It's Bike to Work Day today and eBayers are enthusiastically putting their mettle to the pedal. Employees have been riding in to work from far and wide, even though temperatures are predicted to hit 100 here today. (Last year a few employees actually biked all the way from San Francisco, a whopping 50 mile ride!).
Actually eBay's campuses have always had a healthy (pun intended) share of people who bike in to work regularly, thanks to the Bay Area generally having pleasant weather all year round. You can always count on seeing a few bikes parked by the stairs on the first floors of most buildings on campus. And more and more people have been getting on their bikes lately. After all, it's healthy, it's good for the environment, and it saves you money (with gas prices these days, filling up might be more painful than a visit to the dentist!).
One of eBay's regular bikers is our very own Griff, who has a "weighty" message for you delivered with the usual Griff enthusiasm. Check it out in this video.
If the recent cyclone in Myanmar wasn't enough proof of Mother Nature's power, this week's 7.9 earthquake in China certainly is. The latest death toll is an incredible 15,000 people, with many more thousands missing or buried under rubble. Rescue and relief efforts are underway, with many aid agencies from across the world rushing to help.
Similar to their move to help the Myanmar cyclone victims, the eBay Giving Works team has set up a page to support the relief efforts in China. You can help these efforts by visiting www.ebay.com/chinaearthquake
and buying or selling to benefit these organizations, or donating cash directly
to the China Earthquake Relief Fund.
If you've been to eBay Live! in the past few years, you've probably heard (or heard of) the eNotes. Made up of our Dispute Resolution guru -- and very own Chatter contributor -- Colin Rule, cross-border trade expert Sarah Brubacher, and Larry Friedberg of PayPal fame, they're well-known for entertaining crowds in the Community Lounge with their a cappella versions of classic love ballads modified to have an eBay twist.
But this year, we were treated to a sneak preview. We hosted a Voices of the Community group last week, and Colin and Sarah were guests at our dinner at Left Bank (Larry unfortunately couldn't make it). After some cajoling, the two agreed to do a few of their hits....well, ok, it didn't take much cajoling. We were on an outdoor patio, and I think we shattered the restaurant's record for "strange looks from pedestrians wondering what those crazy people were singing about." But at the very least, I think we entertained our fantastic server Milena and David, the restaurant manager.
Because we didn't want to limit this treat just to Voices, we did an impromptu taping of the session, so check it out below. It's a little grainy because we were using a handheld camera, and there's some lead-in to get through as they gather up their courage. But they end up doing a great job, and if you're with us at eBay Live! in Chicago this June, you might get lucky and be treated to the real thing.
If you've seen the news, you're probably already aware of the tragic aftermath of the cyclone in Myanmar. We know that a lot of people will be looking to help, so our eBay Giving Works team has set up a special page at www.ebay.com/myanmarrelief to make it easy for you to buy or sell items, with some or all of the final sale price going directly towards the relief efforts. You can also read more about it on their WhatGives?! blog as well.
Have you ever been driving down the street and see something that makes you do a double take or drive around the block one more time to validate what you thought you saw? Such was the case when I saw a certain diesel Ford truck. I just had to ask, "Where'd you get that truck?" (and for those that know me, I can talk to the wall if I think there's a chance of it talking back).
I was (pleasantly) surprised when when the driver of the pickup responded with 'eBay.' Now, most of us know that eBay Motors is a great place to buy a vehicle. But this was a really nice (read: expensive) truck, and buying a vehicle is a major purchase. I wondered what he thought about buying it from someone he didn't know, so I had to follow up with "why did you choose eBay and not go to one of the local dealerships?"
(By the way, If you've never used eBay Motors, it's the place to find the exact vehicle you want -- easily. Whether you know the exact make, model, and year of your dream collectible car, or you’re just starting out and still haven’t decided between a car and a truck, we have the tools and features to help you find the right vehicle.)
That's how I met Wyatt Bodray (wbodray on eBay) and learned about his Ford Diesel pickup. He even agreed to let me film his answers to my questions, although I've transcribed much of them below.
