eBay Allows Me to Live Like a Rock Star

The eBay community may have its issues with the seismic changes in policies rolled out in the past few months. However, the fact remains, that there is nothing else like the depth & breadth of the eBay marketplace, ANYWHERE. Yes, fees are going up, but the cost of doing business remains nominal compared to a brick and mortar, or any other establishment or advertising medium of comparable reach.

I actually have found eBay to be rather responsive to my needs over the years (for a huge multi-national corporation). Nowhere is the somewhat small town feel of this corporation and its community more evident then at their national conference, eBay live.

I have attended the past two eBay-fests, in Las Vegas and Boston. I have already signed up for eBay Live 2008 in Chicago. If you have never attended, I HIGHLY recommend it. It is really worth the trip for buyers, sellers or anyone contemplating either activity. It is a celebration of all things eBay, but really it is all about networking. I was able to mingle and share my thoughts and concerns with many eBay executives. Perhaps more meaningful was being able to speak with a number of Platinum and Titanium level eBay Powersellers, who were making a major living doing what they loved. (for example- a Titanium Powerseller must sell a minimum of $150,000 per month on eBay). The folks I met were enormously generous with their time and expertise, sharing the systems and procedures utilized in scaling their business to these big money levels. It was eBay live 2006 which planted the seed to take the plunge and eBay full time, and by 2007 I had made up my mind.

Again, there is something for everyone at this convention, and at $75 for three days, it is far less expensive then any professional conference I have ever attended, and is every bit as substantive.

Should you care to take a look at what I have been up to since I jumped ship from my job as a research librarian at Hofstra University School of Law (one of the best jobs in the free world), my eBay account names are Electric-Estate-Sale, and Urban-Anthropology. You can visit my eBay stores here and here. I have had the Electric-Estate-Sale account since 1999 (ancient history in eBay land, as the first item ever sold was only September 1995), and have over 4,000 feedbacks. I am now using this account for my nascent consignment business. Urban-Anthropology was opened in 2006, I have over 1000 feedbacks on this account, and am a silver level Powerseller.

The flexibility running my own business has afforded is incredible. The ability to turn my hobby into a full time job - PRICELESS