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eBay
eBay Inc.
eBay corporate logo
Type Public (NASDAQ: EBAY)
Founded Flag of United States San Jose, California, USA (September 3, 1995)
Headquarters San Jose, California, USA
Key people Meg Whitman, CEO & President
Pierre Omidyar, Founder and Chairman
John Donahoe, Chief of eBay Marketplace
Industry Auctions
Products Online auction hosting, Electronic commerce, Shopping mall
PayPal, Skype, Gumtree
Revenue $5.969 billion USD (2006)
Employees 11,600 (Q1 2006)
Website www.ebay.com
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is an American Internet company that manages
eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website where people and businesses
buy and sell goods and services worldwide. In addition to its original U.S.
website, eBay has established localized websites in several other
countries.[1] eBay Inc also owns PayPal, Skype, and other businesses.
Origins and early history
The online auction web site was founded in San Jose, California on September
3, 1995 by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb,[2] part of a
larger personal site that included, among other things, Omidyar's own
tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Ebola virus.[3]
The very first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83.
Astonished, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder and asked if he understood
that the laser pointer was broken. In his responding email, the buyer
explained: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers."[4] The frequently
repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancée trade PEZ
Candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to
interest the media. This was revealed in Adam Cohen's 2002 book[3] and
confirmed by eBay.
Chris Agarpao was hired as eBay's first employee and Jeff Skoll was hired as
the first president of the company in 1996. In November 1996, eBay entered
into its first third-party licensing deal, with a company called Electronic
Travel Auction to use SmartMarket Technology to sell plane tickets and other
travel products. The company officially changed the name of its service from
AuctionWeb to eBay in September 1997. Originally, the site belonged to Echo
Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. Omidyar had tried to
register the domain name EchoBay.com but found it already taken by the Echo
Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so he shortened it to his second choice,
eBay.com. [5]
eBay went public in 1998, and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant
billionaires.[4] The company purchased PayPal in October 2002.
Items and services
Millions of collectibles, appliances, computers, furniture, equipment,
vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are listed, bought, and sold daily.
In 2004, eBay launched its Business & Industrial category, breaking into the
industrial surplus business. 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. Anything can be sold as long as it is
not illegal or does not violate the eBay Prohibited and Restricted Items
policy.[6] Services and intangibles can be sold too. 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 faster and cheaper. Separate
eBay sites such as eBay US and eBay UK allow the users to trade using the
local currency as an additional option to PayPal. Software developers can
create applications that integrate with eBay through the eBay API by joining
the eBay Developers Program.[7] As of June 2005, there were over 15,000
members in the eBay Developers Program, comprising a broad range of
companies creating software applications to support eBay buyers and sellers
as well as eBay Affiliates.
Controversy has arisen over certain items put up for bid. For instance, 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 or to garner free
publicity. 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 rivals include Amazon.com Marketplace, Yahoo! Auctions and Overstock
Auctions.
eBay Express
In April of 2006, eBay opened its new eBay Express site, which is designed
to work like a standard Internet shopping site to consumers with United
States addresses (eBay Express). Selected eBay items are mirrored on eBay
Express where buyers shop using a shopping cart to purchase from multiple
sellers. The UK version was launched to eBay members in mid October 2006
(eBay Express UK), and differs from the US version by only offering brand
new items from pre-vetted business sellers. The German version was also
opened in 2006 (eBay Express Germany).
eBay Blogs and the eBay Community Wiki
In June of 2006, eBay added an eBay Community Wiki and eBay Blogs to its
Community Content which also includes the Discussion Boards, Groups, Answer
Center, Chat Rooms and Reviews & Guides.
Turbo Lister
Turbo Lister 2 is a software tool designed by eBay to streamline the process
of creating large numbers of listings. It is provided as a free download for
eBay users.[8]
Auction types
eBay offers several types of auctions.
* Auction-style listings allow the seller to offer one or more items for
sale for a specified number of days. The seller can establish a reserve
price.
