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

[cranky_hippie]

Originally Posted by justjg -
Toysleaze why are you going to all of this effort? What is your agenda?

The response:

My dear House_of_Obsolete_Format

There are some here, self included, who are actual online auction sellers and who are interested in what goes on inside a group that claims to weild great influence over the industry.

Looks like we can get 2 good threads for the price of 1.  

[BellisimaJ.]

justjg is a known total boinktard.   Toy banned him from his board too, so jg has an ax to grind.

[cranky_hippie]

Toy banned him from his board too, so jg has an ax to grind.

There aren't many places that moron HASN'T been banned. 

[BellisimaJ.]

From TRS:

bi*****
10/10/06 11:19 AM (#11)

This is good news it looks like we have a direction and are going forward.

Thank you to the board and all those who worked so hard

Gl****
10/10/06 11:54 AM (#12)

Fantastic news! I look forward to PeSA moving onward and upward.

Thanks, BOD.

T***


gothamcityonline
10/10/06 12:14 PM (#13)

We will open the process to pay dues next week, but it was important that we give members an update on where we are.

Regarding the Summits, PESA members (now dues paying) will get early bird registration (read discounted) and exclusive access to accomodation discounts.

As to the question of salaries, we plan to convert a number of
volunteer positions to paying consultant/project positions so that we can give back some value to members that really contribute. Its not going to be alot, but its a little something to show our gratitude. The Board, will not be taking salaries, but there will probably be a small stipend and reimbursement of out of pocket expenses, which until now, have been absorbed by each individual Board member

And, all PESA members will have access to the discussion forum. If you don't pay your dues, you will not have an active membership in PESA and no access to the discussion forum.

We have a number of other news items in the works and I look forward to announcing them very soon. I hope I got all the questions.

Sincerely,
Jonathan


ji*********
10/10/06 12:25 PM (#14)

It will be great to get back to having a Spring Summit. I predict we will have 500 attendees at the next Summit, by having it east of the Mississippi. It amazes me how many smart PeSAns don't make it to a Summit. It's trite, but they don't know what they are missing. The members that do make it to a Summit seem to never miss another one.

What a bargain at $99/yr. membership. Thanks for that, and for all the BOD and Jonathan do to help the membership. Looking forward to having a professional events management team on board if that happens.

J****


unc*******
10/10/06 12:30 PM (#15)


Congratulations on the new direction and renewed vision for PeSA and its constituents. These concepts are sound and appear to be well thouht-out.

Providing an easy transition into the new dues model was thoughtful. I also believe that you've set a good bright line between the support of strong eBay merchandisers and the sister group that is more focused on overall multi-channel sales. Again, another well thought-out transition as we move from one to the other through growth and market maturation

A big "well done!" from us.

Unc****


1bu*********
10/10/06 01:00 PM (#16)

Jonathan

sound great, thanks for the answers and working on this leap forward, and all sounds fair to me. I know I am excited to hear the "full details"

St*****


clos********
10/10/06 01:24 PM (#17)

Sounds great -a huge step in the right direction

Any details on the web design provider?

An******


thecol********
10/10/06 03:15 PM (#18)

Excellent. Thank you to everybody for the hard work. Dues have been long overdue and converting some of the volunteers into employees is a great step forward.

Na*****


lou*******
10/10/06 03:46 PM (#19)

Just in the short time I have been in here, I know I have already gained more than $99 worth of knowledge!

Consider me in all the way!

Thanks,
Cha****


tig********
10/10/06 04:44 PM (#20)

It was nice associating with you folks, but I'm going to recommend against our continued involvment. The bottom line just doesn't justify the dues in my opinion ... though naturally Ta**** may feel differently.

B*******

[chiquita]

I have a question. I was not aware of Pesa and only recently heard about the group Voices. OK so what are the requirements to be a member of Pesa? Is it based on sales? It still does not seem apparent about the non-profit status either. Do I understand the post correctly that they are going to pay themselves a salary?  :blinkie:

[BellisimaJ.]

Chiquita, I know too little myself to answer you. I believe you have to be invited to join and it is based on sales.
Amy can tell you much more than I can. Or, you can do a search on PESA ---there should be quite a bit of info on them---i never read it myself. ;D

[chiquita]

Thanks Belle,
It is interesting to see the dynamics in motion, and the internal splitting apart of what appears to be the "elite" group. Lots of BS going back and forth too. 

[BellisimaJ.]

You are very welcome, Chiquita. 

It is interesting--wish I could tell you more. These two threads may be of interest though.

http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...219.0.html

http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...412.0.html

[BellisimaJ.]

From TRS:

emo******
10/10/06 04:57 PM (#21)

I will be fascinated to see how many people feel like Bill and drop out over the $99. Of course, it is "cheap at twice the price" for ME, but I can well understand how many others might feel otherwise

I bet there would be far fewer drop-outs if there was any results on finding group rates for health insurance, shipping, packaging supplies, etc. Maybe one of the new paid employees could tackle these again.

Br****


lau****
10/10/06 04:58 PM (#22)


Fantastic news!

It's great to see PESA evolve to the next step!

Le*****


ce**********
10/10/06 05:50 PM (#23)

I'd say this step was long over-DUE. Bad pun intended.

