Striking the Jackpot...and Paying it Forward

"You're a Winner!"  If you're like most people, the thought of winning an incredibly cool prize might seem like one of those things that only happens to other people. That's what Sophia from Virginia thought too...that is, until she attended eBay Live! in Las Vegas in 2006.  She recently shared her great story with us, and we had to pass it along.

While at the event, Sophia stopped by the UPS booth to try her hand at the roulette-themed (we were in Vegas, remember?) prize wheel. Sophia can no longer say "I never win anything" because she won the grand prize of a brand new Dell laptop computer from UPS!

However, that's not where this story ends. Sophia soon learned through her friend Jim that his son Jon was to be deployed by the military to Iraq and that Jon was planning to buy a computer so he could stay in touch with friends and family. Sophia surprised him by "paying it forward" and giving Jon her brand new laptop. 

At eBay Live! in Boston in 2007, Sophia and Jim stopped by the UPS booth to meet the UPS staff and let them know Jon would soon be heading to Iraq. Jon is currently serving as a Private First Class in the 101st Airborne Division near Baghdad, and he has his Dell laptop with him, courtesy of Sophia.

Thank you Sophia, for demonstrating how to turn winning a prize into something really amazing. And of course...to Jon and everyone in the military who serves our country each and every day, we "bid" you a huge thank you!

Motors 2.0, bugs, and other Townhall highlights

Last week's Town Hall provided some insights about where eBay is going with the "re-ignite the core" strategy. Jamie Ianonne, Vice President, Buyer Experience, noted that the redeisgn of eBay Motors  (known as eBay Motors 2.0) shows the shape of things to come.

Bill Cobb and Jamie explained that the new eBay Motors integrates a lot of new tools to provide the auto buyer as much information as possible while they are shopping.  A buyer can look at the Kelley Blue Book information for the vehicle they're considering buying, get shipping quotes, financing options, and Vehicle History Reports.  (See the announcement for more info.) Catering to what buyers want  in these ways -- so that their experiences on the site meet or exceed expectations -- is key to eBay's strategy. 

Another leg of the strategy is improving the Finding experience for buyers, and as Jamie explained, his team will be incorporating our learnings from eBay Express -- and the new eBay Motors -- to improve the search experience on eBay.

I was struck by the number of technical issues that were called in into last week's Town Hall. The Back Button issue, which had been gaining some notoriety on the Community Forums, naturally raised its ugly head. (Thankfully, the worst seems to be over - read Laura's post for more information). Diehard fans of the old Sell Your Item (SYI) form, as well as those of Seller's Assistant, also pointed out difficulties in using the new products that eBay has introduced (i.e. the new SYI form and the  Blackthorne products that replaced Seller's Assistant). Jim Ambach from the Product team acknowledged the difficulties some members were experiencing in transitioning to the new products, but also pointed out that it was a change that was inevitable.  He explained that the technology behind these products was quite old (in some cases as old as 7 years, which on the internet timescale is almost pre-historic) and therefore a redesign had become imperative. He also pointed out that these changes are never easy for our community to make (he reminded us all that the switch several years ago to the old SYI was also painful). His team is well aware of the pain of learning and adapting to new tools, and they have been working hard to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Shirts Off Their Backs

Let it be known that Meg Whitman and Bill Cobb will not stand idly by while a famous executive auctions off a meal and a conversation. As a matter of fact eBay's CEO, joined by the President of its North American Business, are offering up the shirts off their backs...literally. 

The actual "game worn jerseys", donned by Meg and Bill last week during their activities at eBay Live! in Las Vegas, have been signed and are being auctioned off to benefit GlobalGiving and Autism Speaks.  Check out the About Me page to get the details and the links to the auctions (2 from Meg and 4 from Bill).

Read Other Takes on eBay Live!

You've been reading us write about eBay Live! for the past couple weeks, so maybe it's time to take a break and give you someone else's perspective. Here are a few articles reviewing the show from various points of view:

Leslie Walker from the Washington Post kept a blog throughout the event. After following that link, look in the upper-left to get to her other posts.

Check out marketwatch.com's article, or the one from Forbes. You can also read Guy Kawasaki's brief blog post about the event - he was one of the most popular speakers at the event. You can even listen to his presentation right from his page (which has the same audio we provided earlier).

