eBay is an online auction & shopping mall website, where people from all around the world buy and sell goods and services.
ebay Facts
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, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar’s consulting firm.
(The frequently repeated story that eBay was founded to trade PEZ dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media. This was revealed in Adam Cohen’s 2002 book and confirmed by eBay.) Omidyar 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. eBay boosters have claimed that in terms of revenue growth, eBay is among the fastest-growing companies of all time.
ebay Products 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. 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.
As of June 2005, there were over 15,000 members in the eBay Developers Program, comprising a broad range companies creating software applications to support eBay buyers and sellers as well as eBay Affiliates.
In June 2004, eBay prohibited the sale and auction of both alcohol and tobacco products on the British site ebay.co.uk. 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. In late 1999 a man offered one of his kidneys for auction on eBay, attempting to profit from the potentially lucrative (and, in the United States, illegal) market for transplantable human organs. On other occasions, people and even entire towns have been listed, often as a joke.
In general, the company removes auctions that violate its terms of service agreement within a short time after hearing of the auction from an outsider; the company’s policy is to not pre-approve transactions. eBay is also an easy place for unscrupulous sellers to market counterfeit merchandise, which can be difficult for novice buyers to distinguish without careful study of the auction description.
eBay’s Latin American partner is MercadoLibre. eBay’s main rivals are Amazon.com Marketplace and Yahoo.com Auction.
ebay Trivia
The five most expensive items sold on eBay (as of 2002)
A 340-year-old copy of Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre, which survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 (£5million)
Grumman Gulfstream II jet ($4.9 million)
1909 Honus Wagner baseball card ($1.65 million)
Diamond Lake Resort, western Kentucky ($1.2 million)
Shoeless Joe Jackson’s “Black Betsy” baseball bat ($577,610)
Round of golf with Tiger Woods ($425,000)
