Ex PESA n's R US: Internet Merchants Association formed by ex PeSA members

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=bargainbloodhound link=topic=5799.msg31119#msg31119 date=1162839504]

There is also a second PRIVATE eBay group that has been formed by suspended/ex-Pesans to discuss the possible formation of a new sellers group.

This is the other group:
Still Thinking About It
http://groups.ebay.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1500014238
Private group, 22 members...I'm not a member of this one.

Their group charter:

Charter for "Still Thinking About It"
A small group of Ex-PESA members starting a new group, free of politics, conflicts of interest or power grabbing leaders.

[/quote]

Getting interesting.  "Still Thinking About It" has changed their name to Internet Merchants Association.  They're also down to 20 members...removing ex-Ethical Technologies worker Marble and DOUA founder Marjie from the membership roster.  The group leader of Internet Merchants Association is 1busyman (FB 94K).

[thentavius]

Getting interesting.  "Still Thinking About It" has changed their name to Internet Merchants Association.  They're also down to 20 members...removing ex-Ethical Technologies worker Marble and DOUA founder Marjie from the membership roster.  The group leader of Internet Merchants Association is 1busyman (FB 94K).

Really. Was "still thinking about it" the same group Bigbill joined?

[amy]

[quote author=thentavius link=topic=5799.msg31166#msg31166 date=1162870420]

Getting interesting.  "Still Thinking About It" has changed their name to Internet Merchants Association.  They're also down to 20 members...removing ex-Ethical Technologies worker Marble and DOUA founder Marjie from the membership roster.  The group leader of Internet Merchants Association is 1busyman (FB 94K).

Really. Was "still thinking about it" the same group Bigbill joined?
[/quote]

No.  Biggbill is the group leader/founder of Ex PESA n's R US.

[amy]

[quote author=amy link=topic=5799.msg31168#msg31168 date=1162872441]
[quote author=thentavius link=topic=5799.msg31166#msg31166 date=1162870420]

Getting interesting.  "Still Thinking About It" has changed their name to Internet Merchants Association.  They're also down to 20 members...removing ex-Ethical Technologies worker Marble and DOUA founder Marjie from the membership roster.  The group leader of Internet Merchants Association is 1busyman (FB 94K).

Really. Was "still thinking about it" the same group Bigbill joined?
[/quote]

No.  Biggbill is the group leader/founder of Ex PESA n's R US.
[/quote]

Adding to that--biggbill was also booted from the new I.M.A. group.

Ex PESA n's R US is at 25 members and I.M.A 24 members.

[BellisimaJ.]

New, related thread at TRS, "The Big Pesa THread"

This big PeSA thread will pretty well explain most of what has gone on... it's going to take some time to post because I'm busy and I have to do a lot of editing of personal information, but I'll post a bit at a time and you can begin to understand it better. Whatever questions you may have will either be answered with subsequent posts, or not, and that is the lot of the PeSA member as well. There are over 700 posts in this thread, so get ready for a long read, if you are so inclined. If not, it's easy enough not to click open the thread.

http://therossshow.com/showthread.php?t=6129

[amy]

Ross doesn't have RSS feeds over there. Who volunteers to do the C&P from Ross to here.
//Sudden panic in New Jersey occurs at the mention of RSS//.

[BellisimaJ.]

What is your criteria for the C&P's? All or selective (except I am not too familiar with what's important)? 

[cranky_hippie]

What is your criteria for the C&P's? All or selective (except I am not too familiar with what's important)?

It should be ALL. I've seen Toy's C & P's of PESA crap before. It gets good, especially if they fight amongst themselves. 


:popcorneaters: and  for everyone!

[BellisimaJ.]

Okay, first one coming up.

[BellisimaJ.]

From TRS:

gothamcityonline
10/10/06 07:04 AM (#1)

Dear Members,
With the success of the Fall Summit fresh in our minds, we wanted to share the Board's thoughts on the event and to update you on what PeSA is working on to help your business grow.

The feedback the Board received from attendees at the recent San Francisco summit has been overwhelming positive. From the participating companies like Bear Stearns, Amazon, Google and eBay, to the attendees, everyone applauded the quality of the presentations and the caliber of the attendees. If you were unable to make it, we hope to see you at the Spring Summit (which is already shaping up to be our most in-depth event ever) and we have a full photo recap of the Fall Summit online (see link below). The Spring Summit dates and location will be announced in the next couple of weeks.

Many people have made suggestions on how PeSA can continue to improve, which is something the Board is always striving to achieve. We would like to take a moment to share some of those ideas with you and our plans to incorporate as many as possible.

1. All attendees were thrilled and amazed at the scope and quality of the presentations from Amazon and Google. We understand everyone's interest in expanding those relationships and are working on programs with those companies to benefit your business.

We should note that due to Quiet Period restrictions around earnings, eBay was not able to work their staff into the schedule as much as we or they would have liked. We are going to try to plan well ahead in the future to have eBay's unfettered participation at our next event.

2. The San Francisco Summit was 1 1/2 days long, which was shorter than our previous summits. We were able to add an extra day of networking on the end (golf outing, eBay tour, wine country trip) for those that were able to stay, but many people indicated a preference on more learning time.

We do plan to offer an expanded format (in many ways) for future summits.

3. The quality of the venue (nice hotel choice Adam Hersh!) and the food (kudos to M***** as well!) was first-rate. We were even able to reserve a block of sleeping rooms for 50% below list price, further establishing our events as one of the best deals around for online sellers.

