eBay Live 2007 - Whew!

By the look of the pictures others have posted, there's no proof that I was at either eBay Developers Conference nor eBay Live! this month in Boston. Not so! Seriously, I was working every day, all day.

At DevCon, I help our Certified Providers and Data Licensees get the recognition they deserve. At eBay Live, my goal is to help pair the right seller with the right solution. We had a banner year, with Certified Providers leading 15 classes at our user conference, providing ribbons to all CPs on the show floor, including a CP handout at relevant classes and as part of the Seller Scalability lounge, and helping with CP recommendations at the Seller Tools booth.

It's as exhasting as it is energizing, and always a pleasure to see my Certified Providers. See y'all next year in Chicago!

CPs & Data Licensees Take Star Developer Awards

Two of our Certified Providers, Mpire and SageFire won Star Developer Awards at this year's eBay Developers Conference in Boston. Here's the 411 on these develoeprs who are both Certified Providers and Data Licensees:

Most Innovative Application—Seller or Merchant = SageFire's YES! (Year End Summary), presented to JP O’Brien, Joshua McNeese and Ryan Wheaton (pic above). For fulfilling a specified eBay seller community need of annual transactional history for tax and profitability analysis needs.

Best User Experience Design = Mpire’s Shopwave, presented to Greg Harrison and Gary Kamikawa. For development of new Flash-based online shopping visualization application. “If you don’t know exactly how to describe what you’re looking for, Mpire’s new image previews may be worth the thousand words you can’t find.” – TechCrunch

See the whole list of winners.

Way to go guys!

Flying the corporate skies

I had the priviledge to fly on the corporate jet with eBay Marketplaces President John Donahoe and several members on the Developers Program team. What a way to fly to Boston for eBay Developers Conference! Read more about it!

CP Fair #2

Last week eBay held it's second Certified Provider Fair in our Customer Support offices in Salt Lake. Our Top Seller Account Managers and other Customer Support teams learned about software and services that our CPs offer.

A big thanks to Ginger (where's your blog, girl!) for putting on a big party just for me - ha!! What a great way to spend my birthday, complete with balloons and some of my most favorite people flying in from around the country. Also, thanks to former eBayer turned Infopian Cindy Purvance for the impromptu birthday celebration.

Everyone was very careful to place their age guesses WELL-under my actual age. Thanks, CPs...it's not gonna get you placement on the eBay home page, tho. Next stop, Boston!

Hooters in Holy Land

So apparently they're opening a Hooters in Israel. Current plans will be somewhere in Tel Aviv, but no exact location yet. No, the food isn't kosher. Note: this is one of the few markets the mighty Starbucks hasn't been able to crack.

Workaholics, Unite!

Go to Microsoft's Clip Art online and type in "dependency" and this is what you get. As to why I was looking for clip art to describe dependency is unimportant...what's important is that it describes my man with unprecedented accuracy. Workaholics unite!

Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Style

Here's a pretty cool video highlighting the Web 2.0 concept.



Not to date myself, but I've been in the high-tech biz through each phase of this evolution. I do not, however, predate the abacus.

Hallmark: When You Care Enough to Stay Out of the Dog House

Since I also run the eBay Market Data Program, I'm constantly looking at the competition. NPD is a research firm for high tech retail & manufacturers, and had this nugget of wisdom for Valentines Day (This is what they use their 3 million panelists for):

Valentines Day May be All About Your Sweetie, but Only 1 in 4 Think It's Romantic

PORT WASHINGTON, NY, February 12, 2007 – Valentine’s Day has long been touted in American culture as the official day to express love and romance. People wish to show appreciation for others, but many also feel that Valentine’s Day might be a bit contrived. According to The NPD Group’s SnackTrack® service, only one in four people feel that Valentine’s Day is romantic, while just as many people feel that it is too commercialized.

NPD reveals the top ten responses to how people generally feel about Valentine’s Day.

Top 10 feelings about Valentine’s Day (% of adult responses)

“Show appreciation” (30%) “No strong feelings” (26%) “Too commercialized” (26%) “It’s romantic” (24%) “It’s a Hallmark holiday” (19%) “Just another day” (18%) “Silly holiday” (14%) “Chance to show true feelings” (12%) “Bring up good memories” (11%) “If I don’t celebrate, I’ll get in trouble” (8%) *Multiple responses were given

“Although people may have mixed feelings about Valentine’s Day, at least 1 in 12 – probably men – will celebrate because they want to stay out of the dog house,” says Harry Balzer, vice president of The NPD Group.

