Due to rapid growth of e-commerce, people nowadays can easily purchase goods and services at home. With increasing popularity of online shopping, there are more and more auction websites existing on the Internet. Among these, eBay is the largest and one of the most famous online marketplace for selling goods and services for individuals. In this survey, I will discuss the business model of eBay, followed by its security measures. Finally, my opinion on eBay will be made.
Business Model
eBay creates an online person-to-person marketplace where sellers list a variety of goods and services for sale and buyers can bid on their interested items. Instead of direct the transactions, these two online auction websites provide buyers and sellers with a platform to communicate during the transaction.
However, both eBay does not provide this platform free. Although buyers can browse and bid on auctions without being charged, sellers are required to pay for the transaction fees, including insertion fee and final value fee. Insertion fee is the fee that is charged when sellers list their item on eBay for sales. For final value fee, it is charged when the auction ends. Insertion fee and final value fee are charged based on the opening bid and final selling price of the sold item respectively.
Once the auction ends, eBay will notify both the seller and buyer through email. After that, the payment exchange is left to the seller and buyer.
Security Measures
In order to provide confidence to users in a safe and secure ways through the transactions, eBay established a number of security measures to protect users. Firstly, registration is required for users before buying or selling items on eBay. Apart from this, user’s information such as the URL, browser software and IP address can be tracked by eBay. This can avoid users from creating more than one account in the same computer.
To avoid improper activities such as fraud and intellectual property infringement on the website, eBay runs the Verified Right Owner Program which assists in the investigations of these activities. If users are found violating the rules repeatedly, eBay has the right to disclose the users’ account to law enforcement. This makes the users have more confidence when using eBay.
Besides, eBay also protects the buyers’ right by providing refund. When the buyer cannot receive the bided item and cannot solve the problem with the seller, he or she can go to the Resolution Center and eBay will carry investigation the case. If the problem is due to the seller, eBay will return full refund including the selling price and the shipping cost to the buyer.
After reviewing the business model and security measures established by eBay, it is not difficult to understand why eBay is one of the largest and most successful online auction websites in the world. However, whether security measures are useful and convenient for users is still questionable. Take Verified Rights Owner Program as an example, this program assist in the investigation of any intellectual property infringement on the website. However, it cannot identify whether the item sold is a licensed or unlicensed product. If you sell second hand Nike shoes on eBay, eBay may suspend your account because you are not authorized to list Nike products by Nike and eBay will consider you are selling unlicensed product on the website. What you need to do next is to send email to eBay telling it you are actually selling the licensed items. And eBay will investigate the case that usually takes several weeks. During this period, the user’s account is still suspended. This causes inconvenience to sellers and in case if they want to create another account in the same computer, eBay can track IP address of users’ computers and prohibit users from creating a new account in the same computer.
Business Model
eBay creates an online person-to-person marketplace where sellers list a variety of goods and services for sale and buyers can bid on their interested items. Instead of direct the transactions, these two online auction websites provide buyers and sellers with a platform to communicate during the transaction.
However, both eBay does not provide this platform free. Although buyers can browse and bid on auctions without being charged, sellers are required to pay for the transaction fees, including insertion fee and final value fee. Insertion fee is the fee that is charged when sellers list their item on eBay for sales. For final value fee, it is charged when the auction ends. Insertion fee and final value fee are charged based on the opening bid and final selling price of the sold item respectively.
Once the auction ends, eBay will notify both the seller and buyer through email. After that, the payment exchange is left to the seller and buyer.
Security Measures
In order to provide confidence to users in a safe and secure ways through the transactions, eBay established a number of security measures to protect users. Firstly, registration is required for users before buying or selling items on eBay. Apart from this, user’s information such as the URL, browser software and IP address can be tracked by eBay. This can avoid users from creating more than one account in the same computer.
To avoid improper activities such as fraud and intellectual property infringement on the website, eBay runs the Verified Right Owner Program which assists in the investigations of these activities. If users are found violating the rules repeatedly, eBay has the right to disclose the users’ account to law enforcement. This makes the users have more confidence when using eBay.
Besides, eBay also protects the buyers’ right by providing refund. When the buyer cannot receive the bided item and cannot solve the problem with the seller, he or she can go to the Resolution Center and eBay will carry investigation the case. If the problem is due to the seller, eBay will return full refund including the selling price and the shipping cost to the buyer.
After reviewing the business model and security measures established by eBay, it is not difficult to understand why eBay is one of the largest and most successful online auction websites in the world. However, whether security measures are useful and convenient for users is still questionable. Take Verified Rights Owner Program as an example, this program assist in the investigation of any intellectual property infringement on the website. However, it cannot identify whether the item sold is a licensed or unlicensed product. If you sell second hand Nike shoes on eBay, eBay may suspend your account because you are not authorized to list Nike products by Nike and eBay will consider you are selling unlicensed product on the website. What you need to do next is to send email to eBay telling it you are actually selling the licensed items. And eBay will investigate the case that usually takes several weeks. During this period, the user’s account is still suspended. This causes inconvenience to sellers and in case if they want to create another account in the same computer, eBay can track IP address of users’ computers and prohibit users from creating a new account in the same computer.
Undoubtedly, eBay system provides a good platform for people to online shopping or trading; however, there are many constraints which lower the efficiency of trading from sellers or buyers.
I stumbled upon this topic via Google. Very interesting view on subject. Thanks for sharing.
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