Michael Roebuck's Blog

This is my second eBay Live and it's been a rather good trip. I think I've paid for the trip with two new projects. First, is a new light box type thing that will enable us to take better pictures. We can already take pictures from the camera direct to the web without the use of photoshop but this little table seems to be even easier. The below picture was taken while standing in front of the booth with my idiot camera. No external lights, filters or settings. With a little bit of playing around to eliminate all shadows and clean it up a bit, the picture will even be better. I already have hundreds of dollars worth of photo light boxes and this one seems to be very good. I'll add it to my arsenal to provide you, the customer, with the best possible pictures at the lowest price!

My next project is eBay ProStores. We already specialize in Yahoo Merchant Solutions and by learning and mastering this format, we can offer even more services at very low prices. At first glance, eBay ProStores look to be an extremely low cost, low budget web site application. Perfect for those of you not wanting to spend more than a few hundred dollars on design. But don't let the low budget statement fool you. eBay ProStores is feature packed with everything you need to do ecommerce over the net and is fully compatible with PayPal. This means no need for your own merchant accounts and fees associated with those. Plus, if you happen to sell on eBay, your items can be added to your store automatically. Features are very close to those of Yahoo Merchant Solutions as well and monthly pricing starts at $29.95. Stay tuned for more details!

No trip to eBay live is complete without watching the scores of eBay junkies. Over 15,000 eBay fanatics swarmed the Mandolay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas and some leave a deeper impression than others. All share the common thread of entrepreneurship. Everyone wants to shrug off the common workplace and work from home achieving there own personal dreams. Some are doing it while some are still trying. But all of us are working towards this goal. Financial independence without punching the time clock. I wish the best of success to everyone who is trying to achieve this goal!





Is that Kramer from Seinfeld? He's an eBay fan???

To help achieve this goal of financial independence were scores of companies peddling there wares that promise to increase that bottom line. From easier picture taking as in the above example to complete back end automation. Companies that scroll your listings across your auctions to companies offering live video feeds. Companies that track your traffic to companies that design your listings. The US Post Office is even a major sponsor of eBay Live and promises to take good care of the shipments. Who knew that so much went into a little auction ad?

Here's a sister company of mine; Imprintor exhibiting for the fist time at eBay Live. A very popular booth as you can see. By the way, can you find Malcolm in this sea of people?

It's been a very hectic two days so far with class after class and then trying to meet all my reps at the trade show. I've still got 2 more days of this! I did speak with Vince from PayPal and got the PayPal / Yahoo API thing figured out. Now anyone with the new Yahoo Checkout Manager can accept PayPal seamlessly. COOL!! I also tracked down my PayPal representative and got the latest. My other contacts were found and everyone is happy. Especially me. Very cool things coming around the bend. It will be a very fun and interesting quarter.

So stay tuned race fans as the fun is just beginning! We should have many new tips, tricks and tools to help you achieve better conversions and ensure your own customers are satisfied.