
eBay Inc. is a very successful internet auction website, at which people from all around the world buy and sell goods and services. == History == 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 Chief executive officer since March 1998. eBay boosters have claimed that in terms of revenue growth, eBay is among the fastest-growing companies of all time. == Items and services == Millions of collectible, Home appliance, 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 [http://developer.ebay.com eBay Developers Program]. In June 2004, eBay prohibited the sale and auction of both alcohol and tobacco products on the English language site ebay.com. 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 organ transplant. 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.com. == Profit and transactions == eBay generates revenue from sellers, who pay a [http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html fee] based on the selling price of each item, a fee based on the starting price, and from advertising. In February 2005 it was announced that eBay would increase fees it charges to [http://stores.ebay.com eBay Stores] sellers, which caused considerable enough controversy among eBay users that the President of eBay's North America business recently emailed all eBay users with news that other fees would be decreased. eBay does not handle the goods, nor does it transact the buyer-seller payments, except through its subsidiary PayPal. Instead, much like newspaper want-ads, sellers rely on the buyers' good faith to make payment, and buyers rely on the sellers' good faith to actually deliver the goods intact. To encourage fidelity, eBay maintains, rates, and publicly displays the post-transaction feedback from all users, whether they buy or sell. This way, the buyer is encouraged to examine the sellers' feedback profile before bidding to rate their trustworthiness. Sellers with high ratings generally have more bids and garner higher bids. However, it is possible for sellers to make their feedback private and just leave the numbered rating (number of positive, negative and neutral feedback with a positive feedback percentage), which means that bidders and sellers cannot see the comments other users have left. eBay also has a significant affiliate program, and eBay affiliates can, for example, place live eBay product images and links on their web sites. == Acquisitions == *In May, 1999, eBay acquired the online payment service Billpoint, which it shut down after acquiring Paypal. *In 1999, eBay acquired the auction house Butterfield and Butterfield, which it sold in 2002. *In June, 2000, eBay acquired Half.com. *In August, 2001, eBay acquired Mercado Libre, Lokau and iBazar, Latin Americas auction sites. *In July, 2002, eBay acquired PayPal, for $1.5 billion in stock. PayPal provides a service which allows people to send money electronically by typing credit card numbers to email addresses. At the time of the acquisition, 60% of PayPal's business came from people using eBay. *On 11 July, 2003 eBay Inc. acquired EachNet, a leading ecommerce company in China, paying approximately $150 million in cash. *In 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. *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. ==Controversy== eBay has its share of controversy, ranging from its Data privacy policy (eBay typically turns over user information to law enforcement without a subpoena) to well-publicized seller fraud. eBay claims that statistically fewer than 1 in 200 transactions fail. ===Seller Fraud=== While eBay has various measures in place to prevent seller fraud, it remains essentially an honor system: buyers send their money to sellers and trust that they will receive the promised goods. A relatively small amount of fraud occurs, but the sheer volume of business passing through eBay means many people are affected. Fraud has included: * Paying and not receiving merchandise * Paying and receiving items other than those described * PayPal fraud * Credit card fraud * Counterfeit merchandise * Sale of stolen goods ===Other Controversies=== Other notable controversies involving eBay include: *On 28 May 2003 a U.S. District Court federal jury found eBay guilty of patent infringement and ordered the company to pay US$35 million in damages. The jury found for plaintiff MercExchange, which had accused eBay in 2001 of infringing on three patents (two of which are used in eBay's "Buy It Now" feature for fixed-price sales) held by MercExchange founder Tom Woolston. As of November 2004 this decision is under appeal. *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 US federal and state online gambling laws. Paypal was also forced out of this market, which accounted for some 6% of its volume. These offenses occurred prior to eBay's purchase of PayPal. *On 17th December 2004 Avnish Bajaj, CEO of eBay's India 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 and removed the offensive material as soon as they became aware of it. The Indian government attempted to make the case that Bajaj broke a law under India's IT Act, that forbids "publishing, transmitting or causing to publish" obscene material, even though the actual material was never published on Baazee's servers. eBay is strongly supporting Baazee. *On 14th June 2005 eBay backed down and removed auctions listing the sale of free tickets for the Live 8 charity auction. Hundreds of people complained about such auctions, and following a statement from Bob Geldof, many of these auctions were bombarded with fake bids. Under normal circumstances, selling of charity tickets is not illegal under United Kingdom law. ==Trivia== ===The five most expensive items sold on eBay (as of 2002)=== # 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) # Bailey Zumalt Rose's autograph ($317,599) ===Largest item=== One of the largest items ever sold was a World War II submarine sold by a small town in New England that decided it did not need the historical relic anymore. ===Largest failed auction=== One of the largest items ever to be put up to auction and not sold was a decommissioned aircraft carrier. The auction was placed by an anonymous seller from Brazil on [http://www.motors.ebay.com EBay Motors]. ===Unusual sale items=== * In May 2005, a Volkswagen Golf that had previously been registered to Josef Kardinal Ratzinger (who became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005) was sold on eBay's German site for €188,938.88 (Approximately US $238,157.46). The winning bid was made by the GoldenPalace.com online casino, known for their outragous eBay purchases. [http://www.goldenpalaceevents.com/ebay_archives/popemobile02.html] * A 16-year-old offered to sell his virginity on the website. * Someone once tried to sell a half-eaten grilled-cheese sandwich. * In 2004, a Seattle man posted pictures of himself wearing his ex-wife's wedding dress. While he initially admitted he was selling the dress to earn some money for Mariners tickets, the bidding got into the thousands of dollars. * Countless numbers of people have sold their soul on the auction site, getting a large sum of money as payment for it (Often times people just wrote their name followed by the appropriate punctuation and the word soul, probably ispire by the Simpsons episode "Bart Sells His Soul", in which Bart sells his soul in this manner). * Someone once placed a £1 coin on the website. Someone bought it for about £5 * A common joke item is a "ghost in a bottle" which invariably includes a picture of a bottle with said ghost in it. The ghost is usually portrayed as some white steam and is sometimes photoshopped. * There was at one point an auction for the first ride on Kingda Ka, the tallest roller coaster on Earth. The winning bid was $1691.66, and the winner rode in the front seat. [http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6523923733&category=16071&sspagename=rvi:1:1v_home] ==Controversial practices of users== * Bid sniping is the practice on certain on-line auctions sites such as eBay of placing a high bid during the last few seconds of bidding, preventing other users from countering with a higher bid. Bid sniping is allowed on eBay, but many other auction sites, such as Yahoo! Auctions, automatically extend the auction by five minutes when a last-minute bid is placed to prevent this. [http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/questions/outbid.html] * Shill bidding is the practice of bidding on your own auction items with the intent to drive the price higher, despite having no desire to win the auction. Shill bidding is not allowed on eBay. [http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/shillbidding.html] Furthermore, shill bidding is a crime in most states, and can be prosecuted under Federal wire fraud laws. [http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/Fetterman_indict.htm] ==See also== * Electronic commerce * Online auction business model ==Further reading== * (Hardcover, 336 pages) * ==eBay Tools== * Turbo Lister [http://pages.ebay.com/turbo_lister] is a tool written by eBay which allows the composition and preparation of auctioned items offline. Multiple items can then be submitted onto eBay at a later time. * Auction Sniper [http://www.auctionsniper.com], eSnipe [http://www.esnipe.com], SnipeSwipe [http://www.snipeswipe.com], and Auction Stealer [http://www.auctionstealer.com/home.cfm] are online tools which allows buyers to submit last-minute (snipe) bids. * Solutions Directory [http://solutions.ebay.com] is an online catalog of eBay and third party tools software for buyers and sellers. ==External