A couple more to round out the list: ecommerce-guide.com's review, and even some local flavor - In Business Las Vegas' comments.

Community Hall of Fame Gets Bigger

Rachel Makool already posted a note to our announcement board, but this was a topic I couldn't pass up. In case you don't already know, we have a Community Hall of Fame, and every year at eBay Live! we honor a group of members who have shown a strong commitment to the eBay Community and practice our Community Values. Essentially, they've been great role models for the rest of the Community. Now, there are tons of people who would qualify for the award, but since 2002 we've limited it to 5 inductees each year. In addition to each receiving an actual crystal memento (one of which is also displayed in our headquarters here in San Jose), the eBay Foundation also makes a grant to the nonprofit of each winner's choice.

As always, we have some outstanding entrants this year. purpleferret999 hangs out on our Canada Town Square, and is an Education Specialist, teaching others how to use the site. She's chosen to have her grant go the Louisiana SPCA. (That's her with Bill Cobb, Griff, and Meg from left to right).

my*only*princess is a clothing expert, and has been a major force while fundraising for children in need, and for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Her grant will go to the Beardstown Heritage Preservation Foundation.

dave-r and b.wind worked around-the-clock to provide weather updates and other information to members during the hurricane, and it's largely because of them that our Natural Disaster and Relief Information discussion board now exists. dave-r is having his grant go to the Salvation Army's SATERN program, and b.wind's will go to Marshall University's HELP program. That's b.wind to the right.

bone*diva is the leader of one of our largest eBay Groups, Art Cards Editions and Originals (ACEO) , which Ninad wrote a story about recently. The group has helped many artists better their own situations by eliminating the middleman and selling their work directly to buyers. She's opted to have her grant go to the Donor Sibling Registry.

Check out our Hall of Fame page to learn more about the award, this year's recipients (as well as a list of past winners), and the nonprofits they've chosen. Congratulations to everyone!

Check Out More Member Pictures from eBay Live!

In case you haven't had your fill of pictures from eBay Live! yet, several members have been posting their personal shots to the eBay Live! discussion board. There are some good ones in there (like Meg and Bill dancing to Davy Jones), so click here to visit....

PS: The Gala, Clapping Tunnel, Huey & Chocolate Fondue

It's such a strange feeling when it's over. Strange because the weeks leading up to eBay Live! are so busy, and so many preparations have to be made, and then it whips right by like it never even happened. But also strange because eBay Live! has this effect on you as an employee - it actually makes you want to get back and work (most people would definitely call that strange) because of all the great people you've met and cool/heartwarming/inspiring stories you've heard over the last three days. Even though everything on eBay isn't always perfect, it's a pretty powerful reminder of just how much of a positive impact it's had on so many people.

Now that I've had a few days to clear my head, to actually get a little sleep, and to let my clapping callouses heal, I've decided that this eBay Live! was the best one yet. Yes, I never even came close to setting foot outside the hotel once the event started, but I didn't need to. The event was an absolute blast, and the Gala was a great way to end it.

Between keeping up this blog and putting out the physical newsletter given out on Thursday, our team had been holed up in a room upstairs for three days. We were cutting it to the wire - our last blog post went up at 4:46 on Thursday (that's the one with our team picture that Ninad says makes him look fat), which gave us about 30 minutes to clean up our computers and our life-saving stash of trail mix and Hershey's miniatures, jam back to our hotel rooms to drop off our computers, and get back for the Gala. And I really didn't want to be late - the last few years the employees have gotten together for the clapping tunnel, where we clap and cheer while all the attendees walk into the Gala. It's easily my favorite part of the event, and I may have been slightly high-strung about getting back on time (I think it's the first time my Director Rachel Makool has ever told me to "chill out.")

After trekking back past all the slot machines, we started heading up the escalator to the entrance. And what should come wafting down? The sound of applause. "Uh oh!" I thought. "We're late." We started walking as fast as we could, turned the corner, and then got the surprise of the week. We weren't late - the attendees had turned the tables on us! We had to walk past a bunch of the members who were waiting for the Gala to start, and most of the folks there were sitting there clapping for us. That was really touching, especially after working so hard for three days. Trust me, I know a few employees who got a little emotional about it (but won't name names so I don't have to constantly look over my shoulder as I walk between buildings).

