Pat Austin quit her publishing job two years ago to sell comic books, games and collectible items on EBay Inc, the world's largest Internet auctioneer. She says she makes more money, sets her hours and doesn't answer to a boss.
"Before I was on EBay I was a typical stressed working mother, juggling children and a full-time job," said Austin, 43, a resident of Walsall, UK "I was horrible to live with."
Austin is among the more than 7,400 people who plan to attend the second annual gathering of EBay users that starts today in Orlando, Florida. EBay Live!, billed as a celebration of the "community" of about 31 million active users, serves a larger purpose -- to boost EBay's sales and profit by teaching sellers like Austin to run their businesses more efficiently.
Courses including "EBay Around the World," "Improving Your Listings with HTML," and "EBay -- How to Manage Your Auctions" will be offered to attendees between performances by steel drum and swing bands during the three-day event.
EBay, which estimates that about 155,000 people make their living selling items ranging from Beanie Babies to jet airliners on its Web sites, earns fees and commissions from the transactions.
Chief executive Margaret Whitman used last year's convention in Anaheim, California, to mend fences with smaller users who complained that EBay was too focused on courting big sellers such as International Business Machines Corp. Reinforcing ideas on how to drive all sales is key this year, analysts said.
"It is a good way to get in front of customers," said Jeetil Patel, a Deutsche Bank Securities analyst who has a "buy" rating on EBay and doesn't own the stock. "Here you're fostering the community aspect of the business, which is one of the reasons why it has done so well since the early days."
EBay has been one of the most successful survivors of the dot-com boom and bust by focusing on boosting sales, getting rid of unprofitable operations such as Butterfields, a fine-art auctioneer, and buying its biggest rival in payment processing.
The company's revenue almost doubled in the first quarter to US$476.5 million, driven by international transactions and increased use of the PayPal electronic-payments business. Profit more than doubled to US$104.2 million.
The rapid growth has also helped to make San Jose, California-based EBay one of the most expensive stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. EBay's shares trade at a price-to-earnings ratio of about 97 times last year's earnings. They have climbed 67 percent this year, reaching more than three-year highs last month. The company first sold shares to the public in 1998.
About 5,400 people attended the first conference, taking advantage of freebies such as EBay trading cards and a "Spin to Win" wheel for t-shirts and other items. This year's event, for which the company charges a US$60 admission fee, is expected to attract people from every US state and 20 countries, including Russia, India, China and Nigeria.
"It's amazing how EBay's customer base is a group of people that are fanatical about what they do and EBay," said Munjal Shah, founder of Andale Inc, a closely held company that provides auction management and other services to EBay users and who attended the first EBay Live!
EBay has evolved from an auction page residing on a Web site that included founder Pierre Omidyar's information about the Ebola virus in September 1995 to a business that earned US$249.9 million last year on revenue of US$1.2 billion. The value of items sold on its Web sites totaled US$14.9 billion, or more than the gross national income of Kenya, according to World Bank data.
Companies such as IBM, Sears, Roebuck & Co and Dell Computer Corp are responsible for about 4 percent of the value of the items sold. EBay says the majority of the sales come from individuals or small sellers.
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