links== * [http://www.ebay.com eBay USA website] * [http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html eBay Fees (in English)] * [http://www.ebay.com.au eBay Australia website] * [http://www.ebay.be eBay Belgium website] * [http://www.ebay.ca eBay Canada website] * [http://www.ebay.com.cn eBay China website] * [http://www.ebay.de eBay German website] * [http://www.ebay.in eBay India website] * [http://www.ebay.ie eBay Ireland website] * [http://www.ebay.nl eBay Netherlands website] * [http://www.ebay.ph eBay Philippines website] * [http://www.ebay.pl eBay Poland website] * [http://www.ebay.es eBay Spain website] * [http://www.ebay.se eBay Sweden website] * [http://www.tw.ebay.com eBay Taiwan website] * [http://www.ebay.co.uk eBay UK website] * [http://www.snapsearch.com Snapsearch, an eBay and Internet search engine] Online auction websites Online retail companies of the United States Internet companies of the United States Companies traded on NASDAQ Companies based in California
==Title== ==''Caveat Emptor''== Section seems incorrectly titled. While the first bullet has to do with buyers' concerns, the other two do not. The section seems generally more concerned with public and legal controversy surrounding eBay. Any ideas for a better title or a better arrangement of the information? ==POV== Removed the following from the end of the Profit and transactions sections due to POV bias: ", although this system is far from perfect as ebay's stubborn refusal to take a proactive role against abuses of its listing policies means that at any given time there are several dozen people selling feedback on ebay." Any comments? == baazee.com CEO under fire in India == http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B9F8FBA24-0C7B-4A03-A23A-355616CCC212%7D&siteid=google&dist=google&dist= ==== Notable auctions ==== Requesting a seperate article listing notable, famous, odd, controversial, significant, or noteworthy auctions. Examples include the grilled cheese sandwich, various celebrity auctions, hoaxes and banned auctions, joke auctions, extravagant auctions or excessively bid auctions, etc. ==Recent Controversy== Why is there no mention of eBay's upcoming seller fee increase of Feb. 18, 2005? The increases are sparking protests, the signing of petition(s), and sellers' threats to move their business to competing auction sites, all of which made the news. *Why should there be? It's hardly a controversy when a company wants more money and the customers want to pay less. Every time eBay changes ''anything'', there are protests, people signing petitions, and sellers threats to move their business to competing auction sites. It's been that way from pretty much day one. When eBay started charging for reserve auctions: protests. ("It's only a dollar!") Every time eBay raises any fees: protests. Every time eBay changes the layout of a page: protests. With millions of customers, with hundreds of thousands of sellers, it only takes a miniscule proportion of the customers to seem like some sort of groundswell to business reporters who know they can get an article run if it mentions eBay. At any rate, the answer to "why no mention" is always the same here on Wikipedia: if you want it mentioned, mention it yourself. Likewise to the following question about half.com -- sure, it's important, add it to the article. --User:JpgordonUser talk:Jpgordon 16:17, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC) == half.com aquistion == Wasn't half.com also aquired by ebay? == ebay fraud == The "ebay fraud" link at the end under the "related topics" secion simply redirects to the top of the page again. Somebody should either remove the link, or create an actual article on ebay fraud, and make the link go to the right place. == I'll never understand... == Good grief, a small piece of paper with a picture of a sportsman on it sold for almost as much as a small aircraft. I'll never understand the Americans' fascination with these card-type thingies. User:JIP — JIP | User talk:JIP¨ == the "feebay" paragraph... == is completely POV. "eBay had gotten away with..." implies that there is something wrong with eBay setting its own prices for its own services. The "virtual monopoly" line, likewise, is POV, and needs substantiation. The history is also incorrect; buyers do not pay "percentage fees" except in a small number of categories (if that). I suggest this paragraph be retooled if not removed; it's hardly a controvery (as I said above) when a company raises its prices and customers would rather pay less. I'd like someone neutral to come in and comment on this, since I'm clearly biased in favor of eBay. But I don't think things like "feeBay", "fleeBay", "pee-Air", and all the other nasty names a tiny minority of eBay users have come up with in their whine-fests are in the least