Sellers looking to expand and streamline their business attended one of the opening sessions at eBay Live, "Using Certified Providers to Grow Your Business." Led by Laura Della Torre (Certified Provider Program Manager, eBay) the session began with an overview of the kinds of things certified providers can do for eBay sellers, such as offer creative design and branding, cross-merchandise, and shipping/handling solutions.

Panelists included representatives from a wide range of service providers: Jenny Kompolt of Kompolt Online Auction agency, which does high-profile charity auctions for people like Jay Leno and Oprah Winfrey; Tu Nguyen, CEO of Just Deals, a cross-border and multi-channel trade solution company; Mike Effle of Vendio, a provider of Internet sales management services; Anthony Sukow of Terapeak, which provides research tools and information; and Rob Cowie of Worldwide Brands, which helps sellers find wholesaler and drop shippers.

Della Torre explained that certified providers must have their software applications approved by eBay for compatibility, and in the case of certified solutions providers, they must pass exams about eBay technology. These providers can help save time, increase profits, and produce more listings which end successfully. Types of providers include consulting services, product sourcing providers, outsourcing listing management, market data providers, shipping and logistics providers, international solutions, and feature extensions, such as a product called "Configurator"

where, with configurable products such as computers, the buyer chooses options from drop-down menus.

When Della Torre asked the audience what listing management products they currently use, only a couple of names came out: SpareDollar and TurboLister.

A much larger percentage of the audience seemed to be interested in product sourcing services, provided by companies such as whatdoisell.com, Wholesale Marketer, and Worldwide Brands. Worldwide Brands' Cowie said his company specializes in finding the suppliers

"We try to get a history -- if you can't answer certain questions, you know you have a problem." Then sellers "contact the suppliers directly."

Many of the initial questions of the session were for Just Deals' Nguyen, who said his firm helps people sell cross-border but also from overseas to the U.S. He noted that certain items we sell here in the U.S. could get higher values in other places: an example he gave after the session ended was of a Logitech webcam that sells for $50 in the U.S., but for $80 in the U.K. He said Just Deals's fees depend on volume, but are typically $10 or 10%. The countries they cover include the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Australia, Canada, and next month, China. Next year they expect to add 20 countries in Western Europe.

Sukow was asked about Terapeak's innovations and what he saw as its advantages over other such providers; Sukow said they do performance-based category analyses. Other features include hot item lists, keyword searching information, and "also you can look at trends for goods" and seasonality. People were inquisitive about drop shipping, with one asking simply "how do you do it, and how do you make yourself competitive?" Cowie said the pros of drop shipping included no inventory holding, but the challenge was finding reliable providers. Cowie said Worldwide Brands does do background checks on companies. He also recommended using the "Light Bulk Wholesale Directory."

Effle of Vendio was asked if any developers provided streamlined methods of uploading photos

the seller said she found the whole process of taking pictures and uploading them time-consuming. Effle said if you have XP, you can upload as many as you can. In general, Effle said, Vendio offers a "complete suite of services," including item relisting, shipping management, and Vendio's gallery service, which is among their most popular.

When one man in the audience complained he didn't think he was credited back relisting fees, Effle quipped, "that wasn't on the exam."

Expediting listing by using catalog data or stock information such as SKU's (Stock Keeping Unit), ISDNs (Integrated Services Digital Network), etc, were also on sellers' minds. One woman wanted to know if any such solutions were coming for products from retailers such as IKEA, to which Effle said there were some niches of data such as Muse's video/media catalog information, but that he didn't know of "anyone who has that info across a broad range of products." Terapeak's Sukow also said that some things like cell phones have catalogs of data. Della Torre stressed that it was important to make sure, however, that intellectual property is sustained.

Della Torre mentioned several tools for sellers looking to find the right provider for them: the Solutions Directory, at www.solutions.ebay.com, sponsored links, and the Certified Provider Catalog, which includes video presentations from vendors.