EBay

EBay is an online auction site that sells a wide variety of goods. A majority of the sales take place through a set-time auction format, but subsequent methods include a substantial segment of listings in the "Buy It Now" category. The site fulfils its purpose well. The navigation around the site is easy to use and searching for a product is also easy. There are localized websites in 30 different countries in addition to the original US one.

EBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in San Jose, California in 1995. The very first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. In early 2008, the company had expanded worldwide, counted hundreds of millions of registered users, 15,000+ employees and revenues of almost $7.7 billion.

EBay has several different types of auction. Firstly there are the Auction-style listings. This allows the seller to auction one or more items for a couple of days. Also like in a real auction the seller can also establish a reserve price. There is also a Fixed Price Format where the buyer can agree to pay a fixed price an win the auction immediately. The seller has to put their items up at a Buy It Now price. There is also a Fixed Price Format with Best Offer option which allows the seller to choose the bets offer for their item. The buyer submits an offer an the seller can either reject or accept that offer. This option is not available in every category and sellers must meet specific requirements in order to have the option to sell their item with best offer.

There are many advantages of using EBay to sell products. Products as small as a key ring or as large as a car, there are no size restriction on the products people put up for auction. EBay also has a search function which you can use to easily find and locate a product you are looking for. There is also the opportunity to upload photos of the product on auction, this has many advantages for example people may be more inclined to bid for an item if they see what it looks like and it also means people can see exactly what they are bidding for. EBay can also make sure payments are secure and buyers and sellers can write reviews on each other, this would come in useful when a person is deciding to buy or sell to someone. Setting up and auction is very easy to as EBay provides a step by step guide.

Along with the advantages there are also many disadvantages to using EBay.
Although EBay try and keep accounts secure there are still risks. Another draw back of using EBay are that there are costs to post pictures and also buy and sell products, this could add up to be quite costly. There is also a chance that once you place a bid and win the auction that the seller never actually sends the product you bid on. Also some people take ages to pay for there product that they have bought for or never actually pay.