Then it was our turn. As the doors to the Sparkle Lounge (our name for the Gala site) flew open, the members started pouring in. I stationed myself as close to the procession as I could so I could high- five everyone. Nothing is better than watching people come down that aisle. Some are stunned and don't really know what to do. Some milk it for all it's worth, traversing from side to side slapping hands with employees and filming everything on their cameras. Some are embarrassed by the attention and just want to get done with it as fast as possible. And some just walk through, smiling and saying simple thank you's to employees they pass. And let me tell you...some members give hearty high-five's! I almost had my hands knocked off a couple times, although that's still better than the woman in our PR department ahead of me who went to high-five a member, both missed, and she got smacked in the face. I wish I had a video of that. Anyway, by the time the last member got through an hour and a half had passed, my hands were throbbing, and it was all easily worth it. You can see some of it the pics...that's Bill Cobb (right) and Jeff Jordan (left) in the pic to the right.

When we got inside, people were already well into eating from the huge buffets that had been laid out beside tables surrounded by jugglers, spin-to-win wheels, and other entertainment. Then it was time to give out the last pin of the event - a big one revealing the location of next year's eBay Live!: Boston, MA. I met quite a few members excited that we were finally coming to New England next year, and I'm already looking forward to it myself, since the last time I was back there was about 5 years ago.

Finally, it was time for the main event - Huey Lewis & The News. The area in front of the stage was PACKED, so I didn't even dare to venture in there. Besides, I was perfectly content hanging out in the back munching on pineapple chunks and pound cake being dipped under one of those chocolate fountains. I actually have to thank Huey...because people were so into the performance, I had a fountain all to myself for a few minutes. And maybe I should send him a dry cleaning bill too, since about 4 drops from one cake morsel ended up on my pants instead of in my mouth, probably while I was humming along to "I want a new drug" ("Power of Love" definitely seemed to be the biggest crowd-pleaser though).

Finally it was 9 o' clock, and everyone headed off to wherever their night would take them. The majority of us flew back out on Friday, on what had to be one of the quietest flights Southwest Airlines has ever had. So thank you to everyone who attended eBay Live! this year for making it another special event, thank you to the organizers and staff for putting on another great celebration, and thank you to the slot machines and craps tables in Vegas for not tempting me enough to lose my money.

See everyone in Boston next year!

This is the Chatter team ...Signing Off from eBay Live! 2006

It's hard to believe we're at the end of the event already.  The Chatter team is packing up and heading back to our rooms to drop off equipment before we head to the Gala event.  This party promises to be memorable -- and keep us up late!   Since we'll be on planes tomorrow, we'll share a postscript about the Gala for you on Monday. 

It's a privilege for us to get to cover the event for you here...we hope you've enjoyed the reading / viewing this as much as we've enjoyed blogging.   We'll be back next week with our regular coverage.  Safe Travels to those flying home,

The Chatter team -  Laura, Jeff, Bev, Ryan, and Ninad

A Blackthorne Fan at the Seller Tools booth

Many of our high-volume sellers have created customized software tools specially made for the unique needs of their individual eBay businesses, so when one of them gives kudos to an out-of-the-box solution from eBay, it speaks volumes about the strengths of the tool.

The tool in question was eBay Blackthorne, and the seller praising it was eboyauctions, who sells antique books and auto parts, in addition to having a consignments business. I met him in the Seller Tools booth, getting a demo on Accounting Assistant from Mike Maffeo from the Seller Tools team (see picture). He told me why he was planning to switch to Blackthorne after getting back home from eBay Live! "I wrote my own database software to manage my listings, but Blackthorne will replace all that. It can consolidate all the things I have open on my desktop in one window."

Although he eboyauctions was all praise for Blackthorne, he had some suggestions for Accounting Assistant. "I use Microsoft Money - it's cheap and fits my needs. But to use Accounting Assistant I'd have to buy QuickBooks, which is more expensive....If eBay made Accounting Assistant compatible with Microsoft Money, I bet you a lot more people would use it."

Coming soon: Prepare Now for Holiday Season Sales workshop

I was finally able to track one very busy Lisa Suttora of whatdoisell.com™ down to talk about her upcoming workshop. For those of you that have never met Lisa, you're in for a treat. She's so enthusastic and energetic and has a wealth of information to share with members of the community.

