I know that the internet retail business has skyrocketed as more and more brick and mortar businesses create or expand their internet business so I don’t know why I was so surprised to note the very low numbers of vendors that would appeal or apply to small to medium sized businesses. Many of the vendors that I talked to were only interested in merchants with GAS (gross annual sales) of $1M or more. While talking with several attendees, I find them to be business development managers, IT specialists and business owners seeking CRM solutions.

What appeared to me to be one of the hotest items on the vendor floor was multi-dimensional photography for the apparel industry. I counted at least 10 booths featuring this technology and it is truly amazing. Another large group of vendors were promoting data collection. As one vendor told me their technology knows what the buying customer is interested in before the customer does. All based on the customer’s previous internet travels and purchases. This allows this specific company to suggest your items that fit the buyers previous internet buying history in nanoseconds! This all comes at a cost, of course, generally well beyond the means of the small to medium sized marketer.

A few of the vendors that I did see that might have applications or product that would fit with my target audience were Stamps.com(a sponsor of my podcasts), Shipwire.com, Yahoo.com, Channeladvisor.com, PayPal.com, and DOBA.com. I should say that notably missing was eBay.

Simply from what I saw, this event while probably great for the RETAIL marketplace, it may not fit the bill for the small to medium sized ecommerce businesses.

I will be editing the recorded interviews I conducted over the next few days and posting them on my podcast.

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Since 2007 eBayLive, the annual conference eBay held to bring their passionate and ardent supporters together has been in a death spiral. Early last year eBay announced that the 2009 event would be cancelled but assured anyone that would listen that the event would be revived and resurrected in Orlando FL in August of 2010.

After the 2008 eBayLive (many called this eBayDead)  in Chicago, I have been telling my listeners that no matter what eBay was saying, eBayLive was on life support and the prognosis was grave. With less than half of the 10,000 expected attendees and a very empty vendor convention hall, the 2008 eBayLive saw angry attendees and confrontations between users and staff. Many of the eBay staffers at the event (nearly 700 eBay employees reportedly attended) seemed truly concerned about the attitude of attendees.

Lorrie Norrington Makes The Death Announcement

Yesterday Lorrie Norrington posted on the eBay announcement board what a few of us already knew was coming. eBayLive had in fact expired. In it’s place a new format called eBay: On Location, a more local or regional event to be held in locations that would allow the most attendees to be no more than one days drive away.

Interestingly enough, just 6 weeks ago eBay corporate spokesperson  Usher Lieberman, while being interviewed on my radio program ebay & Beyond: Basics To Business live from the PESA/ECMTA Spring Summit in Atlanta, assured me and my listeners that eBayLive 2010 was still scheduled and would occur. How rapidly things change!

While the economy has hurt many ecommerce sellers and businesses, this demise of eBayLive is not a surprise to me. What is a surprise is that it took so long for others to see the handwritting on the wall.  

I had some great times at previous eBayLive’s and will miss it terribly. The people I met and the networking were phenominal.

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Lorrie Norrington Announces Significant Improvements To Feedback System

Lorrie Norrington, President of eBay Global Marketplace Operations announced sweeping changes to the much discussed Feedback System on eBay. The announcement posted on the eBay announcment board basically says this:

Neutrals will no longer be counted as negatives when determining a sellers feedback rating. This apparently will be retroactive and will require re-calculation of the feedback ratings of all eBay Sellers. This will be effective in late August.

There will be a mechanism put in place to allow buyers to change their negative feedbacks left for sellers if the seller makes the dissatisfied buyer happy in a timely manner. What that mechanisim will be was not disclosed, but more information is coming!

eBay Is Really Listening!

One of the comments Lorrie made at eBayLive, and I am paraphrasing here is “Give Us A Chance”. I have to admit, I for one was skeptical. I have been selling on eBay for 11 years, and have not often been impressed with their response to the voices in the community. Though there will have to be much thought given as to the way extortion by the buyer is handled this is a MAJOR step forward by eBay.

I applaud Lorrie and the rest of the management of eBay in realizing that the recent changes to the Feedback Policy were ill advised, and making changes to it rapidly.

Though more information is to be forthcoming, I expect this announcement will be much appreciated by the rank and file sellers and will have them jumping for joy!

LORRIE, YOU HAVE MY ATTENTION, AND I WILL IN THE FUTURE BE MORE OPTIMISTIC WHEN YOU SAY YOU WILL FIX IT!

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Join us to hear the latest news and upcoming improvements on ONLINEAUCTION.com.

We would also like to remind everyone that we will be broadcasting live from the exhibit floor of the eBayLive 2008 conference in Chicago. Listen in and hear the latest ecommerce news June 19-21. Click HERE to see our broadcast schedule.

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Well low and behold I opened my local newspaper this morning while drinking my first cup of coffee and guess what I found? More proof that what I and many others have been saying for several years is happening in the real world.

In the Sunday June 8th edition of the Jamestown NY, Post Journal  newspaper on the front page of the business section there is a story about two brothers that have opened a brick and mortar store because they were pushed away from eBay by higher fees and the lack of customer service.

Roy Walker, owner of the brick and mortar store The Bargain Cave in Jamestown NY is quoted in the article

“ We were selling antiques and collectibles on eBay “

, and when Roy talks about why he decided to open his B/M store he says

“ Another swaying factor in the decision to open a traditional store was the rising cost of doing business on eBay and the customer service. I was giving them a lot of money with the increased fees and they (eBay) weren’t very helpful when I needed it. I was just getting attitude from them (eBay) and started to question whether is was worth it anymore”

I have read 10’s of these articles from newspapers all around the country. This is not an isolated case as we all know. eBay is moving towards a retail buying experience, advantaging the big sellers and disadvantaging the small sellers.

When lower GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) sellers are disadvantaged on the site by being placed low in the Best Match searches, they have a much lower chance of selling their products. If they don’t sell their products they can not grow. This is simple economics.

Listen to our live ebay and Beyond: Basics to Business broadcasts from eBayLive 2008 in Chicago June 19-21, 2008

Ref: The Sunday Post Journal, Jamestown NY

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Ms. Norrington states in the release that “In 2009 we are focusing our energy on smaller venues to facilitate more face-to-face interactions with our customers and community. While I can’t yet name all of the places we’ll be visiting in 2009, I can say that we intend to spend more quality time with more of you in 2009 than we have in recent memory.”

While this has been rumored for some time, and logically it makes sense from a business point of view, many loyal eBayLive attendees will certainly be disappointed. One rumor we have heard is that there may be several smaller events placed strategically around the country (world) to allow easier access by more users.

Though past eBayLive events have attracted as many as 10,000 community members this number is just a fraction of the total active registered users which according to eBay is above 80,000,000 worldwide.

We will be broadcasting live a total of 12 hours from this years eBayLive in Chicago, so if you can’t attend, you can hear all the latest news right here on www.basicstobusiness.com.

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