Me: What made you chose eBay over local dealers when looking for a vehicle? wbodray: Price, selection-what they had to offer, you can search from your home…you can find what you want, you just have search for it. Me: How do prices compare shopping on eBay to say, shopping locally? wbodray: They're great! There are so many sellers/businesses out there willing to give you a good deal. Me: How does one get their vehicle, I mean, due to the size, you can't ship it FedEx, UPS, or USPS wbodray: Right. I actually flew to Weslaco,Texas. The seller met me at the airport, we went back to the dealership where I paid for the truck, signed the papers, and drove home. Me: If someone were looking to buy a vehicle on eBay, do have any tips for the buyer to make that process a little easier? wbodray: I think good communication is key! You have to talk to the seller, you have to keep the communication between one another going. You tell them what's going on, they tell you, When you communicate, things turn out – it's great! Me: Hey, I've got about 50K miles on my vehicle and maybe that's where I'll get my next one. wbodray: eBay's the place to do it! Me: Hey, thanks for your time!
When speaking with Wyatt, I asked him what his favorite eBay moment was (aside from buying the truck). Without hesitation, he replied, "When I received the forks for my bike from howlingwolfntx64, there was a thank you note from the seller included with the purchase. I still have a copy of the note."
And because I'm the curious type, I asked Wyatt what he typically looked for in a seller, to which he responded, "The biggest thing on eBay is the shipping. I look at what sellers are charging for shipping and if it's way too much, I keep on searching. I also look at their feedback. I have a hard time buying from someone with a 90% feedback. But you also have to consider the number of items they've sold in relation to their feedback." He went on to say one of his better buys were the oil filters for his pickup."Napa charges $75 per oil filer. I can get a set of 3 for $59 on eBay."
Before I sign off, here's a bit of trivia - Did you know a passenger vehicle sells every 56 seconds on eBay Motors and that on April 17th, we announced that the 3 millionth vehicle was sold on eBay Motors!?! This is a testament not only to the site, but also to the Motors Community that has made eBay Motors the #1 automotive destination on the Web. My apologies in advance for the video quality - the wind was howling, camera battery was low - in spite of the technical difficulties, Wyatt remained a rock star. Now here he is to tell us (in his own words) why he chose eBay as the place to shop for his dream truck...
I spent a chunk of last Thursday spending time with the next generation of eBay employees. No, not at a job fair, but at our annual "Bring Your Kids to Work Day." It's a fun day - for at least a couple of hours, you get to see a side of your coworkers while they're with their families that you don't normally in the workplace. And the kids are having a great time getting their faces painted, playing carnival games (such as the "clown toss" game to the right), and munching on popcorn and ice cream sandwiches.
For the second year now, I was asked to do a really short presentation for the kids, who were generally between 8-12, so they could learn what eBay is all about. Since I don't have kids of my own (yet - it'll be a different story come late July), I put together a demonstration of how my boss' kids use eBay...with their dad, of course...to find coins and trading cards to add to their collections. I also had a secret weapon - the whiteboard, which several kids thought was the most interesting part of my talk.
But it turns out that these kids are already experts. Some were waiting for items to arrive (like a copy of Godzilla Unleashed for the Nintendo Wii), and others could perfectly state what it is eBay does. In fact, I almost hit the floor when one precocious kid described eBay as a "consumer-oriented marketplace." I heard a rumor our Marketing and Brand teams are already preparing employment offers.
Of course, the most important part was the Good Humor ice cream cart which I promptly pillaged as soon as my presentation was over. Now to figure out how to stash one of those things in my cube.
A billion new trees planted in 2008! That's how the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is planning to counter the massive deforestation that has ravaged the earth in recent years (the earth has lost over 80% of its original forest cover; each minute an incredible 2000 trees are chopped down across the world!) The Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign is hoping to reverse this phenomenon before it's too late.
Our friends in eBay Canada have teamed up with the Yves Rocher Foundation (Yves Rocher is a leader in botanical beauty care) to help people contribute to the effort to replant areas of the world where reforestation is needed the most.
Check out Yves Rocher's Plant for the Planet auction on eBay.ca, running from from April 22 to May 2nd. Here's your opportunity to buy groups of 2, 5, or 10 baby trees that will be planted on your behalf in parts of the world where reforestation will have a positive impact on the climate and create sustainable economic opportunities.
Every dollar collected will enable trees to be planted in Brazil, India, or Madagascar, three countries that have been severely affected by deforestation. (See details on Yves Rocher's planting programs.)