So everyone, please meet founder Lisa Suttora, best-selling author of What to Sell on eBay and Where to Get It, and featured speaker on this year's Product Sourcing Panel. What Do I Sell.com™ is an eBay Certified Service Provider teaching entrepreneurs how to find the products buyers want, locate legitimate suppliers, and sell successfully on eBay.  Your turn Lisa....

CSI: eBay

John Kothanek is eBay's North America Law Enforcement Relationships Manager. He is also probably the worst nightmare for the bad guys who try to commit fraud on eBay and PayPal. John and his team work with Law Enforcement agencies around the world to relentlessly pursue online criminals and bring them to justice.

I stopped by the Law Enforcement booth to say "Hi" to John (seen here in the foreground, talking to a member). Carolyn Patterson, Senior Director, Global Law Enforcement Operations, and the rest of the LE team, was also there. They had had a busy time in their booth over the past two and a half days, with many members lining up to ask questions about what eBay was doing to put online criminals behind bars.

Carolyn explained that the top concerns members had were about identifying fake second chance offers, spoof emails, and having the ability to track international shipments better. Carolyn, John, and eBay's Law Enforcement team were pretty busy explaining how eBay's strong relationships with law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, were helping us go after the bad guys.

Members also learned about useful resources, such as the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), where you can file complaints about Internet fraud. And of course, there's also one of my favorite pages on eBay, a place where you can read about some of eBay's successes in bringing criminals to book - the Police Blotter.

Double-dippin' at eBay Live! 2006

How much better can it get? A Jerry Greenfield Book Signing and an Ice Cream Social - add a room full of enthusiastic members and it's a good time waiting to be had. To participate in the book signing, you had to purchase Ben & Jerry's Double-Dip: Lead with Your Values and Make Money, Too at The eBay Shop and bring it (along with a hankerin' for ice-cream) to the signing session. Members did just that. Here are a few video clips of members reh1956, globalgaragesale, and dnltrueman "double-dippin"...

More Pictures!

For those of you out there who may not have noticed (since they are below the fold and all) we have been adding photo albums with pictures from the last few days.  Lots of smiling faces, interraction between attendees and staff, and other fun moments. 

All you need to do is scroll down below the Categories and Archives sections in the left sidebar.  Hope you guys enjoy them, and we'll keep adding as we go through more of the pictures.

A "Live!" Town Hall with Bill Cobb

This morning, I made my way to Ballroom G to attend Bill Cobb's Town Hall.  Huey Lewis & the News was playing the background as we all filed in (obviously a preview of coming attractions at tonight's Gala!) Bill hosts these events every month as a way to hear what's on members' minds. Usually, though, the audience is listening online and submitting their questions online.  This Town Hall was special, because Bill, Griff, and a number of the leadership team from eBay and PayPal had an audience of about 1,400 buyers and sellers in the room with them.  The great thing was that the audio of the event was streamed, as usual, so listeners at home could hear their fellow members ask questions and hear how staff responded.  (There will be an audio file available online, as well as a written transcript within a few days at our www.ebay.com/towhall page.)

  From right to left:  Bill Cobb, eBay President North America; Jamie Iannone, Senior Director of Marketing; Dana Stalder, Senior V.P. at PayPal; Wendy Jones, V.P. Customer Support eBay North America; Leigh Goldstein, Director of Shipping; Rob Chesnut, Senior V.P. eBay Trust & Safety; Chris Tsakalakis, V.P. of Advanced Solutions

Griff emceed as usual, and he started the session by letting members know that the whole hour would be dedicated to member questions (sometimes Bill or another staff member use the first 15 minutes or so to make announcements, etc.)  There were microphones stationed in the audience, and soon a couple of long lines began to form.....

I was impressed with the wide variety of questions that were asked.  The very first question was about 'net neutrality' (a previous topic on this blog).  This gentleman wanted to know what eBay thinks the impact would be to the marketplace if the big ISP providers get their way and turn the Internet into a place where they can give access to websites based on how much the sites pay.   Meg sent the Community an email on this issue earlier this month, because it could have such a negative effect on the Internet.  On the panel, Senior V.P. at PayPal, Dana Stalder said that they actually worry less about how it would impact eBay and PayPal, and more about how it will hurt the small businesses who can't pay the fees. 

