The Power of eBay Live!
Last week I asked my readers to join the discussion and comment on what they thought of eBay Live, and if they were planning to attend this year.
Here’s my two cents:
eBay Live is extremely worth your while. Its a crazy three and a half days, and you may get a little exhausted or get information overload, but you need it. Being at eBay Live allows you to step away from your daily life (and even your business for that matter!) and really take a step back and examine what you are doing right and wrong.
For new eBay sellers, here’s what I think you should do. eBay offers all kinds of “eBay 101″ and “how to open an eBay store” sessions at eBay Live. Don’t bother with these… Take a little time on your own at home to learn this stuff first. You can find all this info on eBay’s help menus on ebay.com. Instead, learn all this stuff before you go and then attend the advanced sessions.
For both new and experienced sellers alike, the “top seller’ panels are your best bet. Here you’ll hear from some of eBay’s most successful sellers and can actually ask them questions, so come prepared! Think about what’s wrong or challenging about your business, step up to the microphone and ask one of the panelists for their take on the situation. Now, panelists are not always right, but chances are they have had more experience than you and can help you figure your issues out. I was on a panel like this last year and feel that I helped a lot of sellers work their issues out.
One thing that eBay is doing this year that I really pushed for is offering some sessions on PROFITABILITY! Yes! This is one very important component that you’ll need, as you’ve heard me talk about before.
…and if you want to meet me, I’ve been told I am going to be a panelist on the “top seller profitability panel”, so we can chat in person there.
Bottom line… eBay Live! is really worth the expense and time. You won’t need to go to every single session or engage yourself in every activity that’s going on, but even if the experience leads you to one very important discovery, your business can evolve into something very powerful!
Corey Kossack is one of eBay’s “top sellers” through his eBay store, Koss DVD. He is also author of eBay Millionaire or Bust and creator of ProfitBuilder software that maximizes profits for eBay sellers.
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:32 am
Hi from Debbie at As Was. We’ll be in booth 939 at eBay Live, and we agree that everybody should go. I also like your idea of knowing the basics when you get there.
However, I wanted to throw in that some of my clients who have appeared on these seller panels (at eBay Live or sometimes other events) often tell me they really don’t want to give their secrets away. I even have clients who don’t want us putting on their website how much we helped them grow… so that people don’t think they have a good thing going and decide to get into that item! Attendees should check out some panels, but just be wary that they may not always be getting the whole story from the panelists.
So I of course recommend the advanced and "business" classes eBay will be offering at the event. I’m co-teaching three classes: one about eBay listing strategies, one about promotions and retention, and one more general one about marketing.
See you there!
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:33 am
PS: I meant seller panels. I might be on a panel of vendors, and we don’t hold back on those.
March 23rd, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Go to eBay Live!
Okay, you are trying to make enough on eBay (and some others) to scratch out a living or maybe your business wants to expand into the internet or you are THINKING of going heavy into eBay…
Go to eBay Live.
Here are thousands of people who are doing the same thing you want to do. And They TALK! I’ve been there for the last 3 years and it has been great. It is very cheap (the conference, maybe not the transportation and housing) and you get Way More than you pay for.
If you’re a powerseller you get to go into the powerseller lounge which is nothing but powersellers setting around taking a break and looking for others to chat with. I’ve sat next to brand new powersellers who didn’t know how they even got there and on the other side were powersellers that were guest speakers at the next panels. I’ve met authors of eBay books, the first couple to hit One Million Feedback and a guy who has over 20 eBay names, each with over 50,000 feedback.
And then there are all the eBay employees who are smiling and standing around waiting for you to ask them questions. It’s like Disneyland for eBayers!
Go, Go, Go!
about me: I’m an eBay Powerseller who works at this full-time. I’ve started over 35 businesses throughout my life and did this when my wife took ill and passed away. It gave me time to be with her at the end and allowed me to do things when I felt like it during the grieving period. Now I do it because it’s still fun.
And, I just found about about this great site today! I wish I would have thought about it first.
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:34 pm
About the comment about PowerSellers holding back… This is true, to a degree. Many of the sellers will be vague about what made them successful. When I was on the panel last year i decided not to be like the rest, and actually shared valuable information with the audience. The response I received from the audience is what encouraged me to write eBay Millionaire or Bust and release ProfitBuilder Software to the public. Now that I have those businesses going in addition to my eBay business, I don’t hold back either, so look forward to that.
And Debbie… maybe you and I should talk!
And Al - welcome to the blog, stick around and I hope I can help you!
[b]Corey Kossack[/b] is one of eBay’s “top sellers” through his eBay store, [link=http://stores.ebay.com/Koss-DVD' target='_blank']Koss DVD[/link]. He is also author of eBay Millionaire or Bust and creator of [link=http://www.profitbuildersoftware.com/' target='_blank']ProfitBuilder[/link] software that maximizes profits for eBay sellers.
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:44 pm
We will be there! We are eBay Powersellers and accountants and we specialize in Quickbooks setup and training for eBayers and e-commerce merchants.