Beantown's eBay Circus

A man with a long gray ponytail walks toward the escalator, looking as though he just stepped from a carnival. A lanyard hangs heavily from his neck—weighed down by the dozen, maybe more, Crayola-colored pins and ribbons affixed to it. Near the middle of the rainbow chain, resting somewhere near the man's stomach, is a large ID badge: Michael Mills, Partyvegetable. PowerSeller.

Most weekends, Mills would stand out from the crowds filling the taupe hallways in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. But this weekend is eBay Live!—the annual conference for buyers and sellers who make a living using the auction giant to hawk their wares. About 10,000 people gathered in South Boston for the event. And Mills, the owner of a used photography equipment store on eBay, looks right at home. "I said that I wasn't going to go all out with the pins," he says with a shrug that sways the loaded lanyard. "It's my first time here."