A Four Year Veteran On
The Online Auction Wonder
eBay
Today is my fourth anniversary
at eBay.
Using Alexa’s WayBack Machine, I was able to see what
first attracted me to the site in December 1998. The front
page boasted of 1.3 million items for sale in over one thousand
categories. Like McDonald’s once did, eBay also counted the
number of people served, in this case, offering 41 million
items and 151 million bids since launch. Even Beanie Babies,
the site’s unofficial driver during that craze, were listed
on the front page.
Much has changed since that time. The company, now widely acknowledged
as one of the web’s success stories, claims that over 24 million unique
visitors have been active site in the past twelve months. Those visitors
average more than $500 annually in activity. This huge cash stream, along
with eBay’s operating margins of more than 35% and public equity funding,
have allowed the firm to diversify into multiple countries, specialty
stores and acquisitions to fuel even more growth. The most widely known
is, of course, eBay’s purchase of PayPal for nearly $1.5 billion in stock.
With typical eBay efficiency, the transaction was completed with only
$17 million in acquisition costs.
But PayPal is only a piece of the eBay growth story. The company has
become a true national brand with an equity-founded foundation that disburses
millions of dollars to charity, partnerships with many Fortune 500 companies
and public relations that dazzle even the most jaded of marketers.
What You Can Do There
Called America’s Attic or America’s Flea Market, eBay did not, as a publicist
introduced into urban legend, start as a site to trade Pez dispensers. But
you could and still can find Pez dispensers at eBay. You can also find fine
art, automobiles and everything in between. There are literally millions
of items for sale at any given time in timed, blind auctions.
eBay makes use of a member feedback loop that allows
the community to rate sellers with positive, neutral or negative feedback.
This feedback is limited to 80 characters, enough to convey an experience,
but not enough to allow net-style flame wars to erupt. Anyone receiving
feedback may also provide a simple answer or comment to that feedback.
This is part of the magic that allows eBay to work so well. A bad seller
may burn several people by not shipping product or shipping something
different than was listed. But very soon, the community’s feedback greatly
reduces that seller’s chance of selling additional merchandise.
As the site has grown, so too have the various protections afforded
buyers. eBay now works with partners to hold money in escrow for large
purchases and has an extremely proactive and responsive fraud response
team. Online auctions typically account for a substantial number of regulatory
complaints, and eBay continues to tighten its controls on the site to
reduce the risk of fraud.
Sellers, from companies liquidating their assets to individuals cleaning
out their closets, will often find that eBay proves the adage, “One’s
man’s junk is another man’s treasure”. My own experience has borne this
out on more than one occasion.
I first became aware of the power of a national flea market when I stumbled
across a VCR remote in a drawer. The VCR was long gone and the remote,
which didn’t even have batteries, was about to join it at the dump. But
something that day made me pause, and among several other items I listed,
I added the remote. I was pleasantly surprised a week later to find that
someone was willing to pay $5 plus shipping costs for the remote. The
purchaser’s letter was even more fun. “Thank you so much,” he wrote. “We’ve
been unable to program our VCR since losing the remote and we didn’t want
to pay factory prices for another.”
Buying on eBay
Despite the company’s work on fraud protection, it is still possible to
purchase from a rogue seller. Before bidding, make sure to read the seller’s
feedback. A negative comment (or a relatively small number for large sellers)
does not mean that the seller is a bad egg, but you should exercise caution.
Some negative feedback is well deserved while other comments may be the
result of an ordinary dispute or even buyer’s remorse.
The art of buying and selling on eBay (and it is an art) has been well
documented in books and hundreds of magazine articles. There is no right
or wrong way, although I prefer to place my maximum bid once I decide
to purchase an item. If someone outbids me, I move along, content that
I have made my best offer. My wife, on the other hand, will put the item
on a “watch list” and wait until the auction is almost over before bidding.
Buyers who do this at the last possible minute are said to be “sniping”
in eBay parlance, and many take great delight in scooping a bargain before
anyone else can counter-bid. By deciding my maximum amount in advance,
however, snipers don’t bother me.
Carefully read the auction’s terms and conditions before bidding. Sellers
can and do demand payment types or shipping costs in the fine print. As
the bidder, you are responsible for honoring those terms if you win the
auction, except in some limited circumstances which are more clearly defined
at eBay.
Once you purchase an item, the seller will contact you with payment
instructions. Like a good e-commerce site, good eBay sellers will email
you throughout the transaction, letting you know that payment has arrived
or when the item has shipped. And like an e-commerce transaction, you
should carefully inspect your package when it arrives. If there is a problem,
immediately contact the seller and explain the problem. Let the seller
propose a solution. You will often find that the seller is more than accommodating.
Once you are satisfied with the sale, the eBay community considers it
proper etiquette to leave feedback for the seller.
The Bottom Line, Clicks and All
With solid fraud protections, millions of items for sale and a feedback
loop that weeds out bad sellers, buying from eBay is quickly moving from
a safe bet to a sure thing. I heartily recommend using the site for hard-to-find
items. I still regularly shop there and browse there even more often.
Five Things To Remember From This Review
1. eBay transactions are between individuals. If there’s a dispute, first
work with the seller.
2. Carefully read the seller’s feedback before buying.
3. Before bidding on any item, make sure you understand the payment terms
and conditions — including actual shipping costs.
4. Companies have joined individuals in selling on eBay — you may actually
be buying from a well-known, established firm.
5. There are only several limited circumstances in which you can retract
an eBay bid, especially after winning. Be careful — you may get what you
bid for.
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