bit encyclopedic. --User:JpgordonUser talk:Jpgordon 00:46, 8 May 2005 (UTC) :I would agree that this should be reworked and not very NPOV. User:Morven 03:10, May 8, 2005 (UTC) ::Anything POV on Wikipedia should be removed until purified. -User:Stevertigo|User_talk:Stevertigo 05:55, 8 May 2005 (UTC) PS. Otherwise maybe edit it? Actually [http://www.google.com/search?q=feeBay Google] comes up with a number of hits, including a Red Herring article. :::Sure. Doesn't mean it's encyclopedic. --User:JpgordonUser talk:Jpgordon 05:20, 16 May 2005 (UTC) ::::Actually it does - Rather singling it out for m:exclusionism it would be unencyclopedic -User:Stevertigo|User_talk:Stevertigo 01:26, 19 May 2005 (UTC) :::::Nonsense. It's an insult, tantamount to calling you "Peeve", with no more value than that. The phenomenon of people complaining about fee increases might be worthy of discussion; the pejoratives are just grade school name-calling. --User:JpgordonUser talk:Jpgordon 01:45, 19 May 2005 (UTC) == Most expensive items == Does anyone have a more up-to-date list of the five most expensive items sold on eBay? Surely Pope Benedict's old car would be on the new list, wouldn't it? --User:Angr/User_talk:Angr 06:22, 11 May 2005 (UTC) *Who the fackle is Bailey Zumalt Rose? (The person whose autograph garnered upwards of $300k on ebay? No such person with that name exists on google. == Police badges == Recently, I heard a news report on Channel 4 in the Metro Detroit area. This news report talked about police badges being sold on EBAY and how they lead to falsified police imposters. Should we make an article about this controversy? --User:SuperDude115 03:19, 16 May 2005 (UTC) *Hm. eBay banned the selling of police, fire, and similar badges years ago. All this will boil down to is "occasionally people get away with selling stuff that's against the rules". --User:JpgordonUser talk:Jpgordon 04:38, 16 May 2005 (UTC) == Added trivia sub-sections == I added two sub-sections under the heading "trivia" and felt like posting the fact that I did in the talk page because I am not sure if those facts that I added were true. I had read about them in an issue of Wired but cannot seem to locate the said issue. If someone were to checkup on this, it would be greatly appreciated. --User:Pimpalicious Nerd 00:20, Jun 7, 2005 (UTC) ==Pure breed BEAGLE POOP/INDIANA SNOW== *I have an mirror of the ebay item page, does any one know if I would be breaking any copyright laws if I posted this mirror so people can see it? --User:T0ny 06:14, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC) :*posting a hyperlink wouldn't break copyright... User:UkPaolo 06:33, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC) ::*Its not an url to ebay it would be to my site with a mirror of the old page. The item is no longer listed on ebay. ---User:T0ny 09:11, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC) ==SnipeSwipe service== Why does this service, which is linked on this page, ask users for their eBay passwords? Why not just allow users to create an account for themselves? Is this site legitimate? :: the idea of the service (if you read the article) is that it enables bid sniping, ie placing a bid in the last few seconds. The SnipeSwipe service places the bid on your behalf, and thus requires the auction number, and your username and password. Of course you could bid yourself, but ensuring you are available to bid in the last few seconds could be tricky, hence services like this exist. It is quite reputable, but you are right in thinking that you're ultimately trusting the company with your ebay password; whether you chose to do that is down to you. User:UkPaolo 22:12, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC) == Ebay no credit card? == How do you get started? What if you don't have a credit card? Does anyone know any auctions online that are free? PAypal is that like the way to go if you don't have a credit card? I hope someone can help. --User:Somaliafriend 18:57, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC) :: this page should really be discussions about the eBay wikipedia article. you should ask questions about the ebay site, at the site directly. In answer to your question, however, I think you'll find that it's up to individual sellers as to what payment methods they accept. Some may accept cheque (check US), etc. User:UkPaolo 19:00, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC) :::Apparently it's time for somebody to do a general article on internet auction sites in general. User:Gzuckier 19:23, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
#REDIRECTeBay
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with Ebay:
EBay
EBay
Ebay
EBay,_Plc
Ebay.co.uk
EBay.com
Ebay.com
Ebay.com/
Ebayy
Ebay_auctioning
Ebay_auctions
Ebay_fraud
Ebay_fraud
EBay_Inc.
