eBay Lessons for Sellers

NJ.com:

“I was always afraid I’d blow up the computer,” Kelly says.

Kelly sat in the front row in a room of about 32 other eBay learners during an eBay Day training session co-sponsored by the auction house and the United States Postal Service at the Phillipsburg Public Library.

The postal workers putting on the show even wore new blue shirts bearing the logos of both the postal service and eBay — a uniform designed for making money.

When asked what led to the public-private “co-branding” as it’s called, presenter John Dock, imported from the Mahwah, N.J., post office by Stewartsville Postmaster Jeff Hahn, explained, “Think about it. Just think about it. Right now there are more than 500,000 sellers on eBay The postal service ships more than 1 million eBay-related items per day, and that number is growing.”

Dock and other postal workers have become a traveling road show of sorts. They co-sponsor eBay Days throughout the region with the purpose of linking eBay to the mailing services of the USPS.

Parts of the presentation resembled late-night infomercials, with Dock and co-presenter Ken Weit talking about cost savings when eBayers use USPS services, such as special co-branded boxes for shipping.

They even took orders for eBay kits — “a $75 value for $59.95,” Dock told the group.