Giant pink fuzzy "it", USPS, Skype, and other pictures...

I know that everyone loves pictures....in fact, bobals-wife made a specific request for more pics of the event earlier today.  While everyone else was on special assignment, I grabbed one of our cameras and headed down to the floor. (The Chatter team are up in the belfry...)

No one should be without a giant fuzzy pink "it".  This one is about 5 feet tall and is welcoming attendees as they draw nearer to the Solutions Center. (I wonder if it will be for sale on eBay after the show?)

One of our show sponsors, and a great partner to the Community, the USPS has an striking presence just as you enter the booth area.   My understanding is that if you get one of their boxes at their booth, you can fill it with your loot from the show and they will mail it home for you ....for free! 

 

I found Wendy Jones, Vice President of Customer Support for eBay North America, talking to members.  Wendy's organization has been working hard over the last year to improve the support they offer our sellers and buyers.  Wendy was talking to gatorpack, one eBay's Voices members, when I snuck this picture.

                                                                           

skype, the newest company to join the eBay family, had a throng of people at their booth when I strolled by.  I heard one man who had a European accent explaining how he uses Skype....I was moving fast and didn't catch the details, but I made a note to head back to the Skype booth tomorrow and talked to people, so stay tuned.

I've talked to several sellers who say they have come here to learn more about selling strategies.  Some of them are experienced, but want ideas for how to scale and grow; others are just starting out.  I passed by the Seller Scalability booth, and found senior director Todd Lutwak and an attendees.  Todd's staff work one-on-one with sellers to teach them the Seven Steps to Scalability. 

Finally, I was walking back and was so amused by their monkey balloon hats, that I stopped to talk to torrisattic and her daughter sewmuchfabric1. torrisattic has been on the site for five years and sells "a little bit of everything," while her daughter is just getting started.  With over 1,600 feedback, torrisattic has done well on her own.  But she and her daughter decided to make the trip from Michigan to attend her first eBay Live!, hoping to find good tips and some inspiration to help her grow her business.  She told me that today was their designated "walk around and talk to staff at the booths" day, and tomorrow they'll hit the classrooms.  I asked them if it's been worth the trip so far, and they nodded and said they've received some very helpful information from the eBay Stores team (she's interested in starting her own eBay Store).  "They've been wonderful!"

I asked if they had a memorable transaction on eBay, and torrisattic recounted the time she found 3 old wooden cigar boxes from the 60's at a rummage sale.  She bought one for 75 cents and two for 50 cents.  She ultimately learned they were important boxes made by a designer; they sold on eBay for a whopping 175.00, 50.00 and 80.00!