The goal of this auction is to get 10,000 trees planted. We've already had over 275 users participating and about 1,997 trees pledged. With only 7 days to go, you too can do your bit to reforest the earth for $1!
Hello everyone. I'm Katie Sween from StumbleUpon (an eBay company that helps users discover great websites) here to tell you about a cool Earth Day event that starts today and runs through May 2nd. Every day millions of StumbleUpon users discover great websites and give them a "Thumbs-up" so that other users with similar interests can also discover, or "stumble upon" them.
Starting this Earth Day, we want to harness the power of our Community and the "Thumbs-up" to plant trees for the National Forest Foundation.
Simply visit www.stumbleupon.com/Earthday and use the StumbleUpon toolbar to thumbs-up the page. From now through May 2nd, with every thumbs-up StumbleUpon will plant a tree with help from the National Forest Foundation. Your thumbs-up means more trees for America's National Forests and more awareness for this cause. Join the National Forest Foundation and StumbleUpon this Earth Day and help us plant thousands of trees for the National Forest Foundation. No digging required!
You might also want to join Tiki Barber's Earth Day campaign on eBay, sponsored by StumbleUpon. The retired New York Giants running back legend and media personality is supporting Earth Day through an auction on eBay -- the winner and three friends will get to spend a weekend with one of America's most beloved sports heroes!
In case you're not yet familiar, StumbleUpon helps you discover websites based on your interests, learns what you like, and brings you more. For example, say you are interested in the environment (and something tells me you may be). With StumbleUpon you will discover great websites, photos, blogs and news about the environment. All personalized for you. Clicking the Stumble button will bring you to one new website after another. You can rate the websites as you are Stumbling and we use your ratings to determine which sites are best for you.
There’s been some good news out of Romania – cyber-criminal Vladuz has been arrested by the Romanian General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime. He had gained a measure of notoriety in the past year for numerous unsuccessful attempts to defraud members of the eBay Community.
This arrest came about because of great work between the Romanian Directorate, the US Secret Service, the FBI, and eBay’s global fraud investigation team, all of whom were directly involved. You can read the press release here – it’s an excellent example of how eBay works with law enforcement around the world to bring to justice those who try to harm the Community.
Hopefully you saw the recent announcement from John Canfield about some new security measures we're putting in place to combat the fraudsters who try to break into eBay member accounts (usually after a successful phishing attempt). You can read the whole text here, but in a nutshell, we're going to start noting which computers members typically use to sell and buy. Then, around June, when a seller goes to list an item, we'll make sure they're using a trusted computer. If they're using one we've never noted before, we'll take a step or two to confirm their identity. This will usually be done via an automated phone call to a registered phone number. (As John mentioned, we hope sellers will take time to update their registered contact information and consider registering a cell phone as a secondary number - just in case we need to confirm their identity while they're on the road.)
This type of authentication is being used by other online industries, as well. For example, I need to answer security questions every time I access my bank account online from a computer the bank doesn't "recognize." And I know several friends who've received phone calls from their banks to verify their identity when they used their credit cards for an unusually large amount.
We've been doing some checking around our forums, and the reaction to the news has been pretty positive - a lot of "this is a step in the right direction" and "glad eBay is doing something about security"-type comments. We also saw some good questions, so we sent them over to John Canfield so he could provide some more detail.
John was part of this morning’s Town Hall event, and answered a few questions about this initiative – the archives will be available soon at www.ebay.com/townhall if you want to listen in. His team will also be hosting an online workshop on May 6th to go over the program in more detail - stay tuned to the Announcement Board for the exact time. And without further ado, here are John's responses:
Q: What if I use multiple computers for my business - will I have to verify my identity every time I use one or the other?
A: We will definitely support multiple computers. During this information-gathering stage (now through June, roughly) we'll be able to tell which computer(s) you typically use to buy or sell, and as long as you're using one of these, you won't need to verify your identity. You also will be able to access multiple, different accounts from the same computer (such as in the case where a business has multiple IDs).
Q: How will you track which computer I'm using?
A: We generate a unique ID that identifies the computer you've used to connect to eBay. This unique ID is stored on your computer using cookies and Flash objects so that the next time you visit eBay, we're able to confirm that you're using the same computer.
This unique ID doesn't include any personal information, such as your email address or eBay transactions, and won't be shared with anyone else.
Q: Will people who do not have a cell phone, or other alternate number that can be used when away from home, be able to verify their identity in some other way?
A: If you're away from your normal computer, you will be able to enter the telephone number where you are as part of the identity confirmation process. However, you'll also need to to answer your secret question to do so, as part of an additional security step. If you're not able to provide another number (for example, because you don't have a phone handy), you can use our Live Chat function so that one of our Customer Support Reps can verify your identity.
Q: Why not just use a "challenge question" instead of phone calls?
A: Some businesses use challenge questions, some use phone calls, and some use a combination. We chose the phone method because we felt it provided the right level of convenience and security for the eBay Marketplace.
Q: What about ISPs that assign a different IP address for each session, or those that change the IP address each time the modem is rebooted?
A: We use a number of different variables to note what computer you buy and sell from. You won't need to verify your identity as long as you're using your normal computer(s), even if your IP address changes.
Q: How will listings submitted through a 3rd party listing service be handled?
A: You should not be affected unless you need to authorize 3rd party access to your eBay account. During that process, you will need to go through identity verification if we do not recognize that computer.
Q: Are you going to put similar security measures on bidders?
A: Right now this will only affect selling. But depending on the results of this initiative and changing fraud patterns, we may apply this program to other eBay activity in the future.
Q: Won't bad guys just change the phone number as soon as they take over an account so they then receive the phone call?
A: If we see that you've just changed your contact details (or basically any time we feel that the phone number may not actually be the seller's), we will ask you to answer your secret question as an additional security measure. This will prevent fraudsters from changing your account details and using the new info to confirm an identity.
In our ongoing series of Community Town Halls, Lorrie Norrington, President of eBay Marketplace Operations, and a panel of eBay execs will take questions from members today between 9:30 am -- 11:00 am Pacific time, on all things eBay. To make your voice heard, call our toll-free number during the event -- 1-877-474-3302 -- to ask your question on the air.
Alternatively, you can email your question, now or during the event, to townhall@ebay.com.
I'll be putting up pictures from today's Town Hall as it unfolds. Stay tuned!
Here's Lorrie and Griff, our friendly emcee and host, a few moments before going live:
I saw this web comic the other day about eBay and thought it'd be great to share. Certainly makes figuring out optimal sales routes less complicated!
xkcd is a clever strip that bills itself as a "webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language." It's a very funny look at the world from the perspective of science, mathematics, and the internet.
Real, human connections are built on eBay. Members find people with the same interests here, they find and build business networks, and they make close friends (or even spouses). Despite the internet medium, the connections built can be just as close and meaningful as any other connections we build. So it is no surprise that when an active Community participant and friend passes away, we grieve the loss.
This week, old-timers are grieving the loss of a former Community Development employee, Katy. Katy was one of the "pinks," the affectionate name members call staff who engage with members on the forums because of the pink header on their posts. In a memorial discussion thread, staff and members alike have described Katy and how she influenced them -- her humor, her vivacious energy and spirit, her uncanny ability to charm people, and, especially, her loyalty to eBay and its mission and to all the people whose lives were better because of the opportunity eBay gave them.
Katy left the company as an employee a few years ago, but she never left eBay. So many people have been touched by her over the years, including me. I remember working with Katy and the other "pinks" during site outages and other problems back in "the old days." Her sense of humor was contagious, and she could defuse a tense situation with members and staff alike with her spontaneous quirky observations and stories that usually left us LMAO. There was also a serious side to Katy, however -- her belief in eBay's mission and in the people who were part of this amazing marketplace. The "people" part of the mission was most important, and Katy was a passionate champion for the Community.
I learned a lot, I laughed a lot (sometimes until my sides hurt)...Katy, we'll miss you.
eBay is invading the blogosphere! It's been a busy week, as we've launched three new blogs that will hopefully help keep our readers informed, engaged, and even laughing (at least sometimes).