In fact, the shop.org summit in New York City costs up to $1725 a person to attend 96 plus room reservations!

https://www3.compusystems.com/servl...ginServlet?evt= _uid=3D278&cm_mmc=3DShop.org-_-Summit06%20Boot%20Camp-_-Boot%20Camp%20pag= e-_-Register%20Now"

Many people have indicated that an increased level of professionalism should extend all the way through the process and specifically include announcing the dates well in advance, more informative pre-event online registration, more efficient on-site registration, and more on-site staff to assist with logistics and general information.

These are all excellent suggestions and we are working on them all so attendees can maximize what they get out of the event. This means that our many wonderfully helpful volunteers, like P*** (seen hanging a banner in the summit photos), will have an event company or at least have paid staff assisting in the setup and event management process so members can focus on learning and networking. Another important and exciting step in PeSA's evolution.

So what are the next steps for PeSA?

Fortunately, the members have elected a Board of dedicated and hard-working volunteers who are ready for any challenge. The fact that six Wall Street analysts attended the San Francisco Summit (and several have already issued reports based on their participation) means that PeSA has earned the attention of important influencers in the marketplace.

Since the Summit, the Board has been hard at work forging new relationships that should improve all of our businesses. We would like to share a few of those ideas with you now.

The new PeSA.

It is our great pleasure to officially announce the E X P A N S I O N of PeSA! Like eBay, PeSA has come to embrace a multi-channel online strategy as the key to a successful e-commerce business. Many PeSA members cut their teeth in the auction marketplace and have since expanded into other channels, such as Amazon, Overstock, direct website sales, etc. Some members have also added keyword and affiliate programs to drive traffic.

PeSA's expansion will NOT involve the renaming of PeSA, which has already established a well-respected reputation of excellence in the eBay marketplace; a tradition we want to preserve and hopefully enhance in the future. PeSA's expansion will instead be through a partnership with a sister organization, the E-Commerce Merchants Trade Association (www.ecmta.org) that was setup last year to focus on non-eBay, e-commerce strategies, such as the Amazon marketplace, various Google services, etc.

Amongst other exciting benefits, ECMTA will provide PeSA members with access to their Web Graphics Division, for professional graphics, logos, web design, item templates and newsletter formatting at deeply discounted rates. In fact, the ECMTA Web Graphics team is responsible for the new look of the PeSA site that will launch on Friday. PeSA members can get a VIP look at:

http://www.gopesa.org/new/index.cfm

Over the next few weeks, we will be announcing a number of new partnerships that should help you improve your business.

A brief word on finances.

It is the Board's goal for PeSA to become a financially stable organization - able to pay it's own bills and hopefully engage professionals to assist in the growth and management of our organization, from managing the summits to assisting with marketing efforts to developing printed materials for the group. Historically PeSA has relied on volunteers to assist in many of these tasks, but as the group has grown, this work has at times been overwhelming. After all, we are all busy with our own businesses.

In order to accomplish these goals, we will be implementing a dues structure to help the organization transition to a professionally managed organization that includes outsourcing of functions and subsidizing the summits wherever possible. The annual dues for PeSA membership will be $240 per year. HOWEVER, existing PeSA members will get the following deal if they sign up by the end of November:

1. Membership for only $99 through December 31, 2007.

2. Free trial membership in ECMTA for the same period.

Any member that joins PESA after November will be charged the full rate. We will announce the dues collection process next week.

There are a number of organizations like PeSA out there, almost all of which charge dues, and it is worth understanding how they operate. Shop.org, widely regarded as the industry leader, charges its largest retail members $5,500 a year and smallest members $2,500. These numbers are in addition to the summit registration which, as stated above, can run as high as $1725.

We hope you agree that PeSA has reached an exciting chapter in our organization's history. The Board is working hard to make the months to come some of our most accomplished and we promise to keep you all posted.

In the meantime, we have the holiday season coming up and the Board is hoping to make a positive contribution to everyone's top and bottom lines as quickly as possible. Specific details regarding the first of these contributions should be available soon.

Event photos:

http://www.gopesa.org/new/index.cfm?page=3Devents

Sincerely,

The PeSA Board


1bu****
10/10/06 07:13 AM (#2)

Jonathan this seems like all good news. Can you provide a little more detail though.

Is PESA still a non profit org?

Is ECMTA a non profit org?

Are any of the board or committee members going to be drawing a =
salary?

Steve

cos****
10/10/06 08:02 AM (#3)
A long time comming I would suppose.

Will non members be removed from this discussion board


gol****
10/10/06 08:22 AM (#4)

Jonathan
Thanks for a very good summary.

PeSA has come a long way in the past three years that I have been associated with it. To see it evolve into such a powerful and professional organization leaves me with much pride. I can imagine how you and the rest of the founders feel.

Congrats and good luck. We are with you.

B***

har****
10/10/06 08:52 AM (#5)

Less than 66 cents a day

lov*****
10/10/06 08:58 AM (#6)

You have done a fantastic job of guiding this organization to =
where it is today.

The new membership fees are very fair and insignificant compared =
to the value that they will deliver members.

Thanks, D****


lar*********
10/10/06 10:36 AM (#7)

Thank you for the excellent, informative post.

And thank you for all the time the committees and BOD have put into planning and developing.

Ha****


byr****
10/10/06 10:43 AM (#8)

Thank you for the info. You didn't say where to pay our dues. It is time to move on. I would ask if there will be public accounting of the way the monies are spent.

I am excited about the future of PeSA

Co***

mr********
10/10/06 10:48 AM (#9)


Yes, where do we pay... that's what I want to know!


Cha*****


cos**********
10/10/06 10:57 AM (#10)

Ok I have found the answer to my previous question - Access to exclusive chat boards.

Will membership include the cost of summit attendance ?

Ki******
__________________
"Imagine if the headless horseman had a headless horse. That would be chaos."
Reply With Quote