As we approach Tamebay’s 10th Birthday, Chris and I have been reflecting on the journey we’ve had over the past decade. Here are some of our other posts. I hope you’ll crave our indulgence.
(And don’t forget that we are having a birthday party to mark the landmark. And do come and raise a glass.)
And no retrospective would be full and complete without looking back over the contribution made by Tamebay’s co-founder Sue Bailey. Newer readers may not be aware that Chris and Sue founded Tamebay back in 2006, admittedly at my urging. They ran it between themselves together for 5 years, with occasional input from me. But sadly in 2011, Sue died suddenly.
The thing to know about Sue Bailey is that she was fearsomely clever. She was a Cambridge grad in what she called “dead languages.” Her degree is better known as the highly respected ASNAC course, Anglo-Saxon Norse and Celtic. She loved Beowulf and a copy of it, in the original old English, was never far away. She loved books and described herself as an “amateur librarian”.
She was a talented photographer and blogger with her own interests in historical fields such as architecture, cemeteries and London’s past. She lived with her husband in France in her last years with her beloved dogs and garden. She loved a glass of something strong. She could drink me under the table. Nah, actually, we were evenly matched.
Chris moans that one night in Chicago, during the eBay Live! event in 2008, that Sue chivvied him back to his hotel room and then came out drinking into the small hours with me. But then Chris is a two pot screamer.
Sue was funny, opinionated… actually she was argumentative… and sometimes difficult. But that was all part of her charm. What she called “snark” was often present in her more acerbic Tamebay postings. And readers loved it.
She was also the tech whizz behind Tamebay. She set up the Tamebay blog back on day one in an afternoon and maintained it over the years. And when she died that offered our biggest challenge. Chris is more technical than I am but we didn’t have her design skills and know-how. We turned to outside help.
Of course, Sue is still with us. When we’re thinking about a story or an angle on something, Chris and I will often ask “What would Sue do?”… and that’s a tricky call to make because she was so often unpredictable in her views and esoteric generally. So we have fun guessing.
We miss her after all this time. Never forgotten. Here’s the post we wrote announcing her death: Farewell Sue Bailey.
Many of you will remember Sue, and knew her, so do please share a wry memory of her and make us smile. We’ll be raising a toast to her at the party. Maybe see you there?
11 Responses
I never had the chance to meet Sue, but I am sure, by reading this post, she would be so proud of you both.
Thank you for being so open with your readers, this is what makes TameBay different from other news sites.
I look forward to reading this for another 10 years, though I am sure Amazon or Google will have a device for me that reads out your latest news feed for me 😛
All the best,
Charlie McBroom
A beautifully simple yet candid piece.
I love this website and it has kept me informed for many years now. If I could cheers you now I would but alas, I’m so deeply embroiled in Christmas I don’t think I can make it.
Chris, you were excellent at the LW conference and when I hear you speak I often feel it is only the beginning of the wealth of advice you can offer.
I also never had the pleasure of meeting or writing to Sue. But as Charlie states above, she would be remarkably proud of what you guys have achieved here.
Hats off to you both and happy 10th birthday.
James Taylor
Great piece.
Sue was one of the few people that really help me many years back when ebay decided to boot me off the site for a year, for something I had no idea I had done.
She really helped me and at the time my entire business was just on ebay, so as you can imagine over night we had no income. I think if it wasn’t for her my business wouldn’t be hear 8 years later.
Hi Guys – Doesn’t time fly.
its a long long way away from the early ebay days of heady powersellers. we had some fun on that powerseller forum.
My biggest champion and friend in lots of ways was Biddybidbidbid.
its strange – I was talking about you all to another old friend the other day and here you are popping up in my facebook feed.
best of luck for another 10 years.
Love and stuff Lou (Boxes and Busts)
Nice piece. Brought a sad smile to my face. I remember talking enthusiastically with Sue about places I had been on holiday in Brittany over a large glass of red. I’m sure that was at another Tamebay party in Manchester after an expo?? Or was it an eBay University?? Forget the year.
Happy 10th guys. We’re hoping to get down and celebrate with you and, of course, raise a glass to Sue.
Stephen (Tradebox)
I remember the first time I met Sue very clearly. An intense lady with bright DMs on and with such deep and assured knowledge about the marketplace that I was rather intimidated by the whole experience. Of course once you got to know her better she was still intense and intimidatingly knowledgable, just in a more friednly way.
I’m sure she’s still out there somewhere reading Tamebay, mocking Dan and Chris for pulling the occasional punch or missing out on a story. An editor merely resting. Rest in peace.
I can’t find the post because alas I’m still banned from the seller boards but I do remember one of my first ever questions when I joined was “why does everybody sell beads?” moments later I was brutally savaged by someone called biddybidbid.
Years went by and we became good chums, shes very much missed.
I don’t know if anyone remembers Sue and her biddybutton she asked ebay for it when they started free postage .
Of course it took ebay years and years to allow sellers to have a discount button .
Sue as Dan says loved a good debate and we had many of those on the Powersellers board .
Funny enough that’s the only thing I miss about selling on ebay is the Powersellers board I often wonder how they are all doing.