eBay - Pioneer in Online Trade

Its detractors apart, eBay is an institution that starting from sale of $14.83 a decade ago, grew into an entity where its users learn to trust 125 million total strangers.

EBay is a Nasdaq listed public company founded by Pierre Omidyar, today employs more than 8100 people with its turnover exceeding $4.6 billion. Originally registered as Echo Bay Technology Group, it shortened its name to eBay after EchoBay domain was taken by a gold mining company with same name.

It's History of Growth

Starting with first sale of broken laser pointer for $14.83, it now deals with millions of items ranging from appliances, computers and IT peripherals, vehicles and almost any item including services and intangibles as long as the item is not on its restricted items list. Restricted items vary from region to region as per local country laws, but generally include Tobacco, Alcohal, Nazi paraphernalia, human parts, explosives, child pornography or material to promote hatred etc. Today, even large international companies as IBM too sell their latest launches using its competitive auctions. eBay has more than 15000 developers that support eBay buyers, sellers and affiliates.

Expansion

eBay has been expanding quite fast and aggressively. Though not all its acquisitions have turned out to be revenue spinner, some of them have really done wonders for it. Its major acquisitions are Billpoint, Bonhams, Alando (now eBay Germany), half.com, CARad.com, PayPal, Eachnet, Craigslist, Baazee, Skype etc. In 2005, it acquired Skype to strengthen its payments platform and to introduce pay per call basis to open new vistas in e-commerce. PayPal and Skype make powerful combination. eBay is reportedly contemplating to sell its Chinese arm, Eachnet to Tom online.

It's Competition

Entry of Google Base may initially help eBay get more traffic but eventually is likely to hit its pricing power.

Though Microsoft and Google are also entering this segment, its major competitors today are Amazon, Yahoo auctions besides few regional players as Alibaba. It is market leader in most places except in Japan and Hong Kong where Yahoo is clearly having edge.

eBay charges exorbitant fees for listing and sale. Its associated payment arm PayPal too charges steep rates. With Google Base and GBuy entering this segment, rate structure of eBay is expected to take a hit.

Frauds at eBay

Common types of frauds noticed on eBay are non shipping of merchandise even after receiving payment; shipping wrong, counterfeit, faulty or stolen goods; buyer claiming from shipping company for damaged goods as well as filing claim for charge back from PayPal too; or use of stolen credit cards etc.

Fraud Prevention

eBay expects sellers to represent items fairly and accurately, have a clear return policy, review buyer feedback and exercise caution with unknown buyers. It allows buyers to report any suspicious item not conforming to its policies. At the same time, it allows intellectual property right owners to request removal of listings of products that infringe on their rights, provided they are able to prove to furnish necessary information.

eBay has elaborate buyer and seller rating mechanism which helps buyers and sellers know each other. However this rating system also suffers from some infirmities as small and large transactions carry same weight in feedback; allows retaliatory feedback forcing some users to avoid negative feedback; allows limited characters to write feedback in response to negative feedback, making defense little weak etc. eBay claims fraud rate of less than 0.1%.

eBay has been held liable for patent infringement and has been ordered to pay $35 million in damages, its subsidiary, PayPal, agreed to pay $10 million fine in July 2003 for aiding illegal on line gambling. Its online fraud protection program allows maximum net coverage of $175, which may not be sufficient in many cases.

Some users disagree that company takes stern measures against offenders and claim that even repeat offenders are dealt with maximum 30 days suspension.

eBay Trivia

eBay has witnessed some of the most expensive sold through it as sale of Gulfstream jet for $4.9 million, Wagner baseball card for $1.265 million, Lake resort for $1.2 million, Enzo Ferrari of $975,000 etc. or a World War II submarine by a small town in England. It has also witnessed sale of some weird items as man selling his pictures wearing his ex-wife's wedding dress, or contents of trash can where students had to write essay on trash, or grilled cheese sandwich with likeness of Virgin Mary on it. There are instances where people have listed their organs for sale or even listed towns for sale as prank.





