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Running Head: EBAY.COM THE WORLD’S ONLINE MARKETPLACE

Whatever it is you can get it on eBay, The World’s Online Marketplace

Timothy W. Steiner

Wilmington College

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Running Head: EBAY.COM THE WORLD’S ONLINE MARKETPLACE

Whatever it is you can get it on eBay, The World’s Online Marketplace

EBay is considered “The World’s Online Marketplace”(p.1) and allows individuals to buy and sell practically anything from all over the globe (About EBay, 2007). Although eBay today is a huge company with worldwide exposure, it was once just an idea put in motion by Pierre Omidyar (EBay, 2007). Originally, eBay was just a part of Omidyar’s personal website. After showing potential it grew into AuctionWeb. Later, in 1997, it became eBay (EBay, 2007).

EBay has grown into more than just a way for individuals to buy and sell online, but also a way to pay online, too. PayPal a subsidiary of eBay, makes it possible for buyers and sellers to make secure payments online in 17 different currencies (PayPal, 2007). It also provides a buyer and seller protection policy to prevent fraud and ensure buyers get what they pay for (PayPal, 2007). If a buyer does not receive an item they can file an “Item not received claim” (p.5). If a buyer receives the item but it is significantly different than described, the buyer can file an “Item significantly not as described claim” (p.5). PayPal has emerged as the leader in online payments being the primary means of payment, other than credit card at many ecommerce web sites (PayPal, 2007).

EBay offers a variety of ways to buy and sell items no longer limited to the traditional auction format. EBay stores offer sellers the ability to sell fixed price items at a lower listing cost than traditional auctions. These items remain for sale until they are canceled by the seller, instead of having a 7 to 10-day listing period. EBay Express, created in 2006, is designed to function more like a typical online store. Sellers are required to prove they are credible and experienced in order to become an eBay Express EBay 3

Running Head: EBAY.COM THE WORLD’S ONLINE MARKETPLACE

seller (Grow Your Business on eBay Express, 2007). This ensures that purchases are legitimate and will be guaranteed under the Buyer Protection Policy (Free Buyer Protection, 2006).

EBay’s Half.com features an easy way to sell books, music, video games, and movies. Half.com is much simpler to sell items on than eBay. In order to sell an item on Half.com, all that has to be done is to type in the ISBN or UPC code. The item information such as title, author, and number of pages is already listed. Once the item is identified, the condition is determined and a price is set. No detailed description and pictures are required making Half.com easy enough for any user to be a seller (Sell your items on Half.com, 2007).

Although practically everything can be sold on eBay, there are some restrictions on what type of item can and cannot be listed. Some items are prohibited on eBay such as: alcohol, drugs, firearms, animals, food, lottery tickets, tobacco and other inappropriate material (Is My Item Allowed, 2007). EBay must forbid or restrict the sale of certain items due to regional laws and regulations (EBay, 2007).

There have been many reports of exotic and unusual items being sold on eBay by the news media and other sources. Items seemingly worthless have sold for huge amounts like a cup said to have been used by Elvis selling for $455. After shaving her hair off in 2007, Brittney Spears hair was selling for 1 million USD before it was removed by eBay. In 2005 the original Hollywood sign was sold on eBay for $450,400 (EBay, 2007). A 20 year old man named Andrew Fischer rented his forehead space out for advertisement on eBay saying that the highest bidder gets their logo tattooed on his head for 30 days EBay 4

Running Head: EBAY.COM THE WORLD’S ONLINE MARKETPLACE

(Man auctions ad space on forehead, 2005). Some items are so rare that eBay might be the only place they can be found. This is the case with Tube Lines, a London based company that resorted to eBay due to the difficulty in finding tubes to run some obsolete equipment (Firm turns to eBay for Tube parts, 2004).

There are a wide variety of tools and solutions available to eBay sellers. These solutions consist of Image hosting, Inventory management, listing management, checkout processing, and sources of new inventory. When sellers start to list a large number of items, it becomes cost effective to utilize available services. By using Image hosting services, eBay listing fees can be minimized. Inventory management becomes an important issue when inventories are large and diverse. Listing management is helpful by spending less time listing items and automating some listings. Providing a secure checkout is always important to buyers, and when a large volume of sales are made it may be cost effective to use a checkout service instead of just using PayPal (Solutions Directory, 2007).

Many buyers watch and wait until the auction is almost closed before they bid. This is a good strategy to win an auction at the lowest possible price. Unfortunately, many users are frustrated when they wait until the last seconds and are still outbid. This is because services such as Auctionsniper.com provide the ability to enter a maximum bid and let the automated system bid for the user seconds before the auction closes. This convenient service makes it possible for buyers to bid on multiple auctions at the same time while they spend their time elsewhere (Auction Sniper, 2007).

EBay is a very versatile and efficient selling tool, it is no wonder it has become so EBay 5

Running Head: EBAY.COM THE WORLD’S ONLINE MARKETPLACE popular. “The eBay Community is made up of more than 100 million people around the world who buy and sell in the eBay marketplace” (p.1). The future outlook for eBay is bright. As long as people are still buying and selling, there will always be a need for eBay (Our Community, 2007). EBay continues to expand its market to places like shopping.com, rent.com, and online classifieds (The Company, 2007).

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Running Head: EBAY.COM THE WORLD’S ONLINE MARKETPLACE

REFERENCES

About eBay. (2007). eBay. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://pages.ebay.com/aboutebay.html

Auction Sniper. (2007). AuctionSniper. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://auctionsniper.com/

EBay. (2007, June 15). Wikipedia. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebay

PayPal. (2007, June 15). Wikipedia. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paypal

Firm turns to eBay for Tube parts. (2004, December). BBC News. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4079135.stm

Free Buyer Protection. (2006). eBay express. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://pages.express.ebay.com/service/account/purchase_protection_details.html

Grow Your Business on eBay Express. (2007). eBay Express. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://pages.express.ebay.com/service/about/selling.html

Is My Item Allowed. (2007). eBay. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/item_allowed.html

Man auctions ad space on forehead. (2005, January). BBC News. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4161413.stm

Our Community. (2007). eBay. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://pages.ebay.com/aboutebay/community.html

Sell your items on Half.com. (2007). Half.com. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://sell.half.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?HalfSellHome

Solutions Directory. (2007). eBay. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SolutionsDirectory

The Company. (1995-2007). eBay. Retrieved June 15, 2007, from http://pages.ebay.com/aboutebay/thecompany/companyoverview.html