ice cream sandwich as I passed).

But the most meaningful part came from the members themselves - just like last year, they applauded all us employees as we walked by to take our positions within the Gala. Let me take a second on that. From Meg on down, our employees really aren't kidding when we say that eBay Live! is our favorite time of year. Not only is it a ton of fun, but it's incredibly inspiring to meet all the members that are using the site to make a better lot for themselves. When you're flying back on that plane, you feel really good about working for a company that means so much to so many people, and it makes it easy to come to work in the morning. But Live! is also a ton of work - there's not only a huge amount of prep that goes into it, but each employee is working pretty much from before sun-up to past sun-down at the event. It's all definitely worth it anyway, but having the members show their appreciation for the work that you're doing in that way is pretty much indescribable. I can only really say thank you - it's appreciated far more than you know.

And then it was time for us to turn the tables on all the attendees. I've said before that the clapping tunnel (where all the employees line up and cheer as everyone comes in to the Gala) is my favorite part of the event, and this year was no different. I love watching the members soak it in - most were taking pictures or recording it on their cameras, others were slapping fives with all of us, and others were just kind of stunned. There are a few pictures scattered in this post. I was standing next to Griff most of the time, and I can only describe him as a human traffic jam. A bunch of folks wanted to take one last picture with him, so I apologize to everyone who has some random tall blonde guy in the background of their picture with Griff.

7 Essential Elements of Successful Product Sourcing Workshop

While at eBay Live! 2007 in Boston, I was fortunate enough to catch a Lisa Suttora sighting - and yes, even secure a live interview with her about the next whatdoisell.com workshop. Not only did we do a short workshop video, but Lisa conducted a mini-workshop in the hall of the convention center with member goldcoastdesigns. Almost every question Lisa responds to results in a mini-workshop, something you already know if you've attended any of Lisa's past workshops (click on one of the Archives links).

Back to the topic at hand. Lisa is hosting the 7 Essential Elements of Successful Product Sourcing workshop Tuesday (as in tomorrow) June 19 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on the Workshop Discussion board. Here's Lisa with an overview of what she will be discussing.