* Fixed Price format allows the seller to offer one or more items for sale
at a Buy It Now price. Buyers who agree to pay that price win the auction
immediately without submitting a bid.
* Dutch Auctions allow the seller to offer two or more identical items in
the same auction. Bidders can bid for any number from one item up to the
total number offered.
Bidding
For Auction-style listings, the first bid must be at least the amount of the
minimum bid set by the seller. Regardless of the amount the first bidder
actually bids, until a second bid is made, eBay will then display the
auction's minimum bid as the current high bid. After the first bid is made,
each subsequent bid must be equal to at least the current highest bid
displayed plus one bidding increment. The bidding increment is established
by eBay based on the size of the current highest displayed bid. For example,
when the current highest bid is less than or equal to $0.99, the bidding
increment is $0.05; when the current highest bid is at least $1.00 but less
than or equal to $4.99, the bidding increment is $0.25. Regardless of the
amount each subsequent bidder bids, eBay will display the lesser of the
bidder's actual bid and the amount equal to the previous highest bidder's
actual bid plus one bidding increment. For example, suppose the current
second-highest bid is $2.05 and the highest bid is $2.40. eBay will display
the highest bid as $2.30, which equals the second-highest bid ($2.05) plus
the bidding increment ($0.25). In this case, eBay will require the next bid
to be at least $2.55, which equals the highest displayed bid ($2.30) plus
one bidding increment ($0.25). The next bid will display as the actual
amount bid or $2.65, whichever is less. The figure of $2.65 in this case
comes from the then-second-highest actual bid of $2.40 plus the bidding
increment of $0.25. The winning bidder pays the bid that eBay displays, not
the amount actually bid. Following this example, if the next bidder is the
final bidder, and bids $2.55, the winner pays $2.55, even though it is less
than the second-highest bid ($2.40) plus one bidding increment ($0.25).
However, if the next bidder is the final bidder and bids an arbitrarily
large amount, for example $10.00 or even more, the winner pays $2.65, which
equals the second-highest bid plus one bidding increment.
For Dutch Auctions, which are auctions of two or more identical items sold
in one auction, each bidder enters both a bid and the number of items
desired. Until the total number of items desired by all bidders equals the
total number of items offered, bidders can bid any amount greater than or
equal to the minimum bid. Once the total numbers of items desired by all
bidders is greater than or equal to the total number offered, each bidder is
required to bid one full bidding increment above the currently-displayed
winning bid. All winning bidders pay the same lowest winning bid.
eBay has established detailed rules about bidding, retraction of bids, shill
bidding (collusion to drive up the price), and other aspects of bidding.
Profit and transactions
eBay generates revenue from a number of fees. The eBay fee system is quite
complex; there are fees to list a product and fees when the product sells,
plus several optional fees, all based on various factors and scales. The
U.S.-based ebay.com takes $0.20 to $80 per listing and 5.25% or less of the
final price (as of 2007). The UK based ebay.co.uk (ebay.co.uk offices) takes
from GBP £0.15 to a maximum rate of GBP £3 per 100 for an ordinary listing
and from 0.75% to 5.25% of the final price. In addition, eBay now owns the
PayPal payment system which has fees of its own.
Under current U.S. law, a state cannot require sellers located outside the
state to collect a sales tax, making deals more attractive to buyers.
Although state laws require purchasers to pay sales tax to their own states
on out-of-state purchases, most people ignore this requirement.
The company's current business strategy includes increasing revenue by
increasing international trade within the eBay system. eBay has already
expanded to almost two dozen countries including China and India. The only
places where expansion failed were Taiwan and Japan, where Yahoo! had a head
start.
Acquisitions and investments
* In July 1998, eBay acquired Cincinnati, Ohio based online auction site
Up4Sale.com.
* In May 1999, eBay acquired the online payment service Billpoint, which
they closed following the 2002 acquisition of competitor PayPal.
