Doll collectors are of a mixed mind about eBay--some love it and some hate it, but its nearly impossible for doll collectors to ignore it. eBay has had an enormous impact on the market and prices for dolls (and collectibles) of all types in the past 10 years.
eBay Live! is an annual conference. This year, I am attending eBay Live! for the first time. I will be attending as a regular attendee--not as a member of the press--so I can bring my eBay Live! experience to my readers as they would experience it as an eBay buyer or seller. I have had extensive personal experience with eBay. I am an eBay 10-year member, which means that I registered for eBay in the very first year of its existence, and, in all my "spare time," I manage, with my husband, to be part of an eBay Power Seller team. A Power Seller on eBay is a seller that sells a minimum of $1,000 a month in eBay sales. For all of this experience, the eBay Live! conference is the first time I will ever meet any live person connected with eBay!
In 1995, founder Pierre Omidyar built the site for collectors to trade online directly with one another. Fast-forward to today, and eBay is now a massive public company and a huge global marketplace that has revolutionized the way millions of people buy and sell items of all types--clothing, computers, furniture, art and nearly everything imaginable, including, of course, collectibles and dolls--directly from one another over the Internet. Today, eBay has 147 million community members and approximately 50 million items for sale at any given time.
That statistic really sends me reeling--50 million items for sale at any given time! During the first year of eBay's existence, it was a very small community-oriented site. I remember how, in the beginning, I could easily browse every doll for sale on eBay in less than one hour's time! Today, it would be impossible to browse every doll for sale at one time, even if you had a week devoted to the task.
At the conference, I am hoping to network with other doll-oriented eBay users, as well as seeing a bit more about what makes the eBay of today "tick." I'll be attending seminars and discussions, and walking the floor of the expo portion of the conference, which includes booths of vendors selling all sorts of products and services which promise to make live on eBay easier and more profitable. I also hope to meet and interact with eBay employees, and I'll be taking the tour of eBay's "campus." I hope to let my readers know if its worth it to attend this sort of a general eBay event.
Besides the serious conference work, there will be a big 10th anniversary gala as well. A private concert for attendees will feature the B-52s (rock lobster, anyone??). There will also be a barbecue feast at the Great Adventures amusement park.
Another interesting tidbit about eBay Live is that the title sponsor this year is the United States Postal Service. Additional sponsors include Pitney Bowes, Hewlett-Packard, UPS, GE Money and Entrepreneur magazine.
If you are sitting at home and thinking this might be educational and fun, its not too late to register--registrations will be allowed on site at the conference, for a fee. You can also visit www.ebay.com/ebaylive for further information and pricing.