Each one has its own twist, so make sure to add them to your regular reading list - or even better, to your RSS feed.
eBay Ink, run by blogger extraordinaire Richard Brewer-Hay, gives you an inside look at the wide world of eBay, Inc. Not only will he be covering topics related to eBay Marketplaces, but he'll tackle PayPal, Skype, Shopping.com, and the rest of the eBay family. For more background, check out this interview he did with Fortune Small Business.
eBay Insideris your source for inspiration, trends and tips from eBay’s team of unparalleled fashion, home, tech, toy, and pop culture experts. Connoisseurs in their respective fields, Constance White, Karen Bard, Cat Schwartz, and Shawn Henderson search eBay to uncover great buys and extraordinary auctions while sharing the inside scoop, helpful shopping advice, and up-to-the-minute buzz. Whether another piece of Paris’ trash lands on eBay or shoes keep selling every four seconds, you’ll hear about the latest and greatest eBay trends here.
WhatGives?! is run by the good folks with our Global Citizenship team, and highlights good, great, and green deeds going on in pop culture - or anything else they think will make the world a little better. In fact, swing over right now to check out this post from Adam Duritz of Counting Crows about the band's new nonprofit and auctions on eBay Giving Works.
As the title indicates, parts are parts unless they're your parts as my car enthusiast-husband would argue. Over the years, we've collected too many parts for our '69 Dodge Charger (my opinion, not his). On the threshold of spring-cleaning, as one looks around (around is the operative word) our garage, one comes to realize it is time to thin out this collection. The other alternative is to build a bigger garage.
As we sat down to dinner one evening last week, I calmly suggested that we consider thinning out this vast collection of bric-a-brac by taking advantage of the 1¢ listing fees promotion currently going on on eBay through the end of March, and by listing the 'no longer needed' parts and accessories on eBay Motors. From the look I received, you would have thought I suggested unsubscribing to all the sports channels.
Okay, so perhaps this wasn't the best dinner topic. Not to be deterred, I put the collective brain cells (all 3 of them) in gear (no pun intended) and came up with additional, more creative ways to get my point across, one of which was to approach the subject with the 'but others are doing' scenario. Hence, the Goldberg Project (refer to Mopar Muscle Magazine March 2008 for the full story). Seems that Bill Goldberg, muscle car extraordinaire, found a low mileage Coronet on Craigslist.com and according to plan, decided the end result was going to have the look and feel of a '65 Super Stock Dodge but it had to be street-legal. Okay, so what does this have to do with convincing my husband we need to part with some parts?
According to the Mopar Muscle article, 'Bill spent time searching eBay Motors for vintage parts, such as N.O.S. taillight lenses, a vintage Sun Tach, and a radio-delete plate. He also found eBay a handy resource to recycle a few other unneeded parts. Which is exactly the point I was trying to get across my over-parted and accessorized hubby. My original plan of action was to ask Bill to convince hubby (and others) that eBay Motors is a great place to help create much need garage space by parting with automotive items no longer needed but Bill's schedule didn't allow for a house call so I had to settle on referencing the magazine article.
So I once again approached the subject of listing some of the unneeded parts on eBay Motors making sure to reference that a certain former wrestler and football pro didn't mind parting with parts and tried to strategize the cleaning of the garage and 'departing' the parts/accessories we no longer needed or used. When my husband gave me one of those 'you've inhaled too many paint fumes' looks, I responded with 'You're idling' (car talk for stop stalling). Realizing I had reached a stale-mate, I decided to drop the matter and list the items I knew we are no longer using and go from there. But my husband buys on eBay as well. Any bets that we end up with the very parts I sell?
It turns out that, in real life too, Kristin's been emulating the persona of the character that made her famous. She's been supporting Oxfam since the 2004 South East Asian tsunami. More recently, she's also devoted her attention to the efforts of women's groups and community-based organizations whose work focuses on the response to the HIV epidemic.
Two tickets to the world premiere of Sex and the City in New York City on May 27, 2008.
On camera meet and greet with Kristin Davis at the premiere
Chauffeured car service to the premiere
Hair and makeup for one person by Privé
A pair of Jimmy Choo "Felix" shoes in your size. Size range: 35.5-40.5 (US 5.5-10.5)
In addition, of course, the winning bidder will also receive the satisfaction of knowing that the proceeds from this auction are going to Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger and injustice.
