eBay Live
I’m out in San Jose, CA covering eBay Live!, the 10th anniversary celebration and gathering of eBay sellers. It’s a cultural happening of it’s own sort but also a serious educational conference that teaches people how to sell more items at higher prices more effectively.
There are few things that have had such a revolutionary effect on the way goods and products are bought and sold and eBay Live! brings together more than 10,000 eBay sellers, most of them avid cheerleaders.
There are more than 160 exhibitors and lots of technology on display but the people-watching opportunities alone are worth the trip.
Take the family you see above. They’re from Prescott, AZ.
Bob Bull (really, that’s his name), the guy in the center, is in a wheelchair, on oxygen for his emphesema and suffers from a heart condition, multiple sclerosis and diabetes. But eBay, he says, “has saved my life.” He and wife, Alice, left, and daughter, Barbie, right, sell odds and ends on the auction site. They’re here in San Jose, like many others, in full eBay uniform. Bob even sports an eBay eyepatch.
Bob’s Website tells his story, how before he felt helpless, but now “I found eBay. Now I feel productive again, being able to help others, and it gives me great pleasure to be able to do so.”
June 24th, 2005 at 10:28 am
I know of at least one ebay reseller that had to go out of business because of an arbitrary decision on the part of ebay to suspend their account. A good friend is also an ebay “power seller”, and has had his account suspended in the past for what was a very arbitrary reason.
I’ve been selling on ebay for years, and as much as I love the site, and have had virtually no problems with the company, I wouldn’t begin to base my business on being an ebay reseller when you can lose everything at the drop of a hat. I’ve seen it happen…and it’s scary.