Ebay_online
Ebay_online_auction
Ebay_site
EBay_website
Ebay_website
EBay
eBay Inc. is a very successful internet auction website, at which people from all around the world buy and sell goods and services. == History == 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 Chief executive officer since March 1998. eBay boosters have claimed that in terms of revenue growth, eBay is among the fastest-growing companies of all time. == Items and services == Millions of collectible, Home appliance, 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 [http://developer.ebay.com eBay Developers Program]. In June 2004, eBay prohibited the sale and auction of both alcohol and tobacco products on the English language site ebay.com. 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 organ transplant. 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.com. == Profit and transactions == eBay generates revenue from sellers, who pay a [http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html fee] based on the selling price of each item, a fee based on the starting price, and from advertising. In February 2005 it was announced that eBay would increase fees it charges to [http://stores.ebay.com eBay Stores] sellers, which caused considerable enough controversy among eBay users that the President of eBay's North America business recently emailed all eBay users with news that other fees would be decreased. eBay does not handle the goods, nor does it transact the buyer-seller payments, except through its subsidiary PayPal. Instead, much like newspaper want-ads, sellers rely on the buyers' good faith to make payment, and buyers rely on the sellers' good faith to actually deliver the goods intact. To encourage fidelity, eBay maintains, rates, and publicly displays the post-transaction feedback from all users, whether they buy or sell. This way, the buyer is encouraged to examine the sellers' feedback profile before bidding to rate their trustworthiness. Sellers with high ratings generally have more bids and garner higher bids. However, it is possible for sellers to make their feedback private and just leave the numbered rating (number of positive, negative and neutral feedback with a positive feedback percentage), which means that bidders and sellers cannot see the comments other users have left. eBay also has a significant affiliate program, and eBay affiliates can, for example, place live eBay product images and links on their web sites. == Acquisitions == *In May, 1999, eBay acquired the online payment service Billpoint, which it shut down after acquiring Paypal. *In 1999, eBay acquired the auction house Butterfield and Butterfield, which it sold in 2002. *In June, 2000, eBay acquired Half.com. *In August, 2001, eBay acquired Mercado Libre, Lokau and iBazar, Latin Americas auction sites. *In July, 2002, eBay acquired PayPal, for $1.5 billion in stock. PayPal provides a service which allows people to send money electronically by typing credit card numbers to email addresses. At the time of the acquisition, 60% of PayPal's business came from people using eBay. *On 11 July, 2003 eBay Inc. acquired EachNet, a leading ecommerce company in China, paying approximately $150 million in cash. *In 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. *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. ==Controversy== eBay has its share of controversy, ranging from its Data privacy policy (eBay typically turns over user information to law enforcement without a subpoena) to well-publicized seller fraud. eBay claims that statistically fewer than 1 in 200 transactions fail. ===Seller Fraud=== While eBay has various measures in place to prevent seller fraud, it remains essentially an honor system: buyers send their money to sellers and trust that they will receive the promised goods. A relatively small amount of fraud occurs, but the sheer volume of business passing through eBay means many people are affected. Fraud has included: * Paying and not receiving merchandise * Paying and receiving items other than those described * PayPal fraud * Credit card fraud * Counterfeit merchandise * Sale of stolen goods ===Other Controversies=== Other notable controversies involving eBay include: *On 28 May 2003 a U.S. District Court federal jury found eBay guilty of patent infringement and ordered the company to pay US$35 million in damages. The jury found for plaintiff MercExchange, which had accused eBay in 2001 of infringing on three patents (two of which are used in eBay's "Buy It Now" feature for fixed-price sales) held by MercExchange founder Tom Woolston. As of November 2004 this decision is under appeal. *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 US federal and state online gambling laws. Paypal was also forced out of this market, which accounted for some 6% of its volume. These offenses occurred prior to