What Conference Will Replace eBayLive? Where Will You Go?
Now that eBayLive is a thing of the past, (yeah I know, 2010 if you believe in fairytales) where will eBay marketers, and for that matter all ecommerce merchants go to get the latest information and strategies? Where will you go to learn about the latest software and services available to your online business?
I know that there are a plethura of seminars and conferences, but the question is which one will step to the forefront for those that market on sites like Onlineauction, eBay, Amazon, eCrater or any other venue? Will there be an event that steps up and tries to fill the eBayLive void? I don’t believe we will see a company conference the likes of eBayLive in the near future. With it’s vast income, eBay could afford this type of an event. The eBayLive confernece was certainly not a profitable event and never was intended to be self sustaining.
Where Will You Go
While researching this post, I contacted PESA/ECMTA and was given the following information. The will be holding a 2 day event September 10-11 in Melbounre Australia, September 18-20 2008 ECMTA will be at the Inc 500/5000 Conference in Washington DC and finally ECMTA will conduct a 1 day event in San Francisco October 1, 2008. In addition, ECMTA advised me that they are planning on small regional events and larger Summits for 2009 but no dates or locations are available at this time.
Channeladvisor advised me that they are planning another Catalyst event for possibly April or May of 2009 but details are also not yet available.
AsWas’ RocketPlace event is scheduled for September 10-12, 2008 in Las Vegas. This event is focused on eBay marketing but also includes information ecommerce merchants can gain from no matter what venue they sell from. The keynote speaker will be Marsha Collier author of the eBay For Dummies series of books, and other presenters include Jay Berkowitz author of The Ten Golden Rules for Internet Marketing and John Lawson CEO of 3rd Power Outlet plus many other notables.
With the economy in recession, these events vying for your conference dollars are rethinking their positions. I believe there will be much smaller regional events planned for 2009 by the various providers but can’t help but wonder which conferences our readers and listeners will attend in 2009.
If you are planning on attending an event in 2009, let us know which one.
Listen in each week to ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business live every Saturday from 10 AM to Noon ET to hear the latest in ecommerce marketing news and strategies.
Is eBay Becoming The Newest Big Box Electronics Site?
Announced Changes Tell The Story
As I try to digest the changes to the eBay platform announced yesterday, I can’t help but notice that it truly appears to me that eBay wants to cash in on the Consumer Electronics wave. To do this eBay has inked “sweetheart deals” with such sites as Buy.com to give these huge consumer electronic sellers an unprecedented unfair advantage. These deals allow the huge sellers to list tens of thousands of items on the eBay site with no listing fees and reduced Final Value Fees (FVF).
In yesterdays announcment eBay states
” In extremely competitive e-commerce categories such as Consumer Electronics, Cameras and Computers, we’re decreasing final value fees. This means we’re giving you an even bigger incentive to list these types of items on eBay.”
In addition, eBay is also offering
a special rate of only 5 cents through the end of the year for Buy It Now™ fixed price listings in the Media categories (Books, Video Games, Music and DVDs/Movies) using pre-filled item information.
These special incentives certainly are placing those high volume sellers in these categories at a significant advantage, just in time for the busiest selling season of the year. It is very apparent to me that with the emphasis eBay is placing on these very high demand and visibilty categories, that they (eBay) wants to become the largest online source for consumer electronics. While this is great if you sell in these categories, it is terrible news for those sellers that sell in other categories like clothing or shoes or any other category not benefiting from the reduced fees.
Auction Format Listings Remain The Same
As the announcement states, there will be no reduction in fees for those selling in the Auction Format. This tells me that eBay is still moving towards a Fixed Price site. Though Lorrie Norrington says in the announcement that “Auctions will always have a place on eBay” I can not help but remember the immortal words she spoke at the PESA/ECMTA conference in New Orleans earlier this year. “You won’t recognize eBay in a year”.
The Same Old eBay-NOT
n my mind eBay already does not resemble what it was when I started selling on the site 11+ years ago. I realize that ecommerce has changed, technology has changed, and the online buyer has changed. To stay competitive, eBay had to make changes to stay competitive. My concern is what marketplace they want to be competitive in. Cetainly it appears that it is not the marketplace that they started out in, and that is OK if that is where they want to go.
In my opinion they should let their customers, who after all are the SELLERS decide what direction they should be heading to.
Silly me, I forgot, according to Pierre Omidyar we business owners don’t know what is in our own best interests.
ECMTA To Provide eCommerce Educational Programs for Inc.500 Conference
Ecommerce Merchants (www.ecommercemerchants.org) announced yesterday that they will provide online and in-person education to all Inc. 5000 companies beginning with the 27th Annual Inc. 500|Inc. 5000 Conference and Awards Ceremony at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Washington D.C. on September 18-20, 2008 where a dedicated eCommerce Pavilion will be included at the conference for the first time ever.
The full announcement can be read at www.ecmta.org/press/ecommerce-merchants-partners-with-inc-5000.cfm.
ECMTA Announces First Regional Meeting with eBabes & eMales in Dallas
ECMTA recently announced the first in a series of Regional Meetings to be held around the US (at least at this point).