* In 1999 eBay acquired the auction house Butterfield & Butterfield, which
it sold in 2002 to Bonhams.
* In 1999 eBay acquired the auction house Alando for $43 million, which
changed then to eBay Germany.
* In June 2000 eBay acquired Half.com for $318 million, which was later
integrated with the eBay Marketplace.
* In December 2000 eBay acquired the Precision Buying Service portion of
Deja.com.[9]
* In August, 2001, eBay acquired Mercado Libre and Lokau, Latin American
auction sites. eBay also acquired iBazar, a French auction site.
* In July, 2002 eBay acquired PayPal, for $1.5 billion in stock.
* On January 31, 2003, eBay acquired CARad.com, an auction management
service for car dealers.
* On July 11, 2003 eBay Inc. acquired EachNet, a leading ecommerce company
in China, paying approximately $150 million in cash.
* On 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. Baazee.com subsequently became eBay India.
* On August 13, 2004, eBay took a 25% stake in Craigslist by buying out an
existing shareholder who was once a Craigslist employee.
* 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.
* In November 2004, eBay acquired Marktplaats.nl for €225 million. This was
a Dutch competitor which had an 80% market share in the Netherlands, by
concentrating more on small ads than actual auctions. Marktplaats is the
Dutch word for Marketplace.
* On December 16, 2004, eBay acquired Rent.com for $415 million in cash
(original deal was for $385 million of the amount in eBay stock plus $30
million in cash).
* In May 2005, eBay acquired Gumtree, a network of UK local city classifieds
sites.
* On May 18, 2005, eBay acquired the Spanish classifieds site Loquo.
* In June 2005, eBay acquired Shopping.com, an online comparison site for
$635 million.
* At the end of June 2005, eBay acquired the German language classifieds
site Opus Forum.
* In September 2005, eBay bought Skype, a VoIP company, for $2.6 billion in
stock and cash.
* In April 2006, eBay invested $2 million in the Meetup social networking
site.[10]
* In April 2006, eBay acquired Tradera.com, Sweden's leading online
auction-style marketplace for $48 Million.
* In August 2006, eBay announced international cooperation with Google.
Financial details have not been disclosed by either party.[11]
* In February 2007, eBay acquired online ticket marketplace Stubhub for $307
million.
* In May 2007, eBay acquired a minority stake in GittiGidiyor.
* In May 2007, eBay acquired the website StumbleUpon for approximately $75
million. eBay Investor Message
Accounting ratios
eBay Incorporated Accounting Ratios[12] Fiscal Year 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001
Fiscal Year End Date 12/31/05 12/31/04 12/31/03 12/31/02 12/31/01
Receivables Turnover 7.9 9.0 7.1 7.0 7.4
Receivables - Number of Days 37.3 36.9 39.8 40.6 40.6
Gross Property, Plant & Equipment Turnover 3.1 2.9 2.5 3.2 2.8
Net Property, Plant & Equipment Turnover 5.7 4.6 3.6 5.6 5.3
Depreciation, Depletion & Amortization - % of Gross Property, Plant &
Equipment 26.0% 22.3% 18.2% 20.2% 32.8%
Depreciation, Depletion & Amortization - Year to Year Change (Millions $US)
12.4 9.5 8.2 -1.0 4.9
Depreciation, Depletion & Amortization - Year to Year % Change 49.1% 59.6%
107.6% -11.6% 127.7%
Controversy and criticisms
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 their data shows that less
than .01% of all transactions result in a confirmed case of fraud. However,
eBay states that their stated fraud statistic both undercounts and
overcounts fraud.[13]
Fraud
One mechanism eBay uses to combat fraud is its feedback system. After every
transaction both the buyer and seller have the option of rating each other.
They can give a "positive", "negative", or "neutral" rating and leave a
comment no longer than 80 characters. So if a buyer has problems, he or she
can rate the seller "negative" and leave a comment such as "never received
product".