One question which received a short applause was whether eBay would ever give PowerSellers a volume discount on fees.  Bill Cobb took this one on.  "This is a fair question that we get often."   Although historically, the idea of the level playing field (the principle of making sure all businesses have a fair chance at competing regardless of size) has prevented eBay from giving discounted pricing, eBay has actually looked into this in the more recent past and it's very hard to do when you get to the execution level.  Bill ended his answer by letting everyone know that while eBay doesn't have an announcement, it's still a consideration.  In an answer to the question about fees in general, Bill made it clear that they work to stay in touch with sellers and really understand the selling economics on eBay.  All of this has to be factored in with other data when making changes, which is one of the many reasons he's so active in the Community.

Another man wanted to make a suggestion about the eBay Live event itself.  With so many classes -- and "I love them all!" he interjected -- has eBay thought of making a CD with all the classses from the show that people can buy to take home?  Griff (who is eBay's Dean of Education) had the answer for that one -- this year, 12 of the most popular classes are being taped and will be available to download online, and Griff said this will likely expand in the future. ("Every year we learn what we can do better and improve for the next year.")  A few questions later, a deaf man asked the panel (through his interpreter, whom I had been admiring earlier as she signed for several deaf members in the front row )  whether the CD or downloads could also be close captioned.  Bill promised that he'd personally see to this, because part of the eBay idea is being a level-playing field for everyone.

Several people wanted to offer ideas.  One person suggested Dispute Resolution for feedback, and Rob Chesnut, Senior VP of Trust & Safety, let her know that they've been looking into possibilities and that one idea was to have a system that involved Community members as mediators.  Another eBay Store owner who sells fabric (and whose husband is about to quit his job, so he can help her thriving eBay business... fantastic!) asked for a "back to Store" button for volume shoppers, and invoices that can handle more items.  Christ Tsakalakis, Vice President of Advanced Solutions and Jamie Iannone, Senior Director of Marketing, let folks know these are good ideas we've heard before and that they are considering them for the future.

One request that received a lot of applause was from a woman who said she'd been at eBay Live! last year and asked the same thing, and here she was again -- can eBay work with the USPS so that they scan the labels that sellers print through Paypal (for tracking purposes which can save sellers a lot of time and give buyers online tracking)?  Leigh Goldstein, Director of Shipping, told the group that this was on the top of his list, and that every meeting he has with the USPS he brings this up.  Bill underlined what Leigh said, and let everyone know that while Jack Potter, United States Postmaster General, was here for the keynote address, Bill, Meg, and Leigh met on this very issue.  Bill made it clear Jack really understands how important this is to the eBay community and they are looking at how to overcome the technical challenges.

Another issue that struck a sympathetic chord with others in the crowd was about the 2-3 days that sellers must wait to be able to withdraw funds that are paid to them via PayPal.  Dana Stalder said they've heard this often, and that they've been working on increasing efficiencies where they can.  PayPal has to work with the whole banking system, and some delays are outside of their ability to change.  The good news is that he thinks there's a good chance they can shorten the period by 1 day or so by working with bank partners. 

There were many other great questions during the hour (which flew by amazingly fast!)   About 10 minutes to noon, Bill Cobb let folks know that he needed to hold questions so that he could make some big announcements about some important Community members.  Just as he said that, Meg came walking down the aisle to join the team on the stage.   I'll save the surprise announcements for a future blog post.....

[Note: there were several other really good questions...too many to include all of them here, but please listen to the Town Hall audio or read the transcript (available in a few days.)]

A Winning Hand

Now that we are down to the final few hours of the show, members are scrambling to round out their collections of goodies.  All around you can see people eyeing each others badge lanyards, hoping to find that one or two that they are missing. 

Meanwhile, others are hitting up the eBay booths to complete their sets of "it" trading cards.  I ran into lacruz928 as she was making her way to the Government Relations booth to get the last of her cards.  I found out that this is not only her first eBay Live!, but that while getting an autograph from Meg Whitman she discovered that she lives only a few minutes away from the high school Meg attended in Long Island.