What comes to mind when you think of Chicago? Some popular answers might be: jazz, deep-dish pizza, the '85 Bears (and Chris Farley's associated "Da Bears!" Saturday Night Live skit), Michael Jordan, or the Windy City. Well, how about eBay Live!? Yes, eBay Live! is making its long-awaited journey to the Midwest, and we're pretty excited to visit such a great city.
eBay Live! will run from June 19-21 at the McCormick Place West. Those of you who have been to a previous eBay Live! event can relate when I say it will be the most exhilarating and exhausting 3 days you'll spend all year. In addition to over 150 classes and a brand new pavilion dedicated to product sourcing, you can also meet, mingle, and network with about 10,000 fellow attendees. It's always capped off with a closing gala which promises lots of food and entertainment. Previous acts have included Davy Jones, Weird Al Yancovic (singing the eBay song), the B-52's, Huey Lewis and the News, and last year's Kool and the Gang. The word is we'll have another great act this year, but we all have to stay tuned to find out who it will be. (They won't tell me yet!)
I've been fortunate enough to attend almost every eBay Live! event, and it really does have something to offer everyone, whether you're a part-time seller, a business selling on eBay, a buyer, or a new member of our Community ready to learn, grow and make friends. Take a look at the eBay Live! Chatter newsletter from last year in Boston to get a taste of what it's like. You can also check out the eBay Live! discussion board to chat about the event with fellow attendees and ask questions from the old pros who are eBay Live! veterans. Registration opens today, and from now until April 30th you can save $45 just by registering early. Check out the eBay Live! site at ebay.com/ebaylive for all the details. See you in Chicago!
I had to share this "infographic" - it's from The Onion, which is just about the funniest site out there. It speculates on the REAL reasons Meg is retiring. As my cube-neighbor Griff put it, "This is hilarious - I laughed 'til I stopped."
Check it out here. Now I've got to find my old PayAcquaintance T-shirts.
I hope all is well for you and your families. Today at eBay, we're holding our monthly Community Town Hall event. If you aren't familiar with an eBay Town Hall don't fret. They are basically very much what you're probably thinking they are like. We invite everyone who trades on eBay to participate. You can do this by clicking on the Town Hall graphic on the eBay Town Hall page.
After that, you'll navigate to our partner who assists producing these events, www.wsRadio.com. They host the weekly eBay Radio program hosted by our very own Griff. He also moderates the questions, comments, and suggestions on various eBay and PayPal topics raised by Community members. Griff is regularly joined by a group of eBay leaders called the Town Hall panel. Each of the panel members are responsible for different areas with eBay. They provide answers to questions about their respective topics, explain the rationale for a variety of the decisions the company makes, and listen to comments and suggestions about ways to improve the eBay and PayPal experience. You can email your questions and suggestions to TownHall@eBay.com or call the toll free number, 877-474-3302.
You're invited to join us today at 3:30 PM Pacific Time to listen and submit any question, comment, or suggestion.
Just go to the Town Hall page (http://pages.ebay.com/townhall/) to participate. We've scheduled 90 minutes for this opportunity to interact with some of the leaders at eBay. If your schedule doesn't permit you to join, you will be able to listen to an audio archive recording or read a written transcript available generally a few days following the event. Bookmarking the Town Hall Archives page will allow you to access the archive information easily for future reference.
During and after the event, come back here to the Chatter blog to view photos. If you have comments or suggestions about today's Town Hall or about Town Hall events in general, please start a thread on the Chatter Blog Comments board and share your thoughts and opinions.
We hope this information is helpful and you learned more about our Community Town Hall events.
If you've never heard of it, the eBay Affiliate program helps you earn money for driving traffic to eBay - even to your own listings! I'll spare you all the details here (and instead encourage you to check out their info page), but if you keep a blog, have your own site, or otherwise have a space carved out for yourself on the web, it's worth checking out.
You also will want to listen in to eBay Radio today to learn more. Our Affiliate team will be on, and will have special guest Megan Casey, the chief editor of Squidoo.com, with them. Squidoo is a member of our Affiliate Program, and offers sellers an innovative way to show off their listings...and to make some money as well. The show starts at 11am PT, and the team should be on shortly after noon. Tune in to learn more.
