At 7:30am last Friday, the approximately 50 remaining attendees from the eCommerce Summit descended on Harvey, a New Orleans suburb in the Jefferson Parish on the West Bank, to take part in a volunteer day for Habitat for Humanity. After the check presentations were made and a quick tutorial on safety guidelines was given by Zach (who could double as a stand-up comedian to complement his day gig), we enjoyed a moving rendition of Amazing Grace on the bagpipes. We were then split into groups and sent to our respective homes for the day. Sheila, Usher and I joined 12 other Summit attendees to venture three blocks west to 2315 Jefferson Street.

The home we were tasked with working on was already built but seemingly far from being ready for its new owner, Lorena Johnson. I was very surprised to hear that the plan was to hand over the keys to her new home this coming Wednesday, April 30. Everyone set to work immediately. Usher (who I later learned was a professional painter in a previous life), joined 6 others inside the home to work on caulking and painting the interior. Sheila and I took dirt duty in the yard, as the remaining 8 of us worked on distributing a large mound of dirt around the entire home – sloping said dirt at an angle away from the home. We were armed with 4 shovels, 3 rakes and 2 wheelbarrows that had definitely seen better days.

After spending the better part of the morning lifting mounds of soil, it was agreed that it was time to take a break from the sun and get to work inside the house, joining others on painting and shelving. At Noon we broke for lunch and rejoined the rest of our fellow volunteers back at the house they were working on, 2327 Mathis, where we all signed a piece of wall-siding that was going to become a part of that home.

We only worked for a total of 5 hours before we had to depart for the airport but I must confess I was feeling pretty inspired as I waited for my flight later that day. To think that folks take full use of their vacation time to travel down there and volunteer for weeks at a time was extremely humbling (there were 10 such individuals working at 2315 Jefferson Street) and I am personally committed to finding similar projects here in the Bay Area to become a regular part of.

In the 40+ years that Habitat for Humanity had been building homes in the New Orleans area, they had built a total of approximately 100 homes before Hurricane Katrina hit back in 2005. Since that time, they have constructed approximately 100 homes a year. Truly remarkable. If you’re interested in getting involved with a Habitat for Humanity organization in your area, click here for more information.

One side note, I felt a little sorry for the people sitting near me on the plane Friday night. I was covered in paint and dust and probably getting a little ripe given the earlier activities. The lady at the gate, when I connected in LAX, certainly questioned my appearance given the look on her face. I dropped my bags as soon as I walked in the front door at home and made a beeline for the shower. I smiled to myself as I got into bed thinking that Lorena Johnson will be thankful for a great many things on Wednesday and she should be truly thankful that they didn’t let me near the plumbing of her bathroom fixtures.

Cheers,
RBH

I’ve been in town for 24 hours now and, on the one hand, I am amazed to see how great the downtown area is looking. Businesses have picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and are back welcoming tourists, music and food lovers to its fantastic culture. On the other though, coming from the airport, it was clear to see that this city is nowhere near back to where it needs to be even though it has been 2.5 years since the storm knocked this town to its knees. Despite all of this though, the people still are incredibly welcoming, as if they’re meeting an old friend or family member. It’s exactly why I fell in love with this part of the world to begin with and I’m definitely going to make a point to come back sooner rather than later.

There was a video playing in the ballroom this morning that talked about the money and time eBay users and employees had given in the aftermath of Katrina. eBay alone had given a million dollars to the Red Cross and an additional one million dollars directly to sellers living in the effected areas. Additionally, Lorrie presented a check for $50,000 this morning for the Habitat for Humanity organization.

I think it’s great that the organizers of the eCommerce Summit have devoted a day to Habitat for Humanity this coming Friday and I am looking forward to being a part of it and reporting back here on what is accomplished. According to Brandon Dupsky of the ECMTA, participation has been overwhelming so they’ve had to add another program on Friday to accommodate all of the participating attendees from the Summit.

Okay… back to the conference. Chat soon.

Cheers,
RBH

*I should point out that although born and raised (mostly) in England, I did apply for and obtain my US Citizenship in 2002 so I guess the “us Brits” phrase doesn’t really apply to me anymore.

The 2008 Spring eCommerce Summit officially kicked off this morning with an introduction by PeSA Executive Director, Jonathan Garriss, welcoming all attendees to New Orleans.

eBay President of Marketplace Operations, Lorrie Norrington, was the keynote speaker of the day and her presentation focused on giving a Marketplace progress report for the past few months and re-emphasizing the focus of the company moving forward.

Highlights of the presentation included:

1. Back in January, eBay said that the goal was to have 60% of PowerSellers qualify for at least a 5% discount and in Q1, 63% did qualify for at least the 5%.

2. It was estimated that 15% of all PowerSellers would qualify for the higher, 15% discount. In Q1, PowerSellers actually doubled that. 30% of all PowerSellers qualified for the 15% discount.

3. We’ve already talked about this on Ink, but Lorrie confirmed that PowerSellers’ shipping cost DSRs for cross-border trades are only .02 points lower than domestic.

4. Two new buyer requirements were introduced today to further promote seller protection. First, sellers can block buyers who have had more than one Unpaid Item strike in the past 12 months (previously it was restricted to more than one UPI strike in the last 30 days). Second, beginning in May, sellers will be able to block buyers who have been reported by other sellers for policy violations like Feedback extortion or Feedback abuse.

5. Two new changes announced regarding negative or neutral feedback for sellers. The first is that negative and neutral feedback left for sellers will be removed – retroactively – when a buyer is unresponsive to an unpaid item claim or if they respond to the claim without expressing dissatisfaction with the item or your performance (this is aimed at resolving the situation where a buyer responds to the UPI claim but the response is nonsense). Secondly, negative or neutral feedback left by buyers who have been suspended from our marketplace for Feedback Extortion or other policy violations, will also be removed.

There was a Q&A of approximately 20 minutes that proceeded the presentation (that involved contributions from a panel of eBay representatives) and an additional one-hour break-out session with eBay panelists immediately following the keynote. I will be posting the questions and answers from both of those sessions – including the answers I got from Ink reader’s questions – in a follow-up post shortly. For now, I’m going to jump back into the sessions so I can see the eBay Affiliate Program presentation.

In the meantime, Lorrie provided me with the complete transcript of her keynote speech for your reference.

Cheers,
RBH