The Most Creative Billboard

There are a lot of people walking around here with colorful and delightfully wacky outfits. There's been an explosion of creativity this year, with many folks using the opportunity to showcase their products, eBay Store name, or some similar message. But perhaps none have used their resources like ooobabybabyauctions. It's hard to miss her - she's 8 months pregnant, and has used her round belly as a canvas. Each day she's had a different message. On Tuesday, it read "Future eBayer." On Wednesday, "eBaby," with a cartoon thinking cloud featuring the eBay "it." And today - "See you at eBay Live! 2007."

ooobabybabyauctions just started their eBay venture, selling (you guessed it) cool baby t-shirts and other baby products. She lives near LA, and because she can't fly, took advantage of our "Drive to Live!" gathering. Members in the LA area could sign up on Meetup.com, gather at the designated spot, and then caravan over to Vegas. The procession was led by Chris Spencer, one of our eBay University instructors, and to top it off, everyone got a free tank of gas courtesy of eBay. "I can't fly because of the baby, so the caravan was perfect. And the free gas was awesome. In fact, I was inspired by a woman in the caravan who had painted her car. I thought about painting my face, but finally decided on my belly." Each day's artwork was done by an artist on the Solutions Center floor. 

"I've had several companies approach me about advertising, but I didn't want to do that. [These] are in the spirit of eBay and I won't be like this much longer so I want to take advantage." She's also set a high bar for herself - to be a PowerSeller by the next eBay Live! "I just started, but I'm getting lots and lots of invaluable information. We've had a wonderful time." And her stomach has made it easier to meet other people as well. She laughed and said, "It's a great icebreaker!"

A 20 hour plane journey to attend eBay Live!

I knew that we had many international members attending eBay Live! this year, but who's traveled the greatest distance to get here? It's probably our Australian visitors, but members from India aren't far behind. My nominee for this distinction is one of the partners of esalestore, who traveled all the way from Mumbai, India (I think that's 12,000 miles).

He told me his experiences at eBay Live! were well worth the 20 hour journey. He especially liked the Seller Scalability and ProStores booths, and meeting many other sellers at the Networking Center. "Another thing that amazed me is how psyched people are about collectibles here - the online collectibles market is still in its infancy in India."

Here's a little video of esalestore sharing his excitement.

eBay Blogs - An Introduction to Blogs & Blogging on eBay!

I happened to bump into Ryan Spoon (eBay Marketing) at the Seller Central booth in the Solutions Center Expo Hall and thought, hey - maybe we could talk about the upcoming eBay Blogs – An Introduction to Blogs & Blogging on eBay! workshop on Monday the 19th at 3pm PT. Take it away Ryan....

Sign here please...

We've run across a lot of great stories out on the show floor, and this one is definitely one of my favorites.  For the second year in a row spadealsnet has been out collecting signatures from eBay staffers on a t-shirt that will be auctioned off to benefit charity.  The charity of choice this year is the Susan G. Korman Breast Cancer Foundation.

He's already gotten well over 300 signatures, and is working hard to get more while he spreads the word.  Check out the video to see for yourself.  If you look really closely you can almost make out Meg's signature (it's in pink and it's just a few inches below the eBay logo).

And while you can't really see it from the clip, you can rest assured that Griff  once again got armpit placement.

Listen to the Audio of Guy Kawasaki's Speech and Davy Jones Singing

Delyn from our Developer's Program comes through again.....she just emailed us audio recordings of Guy Kawasaki's "The Art of Evangelism" seminar, as well as Davy Jones singing "Daydream Believer" following the keynote on Tuesday evening.

Both are hosted on evoca.com. Guy's is his entire 56-minute seminar, which will give you a chance to feel like you're right here with us in Vegas (minus the omnipresent sound of slot machines).

Guy Kawasaki: http://www.evoca.com/everyone_recording.jsp?rid=9462

Davy Jones: http://www.evoca.com/everyone_recording.jsp?rid=9465

Day Three of eBay Live. How I Survived with Help From an Angel

9:00AM Las Vegas

Hard to believe but eBay Live 2006 is nearly history. Still, there is one more, chock-a-block day ahead, filled with fun and exciting events peppered with the totally unexpected experiences. I swear I must have signed and autographed over 1000 items to date.  This year has been quite a workout for the 700+ eBay Live staff which is made up mostly of eBay employees. My own schedule has been pretty hectic, jammed to the Outlook calendar bar lines with nary a nanosecond for even a "refreshment" break. Lucky for me, I have been assigned an absolutely expert angel of mercy in the form of Tim Wieland, my very own personal handler! Isn't that exciting, possums? My very own "person!" ("Tim, I need a pen. Tim, darling, have you seen my cell phone? Oh Tim! Timmy! I MUST have a coffee STAT!...)I have died and gone to heaven. Dear Tim has had the dubious honor of shepherding your sorry old correspondent to each and every single scheduled event during eBay Live, on time and fully prepared. He is a big fellah and that comes in handy for running interference through the halls and rooms of this vast country called Mandalay Bay. I only wish that everyone could have their very own Tim but alas, the bounty bucket of luck is only so full. Thank you Tim and your trusty backpack.

That first photo is of course, the godsend Tim and his trusty backback. (Tim asked me to mention he is also carrying MY backpack along with his. Such a beast of burden.) The second photo is me with interviewer Charles of the BBC and two wonderful eBayers from the UK, Simon and his soon-to-be bride, Carol. Such a sweet and lovely couple. They came to Las Vegas for both the benefit of eBay Live 2006 and to get hitched in the famous little white chapel. They were both very happy to be here and seemed to be very much in love. Such a pity they are going to spoil it all with a tacky wedding. Oh well, fingers crossed kids. I hope it all works out!

I would love to stay and chat more but we have to prepare for today's Town Hall with Bill Cobb and a panel of expert eBay execs. All of us are re-energized and looking forward to the coming, last day of this year's eBay Live and of course, I personally really enjoy our Town Halls and this one will be attended by thousands.

eBay Live tops off tonight with the big Gala featuring fun, food and some eighties band (Baby Huey or something like that. What do I know? They tell me he was big once.) I promised myself to NOT repeat last year's folly of pogoing my ample girth all over the concrete floor which as some of you might recall, led to a severe and chronic case of sciatica. This year, I'll leave the gymnastics to the kiddies. This old man shall watch from the sidelines, swaying gently in place, as befits a gentleman of my certain age, stature and weight.

Ta-ta for now!

Griff

Speed Networking - 5 minutes to learn from others

One of the most fun things I did yesterday was go to the Speed Networking event in the Networking Center. It's a bit like speed dating, only more serious. Here's how it works. You sit across from another attendee and share information for five minutes, after which an eBay staff member calls "time." You then move over one seat and meet another attendee. But no awkward smiles or stilted conversations with hopes of scoring a phone number here. These were determined sellers (and a few buyers) making the most of their five minute time limit to learn about eBay selling techniques and exchange tips. At the end of hour most people had met at least 10 new people, and hopefully gained valuable eBay knowledge.

debrareynoldsthings (pictured at right), a seller from Santa Maria, CA ("it's near where the movie Sideways was shot") was attending the speed networking event because she preferred to learn in a 1 on 1 situation. "I'm just a very social person," she said. "I don't do too well in classes - I need to interact."

She's been selling a wide variety of things on eBay - dolls, books, dishware - and told me she wanted to learn how to narrow down the list of things she could profitably sell. She was also wanted to make her listing process more efficient - we talked for a bit about how eBay tools like Turbo Lister could help her. She said she was glad to meet other sellers with whom she could share her stress over sourcing inventory, especially because "so many other sellers are selling the same thing." However she seemed more upbeat after meeting other sellers -- I guess it really helps to talk with other sellers to discover what your best selling niche on eBay should be.

I also met jdanielrarecoins, a seller of rare coins, who was interested in learning about how he could use eBay Blogs to drive more traffic to his listings. We had a very pleasant conversation about Roman coins and blogging. He shared my conviction that blogging is all about consistency and frequency - the more often you update your blog about the area in which you're an expert, the better your credibility among your buyers will be.

One of the most impressive people I met at the event was sth1124, who had recently started selling on eBay, and had even opened an eBay Store. He was very well-informed about how natural search algorithms work. Like many other people yesterday, he too was interested in eBay Blogs. What intrigued me more than anything was the selling niche he had identified on eBay -- phone systems and wedding albums. Once again, I came away amazed at our members' ability to be creative about what they can successfully sell on eBay.