If you're looking for sellers coming together to encourage each other in their sales, look no further than the Dream Theme Auction Listings Group (otherwise known as DTAL). They describe themselves as "dreamers of the green" ("green" being slang for a successful sale due to the price showing up in green font in My eBay after a bid/sale is made), and their charter is quite inspiring:
"We are a group of sellers encouraging each other through listing themes and inspiring dreams. Our members challenge and support each other when life's everyday issues get in the way. The groups themed challenges give us an added incentive to list and have fun while doing so. We strive to offer the best in customer care and service. We are the Dreamers of the Green."
Starting on Monday, March 3rd, they're having the "Dream Theme Auction Listings Contest" and are advertising it on the Auction Listings board. It's mainly for fun, but maybe you could win a prize with "a value of no less than one dollar and no more than five dollars." Check out the discussion thread and the DTAL Group for details and to get in on the fun.
If you're an active eBay member, which I’m guessing you are if you're reading The Chatter, you're probably keenly aware of many of the changes planned for 2008. You may have read some posts here on The Chatter like Griff's thoughts on the Feedback changes or Laura's recent article with questions and answers about testing for a new item page. We plan to try to help everyone adapt to the changes as best as possible by providing tips, strategies, and other information that you may find useful for your eBay activity.
After a few weeks of contemplating all the upcoming changes and analyzing how they will impact their businesses, we know that sellers are beginning to adapt. Here's an email we received recently from an eBay Store owner -- PowerSeller, cleosuncat -- who describes how she is dealing with some of the changes with Feedback and DSRs.
We hope her letter gives our sellers more ideas about how you might adapt your business, too. Here's what she wrote:
"Dear eBay,
I wanted to send along my results in adapting to the changes on eBay. Once the announcements were made, I began looking at what I could do better/different to thrive in the new environment. It's been two weeks, and I wanted to share my changes & results so far:
1. Feedback: I used to leave it second or after 30 days if I heard nothing. I am now leaving it when I ship the item. The quality of the feedback I receive is better, much more positive almost effusive.
2. DSRs: I have reworded my packing invoice. Aside from my standard thank you for shopping with me & let me know when the package arrives, I have added if you need to leave me less than 5 stars, please let me know how I can improve my customer service for you & future buyers. I have empowered the buyers to help me, making them a "partner" in my business, my stars have gone up and not one has told me what I can do better
3. Shipping Charges: Always have been my weakest star, the one that will keep from the 15% discount. My shipping is flat rate, based on USPS zone 8, but my buyers did not know that. They also did not know before they bought that I routinely rebate shipping if they live closer or I can use FedEx. I have added that information to my TOS, letting them know the shipping listed is worse case scenario, and if possible, it will be less. I am now within .10 of the 4.8 on shipping charges
I have basically not changed how I do business, I am just doing a better job of letting the buyers KNOW how I do business.
I am in no way perfect and will face bumps along the way, but the clouds on the horizon don't seem as ominous. The carrots are making this bunny very happy
Thanks for reading, cleosuncat"
Thanks, cleosuncat!
Sellers -- If you'd like to share tips and strategies with other members of the Community, I encourage you to click on the comments link below to post to the Chatter Comments discussion board.
Alright everybody, "Git-R-Done"! That's the famous saying from Larry the Cable Guy. You probably know him as one of three comedians that make up the Blue Collar Comedy team, along with Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall.
You're probably wondering what it is you're supposed to "Git-Done," right?
Well, that would be checking out and perhaps bidding on Larry The Cable Guy's auctions for charity. First, is two VIP tickets to one of his famously sold-out comedy shows, complete with a special meet-and-greet with Mr. Cable Guy himself. But the BIG prize here is his beloved 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 4X4 Sport Truck, which Larry the Cable Guy has personally signed himself. The auctions started on Monday, Feb. 11 and the truck is up to $20,100 and the VIP tickets to his show are going for $2,250.
Listed using eBay's Giving Works feature, 100% of the proceeds of both auctions go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Look for the blue and gold ribbon icons used to distinguish any item listed for a non-profit through Charity Giving Works.
So now you know. So, go on, "Git-R-Done" as these two fantastic auctions end tomorrow to help out a very worthy cause.
Live help
It's Bike to Work Day today and eBayers are enthusiastically putting their mettle to the pedal. Employees have been riding in to work from far and wide, even though temperatures are predicted to hit 100 here today. (Last year a few employees actually biked all the way from San Francisco, a whopping 50 mile ride!). 
