About

In short: Social media brain, online community manager, eBay expert, writer, liberal/progressive/lefty/socialist, politics geek, punner, kitchen sink tenor, consultant, freelancer, raconteur, flaneur, beer swiller.

More: I'm a freelance consultant and writer specialising in online communities, ecommerce, social media, internet marketing and eBay. I'm also writing a new book and taking on other gigs. Get in touch.

Previously, (among others): I was contracted to BT, working on a new social network for small businesses called BT Tradespace: if you're running a business that wants to boost your online marketing, it's well worth joining. Oh, and it's free.

I was part of the team that founded eBay in the UK in 1999 and I worked for the company (doing all sorts of things) until 2006. For the last three years I worked at eBay I was the Community Manager in charge of site's community suite and discussion boards and as a result I'm uniquely experienced in online community building, moderation and community management.

As Community Manager I was also a key customer advocate internally, surfacing concerns and developing programmes to provide qualitative insights to the team. I was also fortunate to be able to meet thousands of customers, present at eBay University and become an experienced media spokesman (press, radio and telly).

The experience I got from eBay enabled me to write the bestselling guide to eBay Make Money on eBay UK and my second book, Make Serious Money on eBay UK was published in 2007. A third book, focussing on marketing using the social web, is underway.

In the past year, I've been having lots of fun working on all sorts of projects for all sorts of people (small businesses, corporations, individuals and charities) and I'm always open to suggestions. You can contact me here: