EBay President Keynote, Advanced Business Solutions, Highlight Professional eBay Sellers Alliance We
EBay North America President William C. Cobb impressed a lot of sometimes-disgruntled top eBay sellers this weekend, bringing 16 eBay and PayPal colleagues and delivering a well-received keynote address to the 10/27-29 Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA, www. gopesa. org) Summit event in Austin, Texas, sponsored by UPS.
Pittsfield, NH (PRWEB) November 4, 2005
eBay North America President William C. Cobb impressed a lot of sometimes-disgruntled top eBay sellers this weekend, bringing 16 eBay and PayPal colleagues and delivering a well-received keynote address to the 10/27-29 Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA, www. gopesa. org) Summit event in Austin, Texas, sponsored by UPS.
A new health care plan, seminars on advanced business solutions, a hotly-contested election and a benefit raffle for hurricane victims all highlighted the event. PESA is the nonprofit trade association comprised of over 800 high-volume eBay sellers representing over seventy million eBay transactions and $1 billion in eBay sales annually.
PESA’s Atlanta Summit in March was attended by nearly 200 of the largest eBay sellers, and was featured in the heralded CNBC special, “The eBay Effect – Inside a Worldwide Obsession,” aired in June and July. This weekend’s event had a similarly robust showing of large sellers who average over $1 million/year on eBay, just topping Atlanta’s attendance.
Bill Cobb’s keynote address, representing the first time a direct report to eBay CEO Meg Whitman has formally addressed the nonprofit trade association, and the participation of so many top eBay managers, is seen by many PESA members as a high water mark in the relationship between eBay (www. ebay. com) and its professional selling community. Recent studies have revealed that over 700,000 Americans sell professionally on eBay.
PESA Executive Director Jonathan Garriss commented, “At the beginning of 2005, eBay made a promise to listen to its community more intently. With the participation of Bill Cobb at our Fall Summit, it is clear that the fulfillment of that promise is being led from the top.”
That sentiment was echoed by many PESA members. PESA Events Committee member Adam Hersh (Adam Hersh Auctions) commented, “Bill Cobb blew me away in that respect, mingling with the crowd, taking the bus with members, and coming to the evening reception – all the while addressing the tough questions head-on.”
The eBay executive had participated in the June PESA fundraiser event at eBay Live! in which PESA member Jack Sheng of eForcecity won a roller coaster ride with Cobb for $4,000. All proceeds were donated to the NetSmartz program (www. netsmartz. org) of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (www. missingkids. org) and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
The Austin Summit gave members an opportunity to learn more about PESA’s recently-announced partnership with Fairview Insurance. According to Garriss, the agency “will work with our members to identify their specific needs and help obtain competitively priced, high-quality insurance including health, dental, vision, property, casualty, liability, and workers compensation. For health insurance in particular, the next step is the creation of a national healthcare program allowing us to take advantage of our size such that we can implement an even more cost-effective program.”
Other topics explored in Summit plenary sessions included shipping solutions, buyer confidence, accounting and human resources, and selling on Amazon. com. Member roundtable discussions, in which the leading professional eBay sellers share and learn business-advancing insights, were a hugely popular component of the event. PESA Chairman and Founder Joe Cortese opened the proceedings on Friday, and Garriss gave a state-of-the-organization welcome on Saturday.
PESA members donated items for a 50/50 raffle to benefit hurricane relief. The prize list was fun and eclectic, such as three framed Star Wars posters, a set of 28 full-color movie poster books, and four men’s shirts – including a Motley Crue Nikki Sixx tattoo design dagger shirt.
UPS (www. ups. com) was the title sponsor of the event, and presented a plenary session on shipping solutions. Additional sponsors include buySAFE (www. buysafe. com), Infopia (www. infopia. com), Intuit (www. intuit. com), SquareTrade (www. squaretrade. com), and Austin-based U-Ship (www. uship. com).
About PESA
The Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA) is a non-profit trade association comprised of over 800 high-volume eBay sellers generating over seventy million eBay transactions $1 billion in eBay sales annually. PESA provides a forum for members to exchange innovative and creative ideas and business solutions; promotes the highest levels of professionalism, fairness, honesty, and integrity in online trade; and represents a collective voice of top sellers. For more information, please visit www. gopesa. org.
Contacts:
David Yaskulka, Chair, PESA Marketing
908-212-3316
Jonathan Garriss, Executive Director, PESA
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