JH


phi*******
10/10/06 06:35 PM (#24)

Congratulations to Jonathan and the Board for this announcement. This is a fantastic step forward for the future of our wonderful organization. Very excited

Ph***


tig*******
10/10/06 08:44 PM (#25)

Jonathan,

Can you give me an idea as to what the benefits are that, as dues paying members of PESA, we can expect to receive. Are there any guarantees for these benefits? Will the bylaws be strictly enforced, and will there be any revisions of them to reflect the needs of a true association? Since currently there are no clear cut and advertised benefits offered to members as a group I was hoping you could shed some light on what benefits and support that we, as dues paying members of PESA, can expect in return for our monetary support.

Will we be able to contribute, vote, and be considered equal members of PESA if we do not choose to attend a given the various PESA summits? Do you anticipate a change in the sentiment true involvement is only by attending events

While I have seen many benefits to being a member of PESA and have and the chance to talk with many wonderful people (while there are still many more wonderful people I would like to get to speak with) I think the perspective changes dramatically when dues are required. The amount is not the most significant consideration, but what works in an informal group cannot be expected in a formal association charging dues.

Will there be more open lines of communication from the BOD and various committees of PESA? Will PESA be offering open lines of communication with eBay to the membership, or will it be limited in the current fashion?

Ta******


jayandmarie
10/10/06 09:20 PM (#26)


QUOTE: Do you anticipate a change in the sentiment true involvement is only by attending events

As a PeSAn who has attended all of the summits and served on the BOD and on the Moderator committee (and who spends a fair amount of time on the message board as well), I'd like to offer a thought here.

I do not have the sense that, at any time in our history, PeSA set out to differentiate events-attending members from other members. Certainly, there has been a sentiment, which I feel is legitimate, that 'lurkers' who do not participate in Discussion Board discussions, but log in and presumably glean ideas and knowledge without reciprocating are doing the group a dis-service. They should be sharing their unique knowledge with the collective as well.

The summit events are different. They are expensive and time-consuming and often pull us away from the tasks at hand. The 'opportunity cost' of being away from your business alone can cost thousands of $$. That being the case, why do those who attend the events bother?

I think the events serve several purposes, in varying amounts for various members, but for members like myself who spend most of their time indoors and isolated, the getting-together and social networking alone is worth the trip. I personally completed a couple of very large deals last year with PeSA members, who I met personally at PeSA events and subsequently contacted and transacted with. Without that physical meeting I probably would have known these individuals only from their infrequent Discussion Board postings (and we all know who postings online can completely misrepresent the tone or mind-set of the poster in a negative way).

So, basically, it's human nature: we transact with and interact with those we know. Our 'about me' pages tell other PeSAns only a little about one another: we learn so much more in the formal and informal settings presented at the PeSA events. Certainly, if Amazon & Google & everyone else feels the journey and effort to PeSA events is time invested wisely, it is within the realm of possiblity that those of us who choose not to participate should re-think that bias.

Now, I recognize the realities: there may be medical reasons, or household reason, or whatever legitimate reasons that PeSA members do=20
not attend PeSA events in person. Similarly, I think =
non-attendees who feel excluded should recognize that it is deep within our human nature to feel most comfortable with people whose hand we have held and who we have looked in the eye.

As an aside, the January Ebay Top Seller event is getting organized now. Last year I told PeSA members to get on their TSAMs or category reps early for an invite: hopefully you did so and you were invited and participated. If you are a top seller in your category you need to be at the eBay event: they did a great job last year of setting up an event where top sellers could interact, remaining available but also remaining unobtrusive. There was a lot of business done last January and I suspect the next event will generate similar results. EBay picked up much of the tab for last year's event as well.

JAY


sho********
10/10/06 10:56 PM (#27)


"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 forPeSA membership will be $240 per year."

Say goodbye to 900+ members when this goes into affect. With the resent "secret" meeting with eBay and the BOD and the info provided on this meeting I in NO way would pay these fees.

JMHO,
Ra*******



joefriday2
10/10/06 11:12 PM (#28)

I'm happy to pay $99 a year for PESA dues. It's a bargain. I know there are some that will not pay dues of any amount. That's well and good. It's your decision. There are no hard feelings. This group needs money and dues are the way to get that money.

If you haven't gotten your $99 dollars worth yet at PESA, then I don't think you will ever get it and you really shouldn't pay the dues. At least you tried and that's all anyone can ask.

Our membership will surely shrink down and that's ok. We'll probably end up with about 400 dues paying members. Then we will start growing again. Not bad for a non-profit group that started out as a discussion board.

Ben


lan******
10/10/06 11:22 PM (#29)


I am an affiliate member, based in the UK though I do have another eBay selling account that would qualify. I glean much knowledge and insight from theis group, post occasioanlly, and visit this group most days to 'catch up'

I will gladly pay the US$99.00, just let me know how pleae.

PS: I can log into the GoPesa website OK, tried earlier, but it could not find the 'other' forum ?


sho********
10/10/06 11:26 PM (#30)

"I would ask if there will be public accounting of the way the monies are spent."

Don't count on it.


Ra*****

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

[BellisimaJ.]

And for Cranky   )

Originally Posted by Justjg:
Sorry, I don't buy that Toysleazy.

You can have an interest, and this is an interesting topic, but when people spend a lot of time and energy slagging something they usually have an agenda, whether personal or business.

I don't really care what you buy or don't buy. I have you on my blocked buyer list.