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Comment by sfo | Hacker News Reader

their product

A product that builds ebay stores is nonsense? We are not that target but it might not be nonsense to those in that arena.

I would appreciate some more constructive criticism about our product. Keep in mind it's just entering beta. What about it seems like nonsense to you?

Update: "sfo" appears to be a troll - his account was created 10 minutes ago.

This has nothing to do with the product. They showed up with a plan to stir the pot... if it was for press then it looks like it might be working for them. Nicely done in that respect but don't pretend this was a huge coincidence.

That is the one thing that bothered me a little by the article. It looks like planned linkbait a mile away.

How else should one try to write a startup's first blog post? You're right in noticing that a major goal of the article was to market our product, but that doesn't mean that any of it was made up. It's a true retelling of the events.

Im not saying you are not truthful with how the story happened. Im just saying with the blowup of Google and Ebay right before this event that wearing a Google shirt, you knew what you were doing.

You're right, I wore my Google shirt because our product uses Google Checkout and I wanted to show support for it as I felt it was dealt an unfair blow by eBay. However, I didn't expect to get thrown out of the convention for it.

I'll come out and say it because everyone else is being polite... you were thrown out for being a smartass and you are riding the conflict between the two companies for publicity. It's cheap... effective but cheap. No offense to you dude but that's accurate.

Migpwr, you sound jealous and negative for no apparent reason. I don't see how my article could have offended you personally to warrant your string of hateful replies.

Let me repeat - I didn't go to eBay Live to start a controversy. I went to get some users to try my software, which I worked hard to build for the past 5 months. Things took an interesting turn, so why wouldn't I try to use this opportunity to get some attention for my software?

I posted the story at YC news because most startup founders would hopefully find our low-budget marketing story interesting and maybe even inspirational. If I just wanted free publicity I would have digg'd it or something instead. I don't even have a digg account.

So, you wore a Google shirt to eBay live, right after Google and eBay had a massive fallout. If that's the best way you have of getting attention for your software, you're in trouble.

Then again, if I had just spent 5 months on my store and only had a beginners-book 30-minute Scriptaculous + scaffolding job to show for it, I might resort to wearing a Google shirt too.

Agreed. The whole thing reads like one long smartass comment.

Especially this line: I replied (somewhat smartly) that no, since I didn't work for Google, why would I be promoting Google Checkout, "but what if I was?

Not only does the author pat his own ass by adding in commentary on his own comments ("somewhat smartly"), he had the audacity to throw in a sophomoric quip to the Ebay guy ("what if I was?")

I would have tossed him out in an instant.

Publicity is publicity. If it's effective, what constitutes 'cheap' publicity?

It's true it was suspicious that they wore Google shirts. Every little startup I know of would wear their own shirts to a trade show.

Just to clarify - only one of us wore a Google shirt. My co-founder was wearing business attire, so only I was singled out by the security personnel at first.

We don't yet have our own shirts and our appearance at the convention was spontaneous (planned the night before). I wore my Google shirt because our product uses Google Checkout and I wanted to show support for it as I felt it was dealt an unfair blow by eBay.

It's very common for people to display brands that they want to be associated with. E.g., in fashion, you can't copyright a clothing design, which has led designers to sell plain T-Shirts that say "Ralph Lauren", "A&F", "Hugo Boss", etc. Wearing a Google shirt is saying, "Hey, please associate our tiny little start-up with Google!" It worked! And check out the press they're getting for rocking the boat via the existing eBay-Google flap.

Yep, they definitely wanted to be associated with Google. In fact, if there was a Google Checkout t-shirt they would have worn it. It's clear that they went there to tout the merits of Google Checkout. That being said, it unfortunate the way the Ebay exec handled it. He fell for it hook, line and sinker.

I agree. Once they're there though, it's a little too late to kick them out and not expect fallout.

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