eBay's purchase of PayPal. *On 17th December 2004 Avnish Bajaj, CEO of eBay's India 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 and removed the offensive material as soon as they became aware of it. The Indian government attempted to make the case that Bajaj broke a law under India's IT Act, that forbids "publishing, transmitting or causing to publish" obscene material, even though the actual material was never published on Baazee's servers. eBay is strongly supporting Baazee. *On 14th June 2005 eBay backed down and removed auctions listing the sale of free tickets for the Live 8 charity auction. Hundreds of people complained about such auctions, and following a statement from Bob Geldof, many of these auctions were bombarded with fake bids. Under normal circumstances, selling of charity tickets is not illegal under United Kingdom law. ==Trivia== ===The five most expensive items sold on eBay (as of 2002)=== # 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) # Bailey Zumalt Rose's autograph ($317,599) ===Largest item=== One of the largest items ever sold was a World War II submarine sold by a small town in New England that decided it did not need the historical relic anymore. ===Largest failed auction=== One of the largest items ever to be put up to auction and not sold was a decommissioned aircraft carrier. The auction was placed by an anonymous seller from Brazil on [http://www.motors.ebay.com EBay Motors]. ===Unusual sale items=== * In May 2005, a Volkswagen Golf that had previously been registered to Josef Kardinal Ratzinger (who became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005) was sold on eBay's German site for €188,938.88 (Approximately US $238,157.46). The winning bid was made by the GoldenPalace.com online casino, known for their outragous eBay purchases. [http://www.goldenpalaceevents.com/ebay_archives/popemobile02.html] * A 16-year-old offered to sell his virginity on the website. * Someone once tried to sell a half-eaten grilled-cheese sandwich. * In 2004, a Seattle man posted pictures of himself wearing his ex-wife's wedding dress. While he initially admitted he was selling the dress to earn some money for Mariners tickets, the bidding got into the thousands of dollars. * Countless numbers of people have sold their soul on the auction site, getting a large sum of money as payment for it (Often times people just wrote their name followed by the appropriate punctuation and the word soul, probably ispire by the Simpsons episode "Bart Sells His Soul", in which Bart sells his soul in this manner). * Someone once placed a £1 coin on the website. Someone bought it for about £5 * A common joke item is a "ghost in a bottle" which invariably includes a picture of a bottle with said ghost in it. The ghost is usually portrayed as some white steam and is sometimes photoshopped. * There was at one point an auction for the first ride on Kingda Ka, the tallest roller coaster on Earth. The winning bid was $1691.66, and the winner rode in the front seat. [http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6523923733&category=16071&sspagename=rvi:1:1v_home] ==Controversial practices of users== * Bid sniping is the practice on certain on-line auctions sites such as eBay of placing a high bid during the last few seconds of bidding, preventing other users from countering with a higher bid. Bid sniping is allowed on eBay, but many other auction sites, such as Yahoo! Auctions, automatically extend the auction by five minutes when a last-minute bid is placed to prevent this. [http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/questions/outbid.html] * Shill bidding is the practice of bidding on your own auction items with the intent to drive the price higher, despite having no desire to win the auction. Shill bidding is not allowed on eBay. [http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/shillbidding.html] Furthermore, shill bidding is a crime in most states, and can be prosecuted under Federal wire fraud laws. [http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/Fetterman_indict.htm] ==See also== * Electronic commerce * Online auction business model ==Further reading== * (Hardcover, 336 pages) * ==eBay Tools== * Turbo Lister [http://pages.ebay.com/turbo_lister] is a tool written by eBay which allows the composition and preparation of auctioned items offline. Multiple items can then be submitted onto eBay at a later time. * Auction Sniper [http://www.auctionsniper.com], eSnipe [http://www.esnipe.com], SnipeSwipe [http://www.snipeswipe.com], and Auction Stealer [http://www.auctionstealer.com/home.cfm] are online tools which allows buyers to submit last-minute (snipe) bids. * Solutions Directory [http://solutions.ebay.com] is an online catalog of eBay and third party tools software for buyers and sellers. ==External links== * [http://www.ebay.com