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Huey Lewis rocks the house at the eBay Live closing gala

eBay members partied into the night on Thursday, the third and final day of the eBay Live conference in Las Vegas. The fifth annual gathering was a far cry from the first event in 2002 in Anaheim, which some had characterized as being like a Mary Kay convention.

This year's event was truly a business conference. The majority of attendees interviewed by AuctionBytes were sellers who appreciated the opportunities eBay provided them, but also had serious issues they wanted to see management address.

It was less about pin-collecting and getting CEO Meg Whitman's autograph, and more about talking to eBay staff, vendors and other sellers to learn ways to be more effective and efficient in their businesses. Company announcements were greeted with fatalism rather than fanaticism.

eBay's exec face the music at a "Town Hall" meeting

eBay's decision in March to rollback Stores in Search, a popular feature that increased exposure in eBay.com search results, was on many people's minds. In fact, the mention of the rollback by eBay North American President Bill Cobb elicited some boos during his keynote address.

During a "Town Hall" meeting, a silver PowerSeller who had been selling on eBay since 1999 said the feature had doubled her sales, and she had been pretty hysterically happy. But the incident revealed to her "the power eBay holds over me for my financial well being. It was shocking to me that I could make so much more money," she said, and she wanted to know what eBay was going to do to help her increase her sales now that the feature had been rolled back.

The closing gala event summed up the event and sellers' attitude toward the company. While the chocolate fountains flowed and the Elvis impersonators preened, there was no longer a sense of awe among attendees. The mood was more of a sense of, "What have you done for me lately?"

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About the author:

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.

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