Brandon Dupsky Managing Director of ECMTA said
Our first regional meeting is now booked and you are welcome to join us! For our first event, we will be joining forces with our friends in Dallas, TX at the Dallas ebaybes & eMales group (I love their name). I have been spending time with the leaders of this group (Stephanie, Herb & Martha) and I’m totally amazed at their accomplishments as well as the professional way they handle things. With their extensive experience holding regional meetings, I expect this event to be a blowout!
Date: Monday July 28th
Location: Canyon Creek Country Club in Richardson, TX
Time: 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Cost: $15 (That’s right only $15. Dinner, deserts, beverage & gratuity are included)
Agenda:
6:00 – 7:00 : Back to Basics on “How to Sell on Amazon” with Lily Li
7:00 – 8:00 : Dinner
7:30 – 8:30 : “Growing your Business Through Membership in a Trade Association” with Brandon Dupsky
I will make sure to save time for open discussion on what you want your trade association to be doing for you. I hope to hear more on what myself and team should be focused on.
For those of you near the Dallas area, I really hope to see you and get a chance to talk more about selling on Amazon as well as future goals for the association. If you are interested in joining us, please send me an email at Brandon@ecmta.org and I will get you on the list.
For people in other regions, don’t worry. We have plans to hit all the major regions and I hope to roll this out quickly. Once we finalize some of the details, we will be able to announce more.
Live Stream of PESA/ECMTA Webinar Global 3rd Party Storage & Shipping Solutions
eBay Live is over and it’s time to get back into the swing of things. So once again, ebay & Beyond: Basics To Business in association with PESA/ECMTA will broadcast the upcoming June 25th webinar entitled: Global 3rd Party Storage & Shipping Solutions at 4:00 PM EDT from www.basicstobusiness.com .
The webinar is being presented by PESA/ECMTA and ShipWire.com
Registration which is required to view the slide presentation so go to https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/789582555 to register and then sit back and relax while you listen to the audio on your computer!
PESA / ECMTA Webinar Roundtable - Product Sourcing in Difficult Times
PESA / ECMTA Community Roundtable - Product Sourcing in Difficult Times
Join us for a Webinar on June 12
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/412801620
Remember you must register to view the slide presentation. Participants can also listen to the webinar live on their computer as it will be streaming live on ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business. To listen live on the internet go to www.basicstobusiness.com .
Worldwide Brands are the What to Sell and Where to Get it Experts! Join us for this webinar to learn about how you can beat the recession with eCommerce using the best techniques in product sourcing and market research. Knowledge is power and Worldwide Brands will be sharing some of the research that they’ve been conducting on the recession and the impact to eCommerce.
Questions covered in the Webinar:
What is product sourcing?
Why is product sourcing so important?
Using multiple sourcing techniques. Why is that so important to an Online Seller – what does that do for their E-Biz?
Is eCommerce being impacted by the recession?
Tips learned from suppliers and merchants
Where to go to further your Education to be a step ahead of your competition
More information is available at: http://blog.worldwidebrands.com/?kbid=20807
Title: PESA / ECMTA Community Roundtable - Product Sourcing in Difficult Times
Date: Thursday, June 12, 2008
Time: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM EDT
System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.3.9 (Panther®) or newer
Live Broadcast From PESA/ECMTA Pavilion @ eBayLive 2008
ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business in cooperation with our friends and fellow members of PESA/ECMTA is pleased to announce that our regular Saturday program on June 21st will be broadcast live from the PESA/ECMTA Pavilion at eBayLive 2008 in Chicago.
If you can’t attend this eBayLive event (the last until 2010) you can hear the latest and greatest information from our scheduled 12 hours of live internet streaming broadcasts. We will be talking with attendees, exhibitors, and eBay staffers live from the convention all three days!
As always, our listeners can call in on our toll free number or join us on our live chat board during the broadcasts to have your questions answered.
To view our broadcast schedule and list of scheduled guests go to www.internetauctionnewsradio.com. Remember you can always send your questions for our guests to dave@internetauctionnewsradio.com via email.
If you are attending eBayLive 2008 be sure and check out the PESA/ECMTA Pavilion and don’t forget to RSVP for the PESA/ECMTA 5th Anniversay After Party Gala which is open to all eBayLive attendees but again you must RSVP via the link.
Proof eBay Is Losing The Small Seller
For months (OK, I have been talking about this for years but only writing a blog for about a year) I have been writing about the lower volume sellers being pushed away from eBay. Many readers and listeners to our weekly live radio program ebay and Beyond: Basics to Business, as well as eBay exec’s have been saying show us the proof. In April, Lorrie Norrington, President of eBay Global Marketplace Operations said in her keynote address at the PESA/ECMTA conference in New Orleans that eBay embraces the smaller sellers, that small sellers provide the unique buying experience that is eBay.
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
ebay & Beyond: Basics To Business with Paul St. James of Bidtopia and John Lawson 3PO
This weeks show features guests Paul St. James CIO of Bidtopia.com and John Lawson reporting from Rocketplace/AsWas conference in Las Vegas.
[podcast]http://www.ecommerce-marketing-radio-network.com/Podcasts/09-13-08.mp3[/podcast]
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