The doors have just closed on the first day of eBay Live Chicago, and I must say it’s been more subdued than I ever expected. The sellers attending this conference are, by and large, business people: they’re not eBay fans in crazy hats and clown make up. The atmosphere is quiet, and somewhat intense: eBay should be happy that most of these people are here just trying to make their business work. Though there is obvious dissatisfaction at recent changes, and particularly the fallout from feedback changes, mostly, there’s a quiet determination to just get on with making money.
And that means that seller demands from eBay’s content are much higher than I’ve ever seen at any eBay event. Sellers I’ve talked to today have been generally unhappy at the level that courses have been pitched at: “too basic” is a constant theme. There’s one stream just for beginner sellers, and another “Beyond the Basics”, as well as classes for PowerSellers and more on growing your business: all of these have been complained about as being too easy, and way below the level required. “I think I should be teaching them,” said one seller who had left *two* classes in the first session as being just too basic for his needs.
Also of concern are the sheer numbers. Despite a huge banner advertising 10,000 attendees, there are nothing like that many people here: I’d agree with Skip’s estimate and say more like half that. If I were an exhibitor, I’d be less than happy. And exhibitor numbers are down too: a map of the exhibition hall given to attendees shows many more stands than are actually there. It seems eBay were generally far too optimistic about the amount of interest this year’s Live would generate: no wonder they’ve cancelled it for next year.
4 Responses
lets be honest your only ever gonna get basic,
anyone that has the nounce to do more than basic, is doing it ,not teaching it, or their daft
I doubt anyone that works for ebay actually knows how to sell at anything more than at a basic level.
If they had any sense they would get some big sellers in to give the classes.
There are times when “use a gallery picture” just doesnt cut it.
In the current climate of almost constant ebay change, who can teach how to sell there? Not even the support staff know what’s coming next so to try to go beyond basics is a bit redundant.
Poor turnout for this event is very telling. To me it just proves that ebay is no longer the primary selling tool it once was.
I use ebays blackthorne auction managment program,
and they have not yet added the site visibility option to their auction listing form,
when I queried this, the top guy himself and the programs developer answered that I could list a seperate auction in dollars, if I needed US visibility, along with a duplicate UK listing, until they got round to adding the option,
that shows you what ebay and their staff know about selling, and their site,