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.

I'm sitting here writing as the tears stream down my face. I took my beloved wife to the airport and we must be separated for the next several days. As I pound my woes into the keyboard like the piano man in a bar, she is, at this very minute, 30,000 feet above the earth flying with the angels. Take care of my sunshine you angels! May she ride on your backs safely down to earth so we may once again unite and continue our life of love together. Damn you Capitalism for if we didn't need money I could be alongside her right now without a care in the world! (Hey, I liked Shakespeare in College)

I'm here in Las Vegas attending the eBay Live conference. Last week, I attended the Internet Retailer show in Chicago. I'm sure you all want to hear about Internet Retailing Strategies but I left my notes at the office. You'll just have to wait until I get back and get caught up.

eBay Live starts tomorrow but I've been in Las Vegas since Friday night. Why come so early you may ask? I'll tell you. My beautiful wife Carrie and I convinced Grandma to watch the kids while we take a much needed escape. My wife works very hard working full time at home as well as taking care of the family. I'm not too easy myself and she deserved a weekend of fun; Las Vegas Style! And let me tell you, It was a Vegas Weekend baby!

We got in Late Friday night and by the time we checked into the room, it was about 11:00pm (1:00am our time) and we needed to start the party. We walked around until around 3:00am and came back to the room. The next morning, I awoke at 8:00am thinking of the words my good friend Jim Crownhart of Diamond Jim Racing said every morning when my daughter Toni and I visited him in Mexico; "Get Up... Your Burning Daylight!" So with that, I woke up Carrie, we staggered out of bed and began what has turned out to be one of the best weekends I've ever had with the absolute, one and only, love of my life; Mi Amore Carrie.

The weekend had no plans. We were going to end up where the wind took us. We were oblivious to the fact that Cupid had already made plans for us. Carrie and I were married in Las Vegas in May of 2000 so we had an idea of a few things we'd like to do. One of them was to renew our wedding vows and this was a great day to do it. We took a taxi to the "Las Vegas Garden of Love" so we could swing by the drive through for the blissful "I Do's" before heading to the next destination. As fate would have it, the drive thru was closed so we dumped the taxi and walked in. We booked a wedding for 8:00pm that night. A limo would pick us up at the hotel beforehand. With that booked, we walked hand in hand like two schoolgirls over to the Stratosphere to check out the pool on the 25th floor. It was recommended by my Father-In-Law and after a brief visit, we decided it wasn't for us and we left. We did a few casino stops and then went back to the hotel to change our shirts before the wedding.

The hour of wedded bliss was soon upon us. We went outside to talk to Frank, the hotel transportation guy to secure a limo for a post wedding ride up and down the Boulevard. The chapel Limo picked us up and we were completely taken care of by the best driver available. I forgot his name, but he was the real deal. So much so, I cancelled frank and secured him for our post wedding drive. We arrived at the chapel and the driver took complete care of us ensuring everything went according to plan.

If you are looking to get married in Las Vegas, avoid this chapel. Not the driver! But the chapel. It was chaotic and very unorganized. The ceremony itself was very nice and I have converted it to MPEG4 (Ipod Compatible) for you to download or watch if you have time for a 26MB file to download: Michael and Carrie Wedding. Everything else was chaotic. Our wedding package came with pictures burned on a Office Depot CD and the video was taken straight out of the hand held camcorder. Our renewal certificate was off centered on a copied certificate with the year changed in ink. Very cheap. Very Tacky. Even for a Renewal of Vows, it was very sub-standard. I was extremely disappointed by the quality and presentation. So much so, that I'm not going to give them the credit of a link from my web site. Remember the name though, "A Las Vegas Garden of Love." Avoid them!















Note: Carrie and I were married in May 2006 at Little Chapel of the Flowers. It was very classy, organized, neat and handled our twenty some guests without a hitch. They walked us through everything we needed from marriage license to common pre-wedding questions and confirmations. The ceremony was live on the Internet for people to watch and the video recording was done with multiple fixed cameras. No camera shake. I highly recommend looking at this chapel if you plan on getting married in Las Vegas.

After the ceremony, My beloved renewed wife Carrie and I took a breathtaking limousine ride up Las Vegas Boulevard to see the lights. At least I think so. We got dropped off at the Mirage to watch various tourist attractions and walk around some more. It couldn't be a more beautiful day!

My Dad is also in town so we met up with him afterward and played a little blackjack. Then it was off to bed. The next morning arrived even quicker than the first and Carrie and I once again went to the all you can eat buffet. This was followed by a little gambling and more Las Vegas entertainment. We hit multiple casinos and attractions ending up downtown to watch the "Fremont Experience."

Today is now Monday afternoon and I won't say anything about this morning because I'm not really sure we even went to bed. It was more like a power nap. It has ended in a blur and all I really know is that my computer is sparking from the water from my tears hitting the electrical components as I sit here alone, without the one who made this such a wonderful weekend. Hey, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. You didn't really expect a full play by play did you?

So I must regain my composure and prepare to come back down to reality again and for the beginnings of eBay Live in the morning. So until next time my fair readers; Parting is such sweet sorrow. Adieux.