Is eBay Live?

Please go to Randy Smythe's Blog, My Blog Utopia! and read his post entitled
"A Walk Down Memory Lane" in which he reminisces about all the eBay Live conferences he has attended beginning with the first one held at Anaheim California 2002. It is amusing and educational.

Ina Steiner over at AuctionBytes has a series of retrospective articles from eBay Live 2007 held in Boston. I was particularly amused by her coverage of the eBay Live TownHall. Ina is currently attending the Internet Retailer Conference in Chicago. She has posted many, many pictures but these, one of the PayPal booth, another of Google plus (just for fun) Google Checkout were special. Thank you Ina!

Also last year, the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PeSA) published a paper "Unhealthy eBay marketplace Dynamics - Seller Perspective" available here. I found this quote quite compelling:

In the past, PeSA has not had an issue with eBay fees. Our perspective was based on value received and that as long as sellers were receiving value for those fees, we found it to be a fair relationship. However, over the past 2 years, sellers have seen eBay’s take rate of member sales increase, while the value received has diminished. Sellers, not eBay, have felt the impact of the additional cost and lower sales.

Beautifully put, and if they had just shut up there, things might have been different. But no! They went on:

eBay should reward positive contributors in their marketplace. Sellers that have shown outstanding contribution to the marketplace should be rewarded with better placement in search. If the better sellers are shown higher in search, then buyers would have a greater chance of a positive buyer experience. As more buyers have positive experiences, they will return and be more active. As under-performing sellers find themselves in lower placement, they will have a strong economic incentive to pursue best practices.

Sound familiar? With 20/20 hindsight vision; this recommendation paired with eBay's inability to comprehend the basic principles of retailing, and matchless propensity for getting it wrong is the root and cause of all our problems today. Go PeSA!

Interesting article from Scott Wingo on Seeking Alpha, he has just discovered that when you go to leave feedback a pop-up box appears saying "You should leave honest and accurate feedback without fear of receiving negative or neutral ratings." Knock me down with a feather!

This year's eBay Live will be held in Chicago from June 19-21. It is the first that has not only failed to sell out but is still offering tickets at early bird prices. I wonder why?


Y'all come back