Weaknesses of the feedback system include:[14][15]
* Small and large transactions carry the same weight in the feedback
summary. It is therefore easy for a dishonest user to initially build up a
deceptive positive rating by buying or selling a number of very low value
items, such as e-books, recipes, etc., then subsequently switching to fraud.
* A user may be reluctant to leave honest feedback out of fear of negative
retaliatory feedback (including "negative" in retaliation for "neutral").
* Users and generators of feedback may have different ideas about what it
means. Ebay offers virtually no guidelines.
* Feedback and responses to feedback are allotted only 80 characters each.
This can prevent users from being able to fully list valid complaints.
* Accounts with good feedback can be hijacked by phishing giving a con
artist the appearance of an excellent trading history. This problem is
particularly prevalent in certain areas, such as digital cameras.
* Although Ebay protects sellers from getting a negative feedback from a
deadbeat buyer (once the non-paying bidder case is decided in the seller's
favor), they do not offer the same protection for a buyer who gets a
deadbeat seller.
eBay acknowledges weaknesses in its feedback system on its own policy pages,
noting several of the above points.[16]
When a user feels that a seller or buyer has been dishonest, a dispute can
be filed with eBay. An eBay account (whether seller, buyer or both) may be
suspended if there are too many complaints against the account holder.
Many complaints have been made about eBay's system of dealing with fraud,
leading to its being featured on the British consumer rights television
program Watchdog. It is also regularly featured in The Daily Mirror's
Consumer Awareness page. The complaints are generally that eBay sometimes
fails to respond when a claim is made, and since eBay makes its money on
commissions from listings and sales may not be in eBay's interest to take
action against large sellers.
Frauds that can be committed by sellers include:
* Receiving payment and not shipping merchandise
* Shipping items other than those described
* Giving a deliberately misleading description
* Shipping faulty merchandise
* Counterfeit or bootleg merchandise
* Selling stolen goods
* Inflating total bid amounts by bidding on their own auction with "shill"
account(s), either the seller under an alternate account or another person
in collusion with the seller. Shill bidding is prohibited by eBay and, in at
least one high-profile case involving Kenneth Walton (and his accomplices
Ken Fetterman and Scott Beach) has been prosecuted by the federal government
as criminal fraud.
Frauds committed by buyers include:
* PayPal fraud: Filing false shipping damage claim with the shipping company
and with PayPal.
* Credit card fraud, in the form of both stolen credit cards and fraudulent
chargebacks.
* Receiving merchandise and claiming otherwise
* Returning items other than received
* The buyer sends a forged payment-service E-mail which states that the
buyer has made a payment to the seller's account. An unsuspecting seller may
ship the item before realizing the E-mail was forged.
Other controversial practices of users
* Sellers of inexpensive items may benefit from inflating the shipping cost
while lowering the starting price for their auctions,[17] because some
buyers overlook the shipping cost when calculating the amount they are
willing to spend. Since eBay charges their fees based on final sales price
without including shipping, this allows sellers to reduce the amount they
pay eBay in fees (and also allows buyers to reduce or avoid import fees and
sales taxes). This is called "fee avoidance", and is prohibited by eBay
policy,[18] as are excessive shipping and handling charges.[19] A danger to
the buyer in such cases is that in the event of defective merchandise, the
seller may claim to have met his refund obligations by returning only the
minimal purchase price and not the shipping costs.
* Sellers sometimes charge fees for use of PayPal as well. Although this is
officially banned by eBay and PayPal and is against some local laws as well
as violating merchant agreements with Visa, Mastercard and Discover, eBay
does not police for this and will only look at it if the auction is
reported. Therefore inexperienced users often wind up paying these illegal
and unenforceable fees.
* Auction sniping is the process of watching a timed online auction, and
placing a winning bid at the last possible moment (often literally seconds
before the end of the auction), giving the other bidders no time to outbid
the sniper. Some bidders do this manually, and others use online services
and software designed for the purpose. While disliked by many eBay users,
sniping is not against eBay rules as users are expected to put in their
maximum bid from the start and the system will automatically bid up on their
behalf.