eBay USA website] * [http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html eBay Fees (in English)] * [http://www.ebay.com.au eBay Australia website] * [http://www.ebay.be eBay Belgium website] * [http://www.ebay.ca eBay Canada website] * [http://www.ebay.com.cn eBay China website] * [http://www.ebay.de eBay German website] * [http://www.ebay.in eBay India website] * [http://www.ebay.ie eBay Ireland website] * [http://www.ebay.nl eBay Netherlands website] * [http://www.ebay.ph eBay Philippines website] * [http://www.ebay.pl eBay Poland website] * [http://www.ebay.es eBay Spain website] * [http://www.ebay.se eBay Sweden website] * [http://www.tw.ebay.com eBay Taiwan website] * [http://www.ebay.co.uk eBay UK website] * [http://www.snapsearch.com Snapsearch, an eBay and Internet search engine] Online auction websites Online retail companies of the United States Internet companies of the United States Companies traded on NASDAQ Companies based in California
EBay
==Title== ==''Caveat Emptor''== Section seems incorrectly titled. While the first bullet has to do with buyers' concerns, the other two do not. The section seems generally more concerned with public and legal controversy surrounding eBay. Any ideas for a better title or a better arrangement of the information? ==POV== Removed the following from the end of the Profit and transactions sections due to POV bias: ", although this system is far from perfect as ebay's stubborn refusal to take a proactive role against abuses of its listing policies means that at any given time there are several dozen people selling feedback on ebay." Any comments? == baazee.com CEO under fire in India == http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B9F8FBA24-0C7B-4A03-A23A-355616CCC212%7D&siteid=google&dist=google&dist= ==== Notable auctions ==== Requesting a seperate article listing notable, famous, odd, controversial, significant, or noteworthy auctions. Examples include the grilled cheese sandwich, various celebrity auctions, hoaxes and banned auctions, joke auctions, extravagant auctions or excessively bid auctions, etc. ==Recent Controversy== Why is there no mention of eBay's upcoming seller fee increase of Feb. 18, 2005? The increases are sparking protests, the signing of petition(s), and sellers' threats to move their business to competing auction sites, all of which made the news. *Why should there be? It's hardly a controversy when a company wants more money and the customers want to pay less. Every time eBay changes ''anything'', there are protests, people signing petitions, and sellers threats to move their business to competing auction sites. It's been that way from pretty much day one. When eBay started charging for reserve auctions: protests. ("It's only a dollar!") Every time eBay raises any fees: protests. Every time eBay changes the layout of a page: protests. With millions of customers, with hundreds of thousands of sellers, it only takes a miniscule proportion of the customers to seem like some sort of groundswell to business reporters who know they can get an article run if it mentions eBay. At any rate, the answer to "why no mention" is always the same here on Wikipedia: if you want it mentioned, mention it yourself. Likewise to the following question about half.com -- sure, it's important, add it to the article. --User:JpgordonUser talk:Jpgordon 16:17, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC) == half.com aquistion == Wasn't half.com also aquired by ebay? == ebay fraud == The "ebay fraud" link at the end under the "related topics" secion simply redirects to the top of the page again. Somebody should either remove the link, or create an actual article on ebay fraud, and make the link go to the right place. == I'll never understand... == Good grief, a small piece of paper with a picture of a sportsman on it sold for almost as much as a small aircraft. I'll never understand the Americans' fascination with these card-type thingies. User:JIP — JIP | User talk:JIP¨ == the "feebay" paragraph... == is completely POV. "eBay had gotten away with..." implies that there is something wrong with eBay setting its own prices for its own services. The "virtual monopoly" line, likewise, is POV, and needs substantiation. The history is also incorrect; buyers do not pay "percentage fees" except in a small number of categories (if that). I suggest this paragraph be retooled if not removed; it's hardly a controvery (as I said above) when a company raises its prices and customers would rather pay less. I'd like someone neutral to come in and comment on this, since I'm clearly biased in favor of eBay. But I don't think things like "feeBay", "fleeBay", "pee-Air", and all the other nasty names a tiny minority of eBay users have come up with in their whine-fests are in the least bit encyclopedic. --User:JpgordonUser talk:Jpgordon 00:46, