Ebay Essay, Research Paper

Founded in September 1995, eBay has become a powerful marketplace for the sale of goods and services by a passionate community of individuals and small businesses. eBay is an online auction house where anyone in the world can log and buy or sell goods through an auction.

Today, the eBay community includes 18.9 million registered users, and is the number one most popular shopping site on the Internet when measured by total user minutes according to the Media Metrix September 2000 web report.

eBay’s Mission

eBay helps people trade practically anything on earth. eBay was founded with the belief that people are basically good. They believe that each of their customers, whether a buyer or a seller, is an individual who deserves to be treated with respect. eBay will continue to enhance the online trading experiences of all – collectors, hobbyists, dealers, small business, unique item seekers, bargain hunters, opportunistic sellers, and browsers. The growth of the eBay community comes from meeting and exceeding the expectations their customers.

eBay’s Market

In 2000, the eBay community transacted over $5 billion in annualized gross merchandise sales (value of goods traded on the eBay site).

eBay is not just a place for collectibles, beanies and Pez dispensers. On any given day, there are millions of items listed on eBay across thousands of categories. People come to eBay to buy and sell everything from the practical, unique, and interesting – such as automobiles, jewelry, musical instruments, photographic equipment, computers, furniture, and sporting goods.

With the recent acquisition of Half.com, eBay’s community now benefits from a marketplace combining traditional auction style trading and fixed-price trading.

eBay enables trade on a local, national and international basis. It features a variety of specialty sites, categories and services that aim to provide users with the necessary tools for efficient online trading.

eBay International

eBay is truly a global marketplace, where individuals worldwide are coming together to buy and sell from one another. It is not uncommon to hear about eBay users in Japan buying items from users in the U.S., or users in Australia buying from others in France. Users on eBay represent over 150 different countries. With eBay’s vision and global business strategy, the company will continue to expand its service and brand abroad. Currently, eBay has country specific sites in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Australia.

eBay Specialty Sites

eBay Motors

eBay Motors, a specialty site on eBay, is the Internet’s largest auction-style marketplace for buying and selling all things automotive. At any given time, eBay Motors has a wide variety of vehicles listed for sale, from Acuras to Volvos and all makes and models in-between. The site also features collector cars, motorcycles, as well as auto parts and automobilia. eBay Motors provides end-to-end online services such as financing, inspections, escrow, auto insurance, vehicle shipping, title & registration, and a lemon check.

Business Exchange

Business Exchange on eBay services the fast growing and fragmented small business marketplace. It provides a destination on eBay for businesses to buy or sell new, used and refurbished business merchandise, such as industrial equipment, office equipment, computers, and professional tools.

Great Collections

eBay Great Collections is a specialty site on eBay, which showcases fine art, antiques and rare collectibles from leading auction houses and dealers from around the world. Now with the introduction of the eBay Live Auctions feature, eBay Great Collections also offers real-time online bidding on items that are available on auction house floors. eBay Great Collections revolutionizes the way fine art and antiques are bought and sold and brings the traditional auction world to the Internet.

Half.com

With the recent acquisition of Half.com, eBay’s community now benefits from a marketplace combining traditional auction style trading and Half.com’s fixed-price trading. Founded in July 1999, Half.com offers people an organized online marketplace to buy and sell high quality, previously owned mass-market goods. Unlike auctions, where the selling price is based on bidding, the seller sets a fixed price for items at Half.com at the time the items are listed.

Billpoint

Billpoint is eBay’s online bill payment service that facilitates credit card payment between buyers and sellers on eBay. In a strategic alliance with Wells Fargo, together they ensure the expedient and secure completion of each transaction. By giving sellers the convenience of credit card acceptance, and providing buyers the ease to pay more quickly than writing a check or filling out a money order, Billpoint is a hassle-free and reliable online payment solution.

The eBay Foundation

EBay is a company who cares about others and gives back to the community. In a letter posted to the eBay community in July 1998, Pierre Omidyar, company founder, said “Personally, I have always believed in helping people to become the best they can be.”

In June 1998, eBay established a charitable fund known as the eBay Foundation. It was funded through a donation of 107,250 shares of eBay’s Common Stock to Community Foundation Silicon Valley (CFSV), a tax-exempt public charity whose mission is to promote philanthropy and build a strong community. CFSV helps donors make effective charitable gifts and makes grants to a wide range of nonprofit organizations.

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http://www.bigcharts.com/resources/analystestimates/default.asp?orig=charting&symb=ebay&framed=False analyst esimate

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http://pages.ebay.com/community/aboutebay/community/index.html community

http://www.shareholder.com/ebay investor relations

http://www.ebay.com home page