* Burying shipping charges or undesirable terms in a large amount of text.
Intellectual property in auctions
Holders of intellectual property rights, have claimed that eBay profits from
the infringement of intellectual property rights. eBay has responded by
creating the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) program, which provides to
rightsholders expedited auction takedowns and private information on eBay
users, but has likewise been criticized.
* In June 2004 the jeweler Tiffany & Co. sued eBay claiming that eBay
profits from the sale of counterfeit Tiffany products.[20] As of July 2006,
a trial date has not been set.[21]
* In September 2005, eBay's privacy practices relating to its VeRO program
came under scrutiny when WNDU-TV reported that the Embroidery Software
Protection Coalition was accusing United States buyers, identified by eBay,
of copyright infringement, and demanding monetary settlements. eBay's
privacy policy warns that eBay may disclose personal information on the
request of any VeRO rightsholder investigating illegal activity;[22] in
comparison, competing service Yahoo! Auctions may disclose personal
information in response to a subpoena or court order.[23] Although,
according to a University of Notre Dame law professor, there is no legal
basis, in the United States, for copyright infringement claims against
buyers,[24] eBay's VeRO program may have allowed the ESPC to obtain private
information without judicial oversight.
* Some manufacturers have abused eBay's VeRo program, through which
copyright and trademark owners can quickly protect their rights, by seeking
to prevent all sales of their products on eBay.
* In November 2006, a U.K. High Court ruled that a VeRO rightsholder's
takedown request to eBay constituted a legal threat under design patent law.
Since groundless legal threats under design patent law are unlawful, the
ruling holds that groundless VeRO takedown requests based on design patents
are also unlawful. Further, the text of the ruling appears critical of the
VeRO program in general: "It is entirely wrong for owners of intellectual
property rights to attempt to assert them without litigation, or without the
threat of litigation, in reply."[25]
Customer support
A source of frustration for some eBay users is that due to the company's
size, it offers no customer support by phone, instead referring all ordinary
members to its online help features. Apart from a library of self-help
resources, these features consist mainly of e-mail contact forms and "Live
Help," which lets users chat with customer service representatives via
instant messaging. In fact, most visitors to the eBay site will not find any
company phone number listed at all.
eBay does, in fact, have a phone support department, but that service is
limited to members of the rank "Silver PowerSeller" and above, the company's
term for members who sell at least $3,000 worth of goods per month on the
site. The phone number for that service is not published, although there
have been reports on eBay's own forums and weblogs that customers who manage
to obtain the number through legal documents are rudely replied and told to
use the online service instead.[26][27][28]
Other eBay controversies
Other notable controversies involving eBay include:
* In May 2000, eBay seller Kenneth Walton auctioned an oil painting on eBay
for $135,805, due to speculation that it might be the work of California
modernist Richard Diebenkorn. Walton pretended to know nothing about art and
claimed to be surprised by the price the painting fetched, and the auction
attracted international media attention. In several investigative reports by
The New York Times, it was revealed that Walton was in fact an experienced
eBay art dealer with several unhappy customers, and that he had colluded
with two other eBay sellers to bid up each other's auctions. The Times
described this as a "shill bidding ring".[29] Walton and his cohorts were
banned from eBay and eventually convicted of fraud by the federal government
in the first ever prosecution for shill bidding on eBay.
* On 28 May 2003, a U.S. District Court jury found eBay guilty of willful
patent infringement and ordered the company to pay US$35 million in damages.
The plaintiff was MercExchange, which had accused eBay in 2000 of infringing
on three patents (one of which is used in eBay's "Buy It Now" feature for
fixed-price sales, 30 percent of eBay's business and growing). The decision
was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC).