Navitagion Main Page Links Payment Systems 2CheckOut Charge.Com ChronoPay GBuy (Google) MoneyBookers PayPal StormPay WorldPay Sell Online Froogle Windows Live Expo Google Base eBay <a href="http://www.charge.com/banners/click.php?webma417" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.charge.com/banners/120x60_3.gif" width="120" height="60" border="0" alt="Become a Credit Card Merchant"></a>		eBay - Pioneer in Online Trade Its detractors apart, eBay is an institution that starting from sale of $14.83 a decade ago, grew into an entity where its users learn to trust 125 million total strangers. EBay is a Nasdaq listed public company founded by Pierre Omidyar, today employs more than 8100 people with its turnover exceeding $4.6 billion. Originally registered as Echo Bay Technology Group, it shortened its name to eBay after EchoBay domain was taken by a gold mining company with same name. It's History of Growth Starting with first sale of broken laser pointer for $14.83, it now deals with millions of items ranging from appliances, computers and IT peripherals, vehicles and almost any item including services and intangibles as long as the item is not on its restricted items list. Restricted items vary from region to region as per local country laws, but generally include Tobacco, Alcohal, Nazi paraphernalia, human parts, explosives, child pornography or material to promote hatred etc. Today, even large international companies as IBM too sell their latest launches using its competitive auctions. eBay has more than 15000 developers that support eBay buyers, sellers and affiliates. Expansion eBay has been expanding quite fast and aggressively. Though not all its acquisitions have turned out to be revenue spinner, some of them have really done wonders for it. Its major acquisitions are Billpoint, Bonhams, Alando (now eBay Germany), half.com, CARad.com, PayPal, Eachnet, Craigslist, Baazee, Skype etc. In 2005, it acquired Skype to strengthen its payments platform and to introduce pay per call basis to open new vistas in e-commerce. PayPal and Skype make powerful combination. eBay is reportedly contemplating to sell its Chinese arm, Eachnet to Tom online. It's Competition Entry of Google Base may initially help eBay get more traffic but eventually is likely to hit its pricing power. Though Microsoft and Google are also entering this segment, its major competitors today are Amazon, Yahoo auctions besides few regional players as Alibaba. It is market leader in most places except in Japan and Hong Kong where Yahoo is clearly having edge. eBay charges exorbitant fees for listing and sale. Its associated payment arm PayPal too charges steep rates. With Google Base and GBuy entering this segment, rate structure of eBay is expected to take a hit. Frauds at eBay Common types of frauds noticed on eBay are non shipping of merchandise even after receiving payment; shipping wrong, counterfeit, faulty or stolen goods; buyer claiming from shipping company for damaged goods as well as filing claim for charge back from PayPal too; or use of stolen credit cards etc. Fraud Prevention eBay expects sellers to represent items fairly and accurately, have a clear return policy, review buyer feedback and exercise caution with unknown buyers. It allows buyers to report any suspicious item not conforming to its policies. At the same time, it allows intellectual property right owners to request removal of listings of products that infringe on their rights, provided they are able to prove to furnish necessary information. eBay has elaborate buyer and seller rating mechanism which helps buyers and sellers know each other. However this rating system also suffers from some infirmities as small and large transactions carry same weight in feedback; allows retaliatory feedback forcing some users to avoid negative feedback; allows limited characters to write feedback in response to negative feedback, making defense little weak etc. eBay claims fraud rate of less than 0.1%. eBay has been held liable for patent infringement and has been ordered to pay $35 million in damages, its subsidiary, PayPal, agreed to pay $10 million fine in July 2003 for aiding illegal on line gambling. Its online fraud protection program allows maximum net coverage of $175, which may not be sufficient in many cases. Some users disagree that company takes stern measures against offenders and claim that even repeat offenders are dealt with maximum 30 days suspension. eBay Trivia eBay has witnessed some of the most expensive sold through it as sale of Gulfstream jet for $4.9 million, Wagner baseball card for $1.265 million, Lake resort for $1.2 million, Enzo Ferrari of $975,000 etc. or a World War II submarine by a small town in England. It has also witnessed sale of some weird items as man selling his pictures wearing his ex-wife's wedding dress, or contents of trash can where students had to write essay on trash, or grilled cheese sandwich with likeness of Virgin Mary on it. There are instances where people have listed their organs for sale or even listed towns for sale as prank. Click here to visit eBay.