It's less than a week since the eBay Foundation handed over checks of $333,334 each to three nonprofits — First Book, Best Friends Animal Society, and Oxfam — as part of the Community Gives campaign. The nonprofits are already putting the money to good use.
First Book hosted a couple of reading parties to celebrate the joint effort with eBay Foundation to identify and serve over 50,000 additional community-based literacy programs nationwide. These efforts are bringing a steady stream of new books to hundreds of thousands of children in need.
This week, groups of 30 first graders in San Jose, California and Washington, DC were among the first students in the nation to receive new books through the Community Gives campaign. eBay Foundation and First Book representatives joined school officials, eBay employees, and eBay Community members as students read from their very own copies of books, including Astronaut Handbook by Megan McCarthy and Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene W. Field.
Just the brilliant smiles on the faces of these first graders should be enough reward for anyone who contributed through Community Gives. The campaign runs through June 30th, so if you feel like contributing more or spreading the word, just head on over to www.communitygives.org.
eBay Giving Works and Yahoo! Mail are working together to auction off select email addresses (from the new ymail and rocketmail domains) for charity. How cool would it be to have an email address that supports your favorite cause each time you send an email? For instance, pinkribbon[at]ymail.com to show support for breast cancer research, oceanadvocate[at]rocketmail.com to show your concern for the state of the planet's oceans, or curecancer[at]rocketmail.com.
For the details, I could do no better than to point you to the YMail Blog, now run by none other than Ryan Knight, our popular Chatter alumnus (in fact he practically set up The Chatter!).
One of our favorite eBay Live! traditions is the presentation of the annual Community Hall of Fame awards. Since 2002, we've honored members who are recognized as outstanding examples of the eBay Community Values, generously sharing their time and expertise with others. This year, each inductee was introduced during the keynote address (watch a replay of the webcast) and received a signed certificate of appreciation from eBay CEO John Donahoe and President of eBay Marketplace Operations Lorrie Norrington. In addition, eBay Foundation will make a charitable contribution of $2,500 on behalf of the winner to a nonprofit organization of the winner's choice.
Without further ado, let's meet this year's winners - and congratulations to them all!
shoemetro
shoemetro is comprised of David and Will, a two-man team that’s been selling on eBay since 2003 (although only David could be there to accept the award). Having started humbly by selling a few small electronics, today they are a major seller of shoes and have accumulated over 258,000 feedback comments. Despite their growing business, they still find time to participate in the Community. “We frequent the eBay boards, are involved in a few groups, and read newsletters. These give us the most value for our time and keep us updated on the eBay community.”
Like many eBay sellers, giving back is important to shoemetro. They began using eBay Giving Works two years ago. Since then, they have participated in all 19 Spotlight on a Cause campaigns in that timeframe, listing over 3.400 items with a charitable component. “We find it a win/win/win for us, the charity, and the buyer. We have been fortunate as eBay sellers and appreciate the fact that we can use the same vehicle that brought us our success to give back to others in need.”
Back in 1997, talk of great sales from some of eBay’s earliest sellers at an Illinois swap meet turned danna on to eBay. Over the last decade, she’s made eBay her full-time career. A self-described “eBay groupie,” she’s not only a PowerSeller, but she’s dedicated herself to teaching others how to be successful on eBay as well. As an author, she’s written several eBay how-to books. She’s also an active Trading Assistant and Education Specialist.
“I enjoy helping other members be the best they can be, and sharing my experiences with them. I find it extremely rewarding to watch people I help grow their eBay careers.”
danna’s generosity extends into her tireless work as an advocate for eBay Giving Works, the program that facilitates compassionate commerce on eBay. “eBay Giving works is where my heart is! As an Education Specialist I include it into all my classes automatically.”
danna has selected Hospice of Marion County in Florida to receive her grant from the eBay Foundation.
kathiesklown1970
kathiesklown1970 has established herself as one of the most helpful contributors to eBay’s Answer Center and PayPal discussion forum. “When I started buying and selling I didn't know a lot about the site, and I was helped in the Answer Center by some great members. I wanted to give back to the Community once I had the knowledge myself. Plus, I learn something new every time I help out in the Community.”
With her unflappable community spirit, kathiesklown1970 will stop at nothing to help someone who needs it – even language barriers don’t get in her way. In just one of many examples of how she helps her fellow members, she’s been known to use translators to help people who speak other languages with their PayPal-related questions.
kathiesklown1970 has chosen to donate her grant to the American Heart Association in honor of a friend who lost her husband suddenly to a heart attack.
unclejoeadamson
Known affectionately as “Uncle Joe,” unclejoeadamson has been described as “the consummate Community member.” Forced to leave the workforce due to a medical condition, he was looking for an activity that would keep him “from going bonkers.” eBay gave him a new way to build his business and connect with others. “The ability to use eBay anytime, anywhere has allowed me to enjoy a connection to the world I wouldn’t otherwise have.”
Uncle Joe has used eBay to help countless others find success on the site. “When I was getting started on eBay, there were friendly people willing to extend a helping hand to me. It’s my pleasure now to return that kindness to my friends and neighbors in the eBay Community.” He’s a PowerSeller, an Education Specialist, and a Trading Assistant. He also runs a variety of eBay Groups, in which he offers help and advice to others so they can make the most of their eBay experience. As he puts it, the best part of eBay has been “hands down, the ability to contribute to the fun and success of others.”
After discovering eBay in 1999, snowdealsnow was inspired by the potential. “After filling up my truck with yard sale finds on weekends, I would borrow a friend’s digital camera to list the stuff on eBay during the week.” Soon after, he quit his day job. “I love being self employed and selling on eBay has allowed me to grow a successful online business while working flexible hours.”
snowdealsnow has been a shining example of how to use eBay Giving Works to raise money for a cause he cares passionately about – ending cruelty to farm animals and promoting awareness of ethical food choices. “Best of all, I am able to donate 10% of all sales to Farm Sanctuary. I get a feeling of satisfaction knowing I am helping make the world a better place for farm animals and other creatures.” He was given a Golden Ribbon award in 2007 by the eBay Giving Works team for being the top Community seller based on funds raised through the program.
Farm Sanctuary will also receive the eBay Foundation grant given in honor of snowdealsnow’s Community Hall of Fame award.
No, we weren't. We wanted to bring you a flavor of this year's eBay Live! -- the fun stuff, the serious stuff, the emotion, the passion, and of course the goofy stuff too. We hope we've done a good job. I applaud and thank my fellow bloggers over the past three days -- Laura Schopen, Jeff Kakes, Bev DeSomber, Susan Geis, and Coleen Scott. Thanks everyone for a job well done!
And, of course, a huge THANK YOU to our Community members who gave us the time to capture their reactions on video and in our blog stories. We're taking a few days off, and will be back blogging about all things eBay in about a week's time.
And now, after the Closing Gala that closes eBay Live!, we're REALLY off to have a beer. In fact, several. Cheers!!
The PowerSeller Panel with Executives was charged with a lot of emotion, as have been some others sessions this year. In a way it was a continuation of the Town Hall from earlier in the day, with almost the same panelists:
Lorrie Norrington - President of eBay Global Marketplace Operation
Stephanie Tilenius - General Manager for eBay North America
Brian Burke - Director of Global Feedback
Monroe Labouisse - PayPal Director for North America Marketplaces
Dinesh Lathi - Vice President of Seller Experience
Greg Fant - Vice President, Buyer Experience
Jamie Ianonne - Vice President, Global Search
Griff, hosting as usual, went straight to Q&A. Some highlights:
One PowerSeller advocated (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) Detailed Ratings for Buyers. He remarked that buyers weren't communicating with sellers as much as they should, thus making it difficult for sellers to understand how they could improve the buyer experience. He suggested these "buyer ratings" should drive eBay's couponing programs towards buyers -- thus providing an incentive to buyers to communicate better with sellers. His comments were greeted with delighted chortling from sellers sittng near me -- many sellers have felt that the DSR system is lopsided in favor of buyers.
Brian Burke took the question seriously, however. He pointed out several steps eBay had taken to enable sellers to restrict bad buyers from their listings, including a 7-day block that prevents buyers from leaving negative Feedback for sellers. Sellers can also use Buyer Requirements to select the kind of buyers they wanted to attract to their listings. Brian urged sellers to continue reporting bad buyer behavior to eBay so we can strengthen Buyer Requirements. But Brian also noted that one of the big takeaways for eBay from this year's eBay Live! was to improve buyer-seller communication.
unclejoeadamson asked eBay to review the new links policy, which prohibits linking to any external websites. He found it ironic that most of his educational content (for which he was awarded a Community Hall of Fame award this year) was for helping the Community through educational content such as reviews, guides and blogs, much of which is off-eBay. unclejoeadamson's suggestion that eBay should find a way of identifying and allowing relevant content was well-received. Brian Burke promised to come back in July with another update about the direction we're taking.
A question about making neutral Feedback count against sellers raised many people's hackles. The seller's question was why neutrals had been counted retroactively from January. "Why punish us for buyers we can't do anything about?" The word "punish" seemed to pierce many of our execs to the heart. Both Griff and Lorrie made impassioned appeals to the audience, reassuring them that our intent was not to "punish" sellers but to help differentiate between high and low performing sellers. Brian promised to take a look at the negatives and neutrals left before January.
At this point Lorrie talked about the difficulty of making decisions (such as the retroactive Feedback) purely based on data, vs. also taking the emotional factor into account. She admitted that sometimes eBay's decisions were made on the basis of mostly the former, neglecting the latter. She said that the eBay In Person program, through which eBay staffers visit buyers and sellers in their own towns, will be one of the key ways eBay can gather emotional input from our customers.
The next questioner criticized eBay for being uncommunicative about the slew of changes taking place on the site, and unresponsive to sellers' attempts to seek clarity. "Why does eBay think it knows better than us about what our customers are saying?" Griff stepped in to quell a few boos of agreement that came from some sellers. He talked about how changes in the e-commerce landscape were forcing us to adapt really fast. Talking about an "exodus" of buyers recently, he pointed out that buyers today have more options, have become more sophisticated, and have more demands from their sellers, whether on eBay or elsewhere on the internet.
But Lorrie's response was also emotionally charged. "When data and emotion come together, we need to listen to both." She then asked our Community to give the company "a fair shot," especially considering that much of the company leadership is new in their roles. Lorrie then said, "I don't know what the past was like. I'm sorry for the past, but come join us for the future."
There was a brief pause, and then thunderous applause filled the room. Perhaps it's a new beginning for everyone.
It wouldn't be eBay Live! if we didn't give you at least one video of the famous eNotes. But for fans of the a cappella trio, you'll notice a slight change. While Colin Rule, our guru of dispute resolution, and Sarah Brubacher from our Seller team are still anchoring the group, they have a new addition - Griff! Larry Friedberg, from past eBay Live! events, couldn't make it, so Griff volunteered to step in, and boy did he.
They're performing tonight at the Gala, but gave a sneak preview at a dinner last night, doing an eBay-ized version of Billy Joel's "For the Longest Time." Colin will hate me for putting this up, but I think I might be able to outrun him.....Enjoy!
On my way to see how many pin sets were left at the eBay Store, I noticed a pretty t-shirt with a lion on it. Being a Leo, I was naturally drawn to the picture of the Lion and when asking the member the significance of the the lion, I saw her user ID was msleo816.
After hearing msleo816's story of how she came to create her eBay user ID, I thought other people wanting to register on eBay might find her story interesting and help ease their exasperation when trying to create a user ID and forego the feeling that all the "good ones are gone."
So without further ado, here is msleo816 to tell you in her own words how to get creative...
While most experienced sellers are figuring out how to improve their Detailed Seller Ratings to 4.9 to qualify for the 20% discount (as announced in the Keynote), there are also many sellers who are just starting out on eBay. For some sellers like Kimberly French, the "Shipping Best Practices to Improve Your DSRs" seminar opened up a whole new area of learning and improvement.
Griff, my colleague Garnor, and I just got finished teaching a class on how to stay on top of the eBay news (basically how to find out about what's going on around eBay). We went over the Announcement Board - eBay's official vehicle for delivering news, this blog, the eBay Ink blog, eBay Radio, and the eBay Announcements Group - which you can join to receive an email with that day's announcements. We also talked about how to use RSS aggregators and tools so you can get the news without having to visit other pages - it comes straight to you! One of my favorites is netvibes.com, but there are tons out there, and even your Yahoo and Google pages can be used with RSS.
So the big lesson from the class for me? It's very difficult to take a good picture of the crowd while you're talking.
I've been hidden as usual the first two days of eBay Live! ...cloistered in our Daily Chatter room waaaaaaaaaayyyyy down the hall and far from any of the action. (wishing I had those kid shoes with little skates in them now). Yesterday was spent by me huddled over a hot computer, as I and others published the event news, and finished the newsletter (the printed Chatter) in time to get to the printers. (phew) Today I get to be out and about, so after catching up on the blogs and forums with my triple-shot latte, I hit the monthly Town Hall event at 11am Central.
We do Town Hall events with eBay and PayPal leaders every month via wsRadio(www.ebay.com/townhall). We normally take caller questions and don't often have the benefit of a live audience, but there's nothing like the power of so many people with shared interests in the same room. The energy was palpable..in a good way.
There was an impressive lineup of panelists --
Lorrie Norrington - President of eBay Global Marketplace Operation
Stephanie Tilenius - General Manager for eBay North America
Todd Lutwak - Director of Seller Experience
Brian Burke - Director of Global Feedback
Jeff King - Senior Director of Finding
Kristina Klausen - Senior Director of Shipping
Monroe Labouisse - PayPal Director for North America Marketplaces
Dinesh Lathi - Vice President of Seller Experience
Davide Pride - Vice President of Trust & Safety
I won't itemize the questions here -- you can listen to the archive from wsRadio to get the full scoop -- but the dialogue was powerful. There were a few important themes:
DSRs are a big source of concern for many sellers. They want more buyer education about DSRs and how they affect sellers. They want the stars to labeled better, so that they understand if they leave 4's that hurts a seller. (as one questioner asked, "If everyone says his item descriptions are accurate, communication good, times and costs reasonable, I will lose my PS status. What are you doing to educate buyers that at 4 is a failure?")
Sellers need more transparency from eBay about our direction around stores, our links policy and just the upcoming change in general, because they need to plan their businesses in advance.
Some of our feedback changes/policies need rethinking, and eBay staff has agreed. For instance, they are looking at some kind of solution to mutual feedback withdrawal for the holidays.
There is concern among some "small sellers" that eBay doesn't care about the little guy -- execs emphatically stated this isn't true. Lorrie put it succintly..."there is no 'big' at eBay (meaning size)...there is only 'best' (meaning high buyer satisfaction regardless of size).
Sellers want to know what eBay is doing to drive buyer demand, and leaders shared progress with coupons, top buyer support, and the fact that as our sellers increase their buyer satisfaction, organic growth will build momentum. (One attendee was quite expressive in sharing their not-so-flattering opinion of eBay's "it" campaign)
So we heard some heated questions -- mostly about DSRs and neutral feedback -- and we also heard praise. But despite where each person came from and on what side of the mics they sat, what struck me most was the palpable energy of respect in the room -- respect shared by execs of the attendees, and attendees of the execs.
Although we don't always see things in the same way, all perspectives and experiences are important to consider. eBay is like an ecosystem, and often there are no easy answers when all the complexities are considered. At a deep level, the collective seemed aware of how important it is that we keep this dialogue going -- no matter how hard it is sometimes -- because this amazing marketplace is what's at stake if we stop.
Griff, the moderator for eBay Town Halls, said it best. [I'm paraphrasing from memory] "I've been to 7 eBay Lives, and I can tell you I've learned more at this one than at any other time. You've come here with incredibly intelligent, insightful questions and ideas, and we're all taking notes."
It's less than a week since the eBay Foundation handed over checks of $333,334 each to three nonprofits — First Book, Best Friends Animal Society, and Oxfam — as part of the Community Gives campaign. The nonprofits are already putting the money to good use. 