The CAFC affirmed the judgment of willful infringement, and reversed the
lower court and granted a permanent injunction. eBay appealed the permanent
injunction to the U.S. Supreme Court, which on May 15, 2006 found an
injunction is not required nor automatic in this or any patent case where
guilt has been established. The case was sent back to the Virginia district
court for consideration of the injunction and a trial on another
MercExchange patent the inventor claims covers the remaining 70 percent of
eBay's business model. (see eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. [30]). This
case has been particularly controversial since the patents involved are
considered to be business method patents. (See also Software patent debate)
* 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 U.S. federal and
state online gambling laws.[31] eBay's announcement of its acquisition of
PayPal in early July said that PayPal would begin the process of exiting
this market, and was already doing so when the ruling occurred.[32] These
offenses occurred prior to eBay's purchase of PayPal.
* On 17 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 (because it is a venue, not a retailer) and removed
the offensive material as soon as they became aware of it. The Indian
government attempted to make the case that Bajaj had violated India's IT
Act, which forbids "publishing, transmitting or causing to publish" obscene
material, even though the actual material was never published on Baazee's
servers.[33] eBay supported Baazee's defense.[34]
* On 14 June 2005, eBay removed auction listings for originally free tickets
to the Live 8 charity auction amid hundreds of complaints about such
auctions.[35] Normally, selling of charity tickets is legal under United
Kingdom law.
* In 2005, the Australian National Rugby League tried unsuccessfully to
persuade eBay to prevent scalpers from selling Grand Final tickets
online.[36]
* On 18 December 2006 eBay won a court case against Creative Festival
Entertainment in Australia, allowing sellers to on-sell (or scalp) tickets
for the Big Day Out concert.[37] The case was won due to the big day out
organizers not being able to fully enforce an anti-scalping policy printed
on the back of the tickets. The presiding judge described the decision as
"unfortunate".[38]
* Some have criticized[weasel words] the emphasis eBay places on its
subsidiary PayPal as a method of accepting payments.[attribution needed]
eBay discourages sellers from using independent money-wiring companies such
as Western Union and MoneyGram (Moneybookers is now allowed instead),
stating that it prohibits or discourages certain forms of payment in order
to reduce fraud.[39] On the U.S. eBay, while sellers may accept such
payments, they are prohibited from advertising them as a payment option. A
similar policy applies to mailing cash as a payment option. Certain non-U.S.
branches of eBay allow sellers to advertise wire transfers or mailed cash as
payment options, provided such methods are not the only payment options the
seller accepts.[40][41]
* In late 2006 eBay effected a policy a change which showed less information
about sellers once auctions reached a certain value. This policy has been
criticised for making shill bidding much harder to detect, to the potential
disadvantage of buyers and significant advantage to unethical sellers who
may artificially inflate the price of an auction. An investigation by The
Sunday Times in January 2007 uncovered substantial evidence of shill bidding
on eBay.[42]
Prohibited or Restricted Items
eBay in its earliest days was essentially unregulated, but as eBay grew, it
found it necessary to restrict or forbid auctions for various items. Note
that some of the restrictions relate to eBay.com (the US site), while other
restrictions apply to specific European sites (such as Nazi paraphernalia).
Regional laws and regulations may apply to the seller or the buyer. Among
the hundred or so banned or restricted categories:
* Tobacco (tobacco-related items and collectibles are not allowed)[43]
* Alcohol (alcohol-related collectibles, including sealed containers, as
well as wine sales by licensed sellers are not allowed)[44]
* Drugs and drug paraphernalia[45]
* Nazi paraphernalia[46]
* Bootleg recordings[47]
* Firearms and ammunition[48]
* Used underwear and dirty used clothing[49]
* Teacher's editions of textbooks including homeschool teacher's
editions.[50][51]
* Human parts and remains[52]
* Live animals (with certain exceptions)[53]
* Certain copyrighted works or trademarked items.[54]
* Lottery tickets, sweepstakes tickets, or any other gambling items.
* Military hardware such as working weapons or explosives.
