- The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. The correct title is eBay.
eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY (http://quotes.nasdaq.com/asp/SummaryQuote.asp?symbol=EBAY&selected=EBAY)) is a very
successful online auction website, at which people from all around the world buy and sell goods and services.
About
eBay was founded in 1995 by Pierre
Omidyar as "AuctionWeb", part of a larger personal site that included, among other things, Omidyar's own tongue-in-cheek
tribute to the Ebola virus. Originally marketed to investors as a place to sell and trade
PEZ dispensers, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. He
had tried to register the domain name "EchoBay.com" but found it already taken, so he shortened it to his second choice,
"eBay.com". eBay is headquartered in San Jose,
California. Meg Whitman has served as eBay's president and CEO since March 1998. In terms of revenue growth, eBay is the fastest-growing company of all time.
Items and services
Millions of collectibles, appliances, computers, furniture, equipment, vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are
listed, bought, and sold daily. Some items are rare and valuable, while many others are dusty gizmos that would have been
discarded if not for the thousands of eager bidders worldwide, proving that if one has a big enough market, one will find someone
willing to buy anything. A recent search of eBay uncovered thousands of passé beanie babies and hundreds of vintage Kewpie Dolls. It is
fair to say that eBay has revolutionized the collectibles market by bringing together buyers and sellers internationally in a
huge, never-ending yard sale and auction. Large international companies, such as
IBM, sell their newest products and offer services on eBay using competitive auctions and
fixed-priced storefronts. Regional searches of the database make shipping slightly more rapid or cheaper. Software developers can
create applications that integrate with eBay through the eBay API by joining the eBay Developers Program (http://developer.ebay.com).
- In June 2004, eBay prohibited the sale and
auction of both alcohol and tobacco
products.
Some exceptions to this rule are made for rare aged liquors, where a bottle may sell for many times higher than its actual value
in alcohol.
There has also been controversy regarding items put up for bid that violate ethical standards. Once, a man put his kidney on eBay, attempting to profit from the potentially very lucrative (and illegal) market
for transplantable human organs. On other occasions, people and
even entire towns have been listed, often as a joke. eBay is also a repository for cheap imitations, which can be difficult for
novice buyers to distinguish without careful study of the auction description.
Profit and transactions
eBay generates revenue from sellers, who pay a fee (http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html) based on the selling price of each item, a fee
based on the starting price, and from advertising. In February 2005 it was
announced that eBay would increase fees it charges to eBay Stores (http://stores.ebay.com) sellers, which
caused considerable enough controversy among eBay users that the President of eBay's North America business recently emailed all
eBay users with news that other fees would be decreased. eBay does not handle the goods, nor does it transact the buyer-seller
payments, except through its subsidiary PayPal. Instead, much like newspaper want-ads, sellers rely on the buyers' good faith to make payment, and buyers
rely on the sellers' good faith to actually deliver the goods intact. To encourage fidelity, eBay maintains, rates, and publicly
displays the post-transaction feedback from all users, whether they buy or sell. This way, the buyer is encouraged to examine the
sellers' feedback profile before bidding to rate their trustworthiness. Sellers with high ratings generally have more bids and
garner higher bids.
Acquisitions
- In July, 2002, eBay acquired all PayPal, for $1.5 billion in stock. PayPal provides a service which allows people to send money
electronically by tying credit card numbers to email addresses. At the time of the acquisition, 60% of PayPal's business came
from people using Ebay.
- In June 22, 2004, eBay acquired all
outstanding shares of Baazee.com, an Indian auction site for approximately US $50 million in cash, plus acquisition costs.
- In September 2004, eBay moved forward
on its acquisition of Korean rival Internet Auction Co. (IAC), buying nearly 3 million
shares of the Korean online trading company for 125,000 Korean Won (about US$109) per share.
Controversy
eBay has its share of controversy, ranging from its privacy policy (eBay
typically turns over user information to law enforcement without a subpoena) to
well-publicized seller fraud. eBay claims that statistically fewer than 1 in 200
transactions fail.
Seller Fraud
While eBay has various measures in place to prevent seller fraud, it remains essentially an honor system: buyers send their
money to sellers and trust that they will receive the promised goods. Predictably, this has led to frequent problems with seller
fraud, including:
- Paying and not receiving for merchandise
- Paying and receiving items other than those ordered
- PayPal fraud
- Credit card fraud with information illegally acquired via an ebay auction.
Other Controversies
Other notable controversies involving eBay include:
- On 28 May 2003 a US District Court federal jury
found eBay guilty of patent infringement and ordered the company to pay US$35 million
in damages. The jury found for plaintiff MercExchange, which had accused eBay in 2001 of infringing on
three patents (two of which are used in eBay's "Buy It Now" feature for fixed-price sales) held by MercExchange founder Tom
Woolston. This decision is currently (November, 2004) under appeal.
- On 28 July 2003 eBay and its subsidiary
PayPal agreed to pay a $10 million fine to settle
allegations that they aided illegal offshore and online gambling. According to the
settlement, PayPal between mid-2000 and November 2002
transmitted money in violation of various US federal and state online gambling laws. Paypal was also forced out of this market,
which accounted for some 6% of its volume. These offenses occurred prior to eBay's purchase of PayPal.
- On 17th December 2004 Avnish Bajaj, CEO of eBay's Indian subsidiary Baazee.com, was arrested after a video clip showing oral sex
between two Indian students was sold online. The company denied knowing the content of what they were selling and removed the
offensive material as soon as they became aware of it. The Indian government
attempted to make the case that Bajaj broke a law under India's IT Act, that forbids "publishing, transmitting or causing to
publish" obscene material, even though the actual material was never published on
Baazee's servers. eBay is strongly supporting Baazee.
Further reading
- Cohen, Adam (2002). The Perfect Store: Inside eBay. Little, Brown & Company. ISBN 0-316-15048-7. (Hardcover, 336 pages)
- Belbin, David (2004). The eBay Book: Essential tips for buying and selling on eBay.co.uk. Harriman House Publishing.
ISBN 1-897-59743-6.
External links
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