For those people who will celebrate Valentine’s Day, the top activity will be giving a card or a gift (70% of those who will celebrate). Twenty-five percent of those who will celebrate will go out to dinner, while 10 percent will bake, 10 percent will make homemade Valentines, and 10 percent will go to a party.

Among those people who will give gifts, the top gift will be either a Valentine’s Day card (56% of gift-givers) or candy (55%). Only a third of gift-givers will give flowers (30%). Stuffed animals (20%) and jewelry (13%) round out the five most popular gifts given.

If candy is given, it most likely will come from a mass merchandiser (44% of candy purchases), or a supermarket (21%), drug store (18%), dollar store (8%), or gas station/convenience store (2%).

Balzer continues, “For those who don’t want to get in trouble, there’s always the gas station on the way home.”

Apparently NPD thinks this is news and thus press release worthy. Independent studies show that the #1 gift request from men on this holiday is not offered at NPD-tracked retail. More on the top 10 reasons why eBay Data is better than NPD data later. Happy Valentines Day!

Ro vs. Greg: the Faceoff

If you haven't seen eBay Matchups, you gotta check this out. For my Certified Provider readers, here's your chance to chime up on the old regime. And yes, I decline to comment on my vote.

eBay is Hiring

I'm finally getting some help! eBay is looking for a Solutions Marketing Manager to work on my team to help champion the Certified Provider cause, among other cool things. Did I mention, I love my job??

Job Description:
The eBay Developers Program is responsible for fostering external innovation on the eBay platform. The Developers Program is looking for an Associate Manager for Solutions Marketing to define, plan and implement the marketing strategy for solutions and tools built by eBay's third party developers. Third party developers and the applications they build are critical to eBay users and this role will ensure that these tools are marketed to and adopted by the eBay community. There are over 40,000 third party developers who have built over 4,000 applications for eBay users.

The position reports to the Senior Manager, Market Development within the Developers Program and will interface directly with other eBay marketing teams, including the Buyer and Seller Marketing Teams and the Community Team, to plan joint programs and campaigns to the user community. This role will also work with Product Management teams to define business requirements for marketing projects and with eBay's Brand Marketing team to ensure brand consistency and messaging. The ideal candidate has experience marketing products to users through onsite tools and programs, has experience in brand marketing concepts and takes a creative approach to solving problems.
Responsibilities:

• Define, plan and implement the marketing strategy for third party tools to eBay users
• Partnership with other eBay marketing teams to include third party tools in marketing programs and platforms, including email marketing, onsite marketing, customer call campaigns, online webinars and other communication platforms
• Ownership of eBay's Solutions Directory, the online repository of third party and eBay built tools, including strategy, functionality, marketing and performance
• Ownership of eBay's Solutions Finder, the online tool for identifying solutions for users, including strategy, functionality, marketing and performance
• Identifying new and creative ways to marketing third party tools to eBay users, both on and off eBay.com
• Ownership of the Developers Program Marketing Handbook for third parties
• Working directly with eBay's Certified Provider team to coordinate marketing for Certified Providers (eBay's premier third party partners)
• Partnership with eBay's Brand Marketing team to create the Developers Program brand strategy and ensure third parties adhere to brand guidelines

Job Requirements:

• Ability to understand and communicate technology capabilities and appropriate uses
• Ability to identify, analyze and proactively drive issues to resolution
• Familiarity with online marketing resources and forums (e.g., Digg, web forums, product review sites, etc..)
• Excellent written, verbal and communication skills
• Fun, highly energetic personality; team player that works well in fast-paced, collaborative situations who has a personal passion for technical/internet innovation.
• Strong preference given to candidates who are active eBay users and are familiar with the eBay user experience.

If interested, you can apply here: http://eBaycareers.com, look for job req #14662BR, or send your resume directly to me.

The iPhone, My Four Cents

Awhile ago, I blogged on the eBay Developers Weblog about my trip to Macworld. That was my two cents...here's my other two cents.

Apple markets the iPhone as a device that runs widgets on OS X, yet has no outlined strategy for third party applications. The iPod, which offers a great opportunity for third parties to develop games, has yet to leverage the power of these developers to add value to iPod (and iTunes for that matter). As such, I'm not highly optimistic that Apple will be offering an SDK to developers any time soon.

There's an interesting question that wireless data raises. Assuming Apple (or third party app, such as Skype) were to build a soft phone VOIP application, it's feasible to bypass the carrier altogether. Skype (with wifi phones from Netgear and Belkin) are already doing this, offering the potential for a paradigm shift in the phone industry.

I'm not sure about their forecast of 10M phones by end 1008 at $499-$599 each. Apple has a loooooong history in fiercely holding onto their MAP pricing, so don't count on price erosion. To put that in perspective, Cingular's current subscriber base, for ALL phones, is 60M. Research in Motion, with their cult following for their Blackberries, managed to sell less than 6M last year, with multiple models for multiple carriers.

Of course, that's just my four cents.

Holiday Cheer, CP Style

Certified Providers are getting quite creative with their eBay Workshop promotions. Here's a little gem from the folks at Terapeak. Dave Frey, resident elf.



Here's the post to the workshop. Since many of my readers (all two of you) are Certified Providers, I think you just got served. Merry Christmachannukwanzika, or however you spell it.

Mpire makes eBay Pop!

Here's an example of why I love my job. Certified Provider Mpire launched eBay Pop, (www.ebay.com/ebaypop), a new, free service that captures the buying buzz and sales trends on eBay in a fun, informative way – with a twist of current events and pop culture.

Mpire worked with eBay to develop eBay Pop, including its design, sales data and analysis, interactive games, editorial content and blog. The page uses eBay Market Data to drive updated content. Being involved in the creative process, work closely with one of our Certified Providers, and use eBay Market Data in a highly innoviative way was a thrill.

Ro: So long, and thanks for all the fish

My former fearless leader, Rogelio Choy is leaving the eBay nest. Last time, he switched departments without telling any of our CPs, leaving me the honors. My guess is that this will be your formal announcement.

In honor of Ro's departure, we threw him a little party (or perhaps we threw the party for us??). He's going to Rock You, so here's our tribute (thanks to Alan).

All kidding aside, he rose the ranks faster than anyone I've ever seen, and he's deserved it. Ro, thanks for your entrepreneurial spirit, championing the Certified Provider cause, watching my back, and being a rock star of a manager. We'll miss you.


Create Your Own!

Certified Providers Teach at eBay University

I was recently scolded for not posting in awhile. My excuse: I've been on the road with Certified Providers who were invited to speak at eBay University. Here's a nice article on the tour. Debbie Levitt (As Was), JP O'Brien (KeepMore.net), Rob Cowie (Worldwide Brands) and Dave Frey (Terapeak) helped sellers grow their business by teaching them about setting financial goals, building a brand on eBay, sourcing products buyers want, and using research to craft an unbeatable listing.

Here's the trailer for our first ever video workshop we did while on the road (I should really learn to smile once in awhile). Stay tuned for the full version:

Desperately Seeking Media Trainer

See if you can spot the quote gems in this Business Week article on Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. (Hint: Answers are here, I just loved the pic of Ballmer on this one). There's nothing I can say that won't get me in hot water. Can anyone say "media training"?

Happy Birthday, eBay Certified Provider Program!

This month celebrates the 2nd anniversary of the launch of the eBay Certified Provider Program, which provides visibility to our most committed developers and service providers. Its mission is simple: Provide the right kind of help to the right eBay user at the right time. This has been my baby that I grew from the ground up, and with the help of my team, it’s become one of my greatest successes. Our members are the finest collection of providers in the online auction industry.

Backgrounder: There are companies that create software that connects directly to eBay. Others companies offer non-technical services like creative design. Both help eBay users do things like save time listing or buying, find products to sell, and increase profits. I work with the cream of the crop.

Companies like Microsoft have proven that no company is an island. External partners and their innovation is key to any company’s success. I’ve been lucky in my career. I’ve worked in Developers Programs at Philips, Apple, and now eBay. In each case, my job has been to help grow the businesses of other companies who offer software and services to our customers. I love my job.

Viral Marketing with Bite

Ok, this is the best viral marketing I've seen in a LONG time. Samuel Jackson will call your victim within 5 minutes. I had Samuel call one person, and within a few hours, the word spread like...uh... Snakes on a Plane. The only drawback is that Samuel doesn't know your friends with unusual names. Sorry, you guys don't get to hear this...blame your parents.

Here is another great example. I doubt it's going to make the movie any better, tho.

Google Checkout in trouble?

Interesting article on Marketwatch about Google Checkout. One of the many reasons I'm not worried.

My Photography

Jellies
Originally uploaded by SCUBAbunny.

For those not in the know, I have an affinity for many forms of creative expression... photography being one of them. Here's a shot I took at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.