* Virtual items from massively multiplayer online games.[55][56]
* Many other items are either wholly prohibited or restricted in some
manner.[57] One major example includes several eBay members auctioning
debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia following its February 1, 2003
breakup over Texas and Louisiana on re-entry from space. These auctions were
removed immediately by eBay.
Unusual sale items
* In June 2005, the wife of Tim Shaw, a British radio DJ on Kerrang! 105.2,
sold Tim's Lotus Esprit sports car with a Buy It Now price of 50 pence after
she heard him flirting with model Jodie Marsh on air. The car was sold
within 5 minutes, and it was requested that the buyer pick it up the same
day.[58]
* In May 2005, a Volkswagen Golf that had previously been registered to
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (who had been elected Pope Benedict XVI) was sold
on eBay's German site for €188,938.88. The winning bid was made by the
GoldenPalace.com online casino, known for their outrageous eBay
purchases.[59]
* In September 2004, the owner of MagicGoat.com sold the contents of his
trash can to a middle school language arts teacher, who intended to have her
students write essays about the trash before it was cleared away by a
well-meaning janitor.[60]
* Water that was said to have been left in a cup Elvis Presley once drank
from was sold for $455. The few tablespoons came from a plastic cup Presley
sipped at a concert in North Carolina in 1977.[61]
* A Coventry University student got £1.20 for a single cornflake.[62]
* A man from Brisbane, Australia attempted to sell New Zealand at a starting
price of $.01AUD. The price had risen to $3,000 before eBay closed the
auction.[63]
* One of the tunnel boring machines involved in the construction of the
Channel Tunnel was auctioned on eBay in 2004.[64]
* A man from Arizona sold an air guitar on eBay for $5.50[65].
* A group of four men from Australia auctioned themselves to spend the
weekend with the promise of "beers, snags, good conversation and a hell of a
lot of laughs" for AU$1,300[66]
* Disney sold a retired Monorail Red (Mark IV Monorail) for $20,000[67]
* The German Language Association sold the German language to call attention
for the growing influence of Pidgin-English in modern German.[68]
* In late November 2005, the original Hollywood sign was sold on eBay for
$450,400.[69][70]
* In February 2007, after Britney Spears shaved all of her hair off in a Los
Angeles salon, it was listed on eBay for $1million USD before it was taken
down after some considerable controversy.[71]
Charity auctions
Using MissionFish as an arbiter, eBay allows sellers to donate a portion of
their auction proceeds to a charity of the seller's choice. Some high
profile charity auctions have been advertised on the eBay home page, and
have raised large amounts of money in a short time. For example, a furniture
manufacturer raised over $35,000 for Ronald McDonald House by auctioning off
beds that had been signed by celebrities.
References
1. ^ countries with localized eBay websites include Australia, Austria,
Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy,
Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom
2. ^ misc.forsale.non-computer post about Auctionweb
3. ^ a b Cohen, Adam. The Perfect Store. ISBN 0-316-16493-3.
4. ^ a b How did eBay start?, About.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-26.
5. ^ http://www.happynews.com/living/online/history-ebay.htm
6. ^ Prohibited and Restricted Items - Overview. eBay. Retrieved on
2006-06-28.
7. ^ eBay Developers Program. eBay. Retrieved on 2006-06-28.
8. ^ eBay's Turbo Lister page
9. ^ eBay Acquires Deja.com's Technology. www.internetnews.com. Retrieved on
2007-01-05.
10. ^ Ebay ventures into social networking. blogspot.com. Retrieved on
2006-06-17.
11. ^ Search Ads: Spreading the Word. iht.com. Retrieved on 2006-06-26.
12. ^ Source: CorporateInformation eBay Incorporated Company Snapshot
13. ^ Chat with Rob Chesnut, Vice President of eBay's Trust & Safety
Department
14. ^ eBay Feedback: Fatally Flawed?.
15. ^ San Francisco Bay Guardian - Bias on eBay.
16. ^ eBay.com Feeback Policies - Overview.
17. ^ ...Plus Shipping and Handling: Revenue (Non) Equivalence in Field
Experiments on eBay. Berkeley Electronic Press. Retrieved on 2006-06-26.
18. ^ Circumventing Fees. eBay. Retrieved on 2006-06-11.
19. ^ Excessive Shipping & Handling. eBay. Retrieved on 2006-06-11.
20. ^ "Tiffany sues eBay, says fake items sold on Web site", USA Today,
March 22, 2004.
21. ^ "Sure you bagged a bargain?", Courier Mail, News Limited, May 24,
2006.
22. ^ eBay Privacy Policy. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
23. ^ Yahoo! Privacy Center. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
24. ^ "Contact 16: Embroidery software buyer under investigation", WNDU-TV,
2005-09-07.
25. ^ "Design right threat fails to stop eBay sales", 2006-11-14.
26. ^ eBay's Superb Customer Service (2006-09-19). Retrieved on 2007-06-30.
27. ^ Hafner, Katie (2004-12-30). Customer Service: The Hunt for a Human.
The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-06-30.
28. ^ Hafner, Katie (2005-01-04). Hunting a rare breed: Human online
support. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-06-30.
29. ^ New York Times Article
30. ^ EBAY INC. ET AL. v. MERCEXCHANGE, L. L. C. (PDF). US Supreme Court.
Retrieved on 2006-06-17.
31. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-07-25-paypal-gambling_x.htm
32. ^ http://news.com.com/2100-1017-941964.html
33. ^ Rai, Saritha. EBay Fights India Arrest Over Sale of Sex Video.
34. ^ http://investor.ebay.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=150878&FYear=
35. ^ "eBay blocks further Live 8 sales", BBC News, June 23, 2005.
36. ^ "yours-for-1000", SMH. Retrieved on 2006-09-29.
37. ^ Federal Court decision on Big Day Out tickets. eBay. Retrieved on
2007-02-05.
38. ^ EBay wins Big Day Out battle. ABC Local Radio. Retrieved on
2007-02-05.
39. ^ Accepted Payments Policy. eBay. Retrieved on 2006-10-20.
40. ^ Ebay Singapore payment methods allowed. eBay. Retrieved on 2006-10-23.
41. ^ Ebay UK payment methods allowed. eBay. Retrieved on 2006-10-23.
42. ^ http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/01/ebay_shilling.html
43. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/tobacco.html
44. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/alcohol.html
45. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/drugs-drug-paraphernalia.html
46. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/offensive.html
47. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/bootlegs.html
48. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/firearms-weapons-knives.html
49. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/used-clothing.html
50. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/teachersedition.html
51. ^ http://worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51702
52. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/remains.html
53. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/wildlife.html
54. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/programs-vero-ov.html
55. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/downloadable.html
56. ^ http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070130-8731.html
57. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/ia/prohibited_and_restricted_items.html
58. ^ "£25,000 revenge of DJ's wife", This Is London, June 21, 2005.
59. ^ Golf IV von Josef Kardinal Ratzinger. Golden Palace. Retrieved on
2006-06-28.
60. ^ eBay's Greatest Sale. Magic Goat. Retrieved on 2006-06-28.
61. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4134407.stm
62. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk./1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/4137877.stm
63. ^ http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411365/712869
64. ^ "Eurotunnel drill bids reach £5m", BBC, April 5, 2004.
65. ^ Air Guitar sells for $5.50.
66. ^ Hearn, Louisa (2006-01-17). Blokes pull in the bids on eBay.
67. ^ http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/CPMarkIV.html
68. ^ 10 Millionen Euro für die deutsche Sprache (German).
69. ^ Hollywood Sign Sold For $450K.
70. ^ Buy a piece of HOLLYWOOD.
71. ^ Britney Spears' Shaved Hair on Sale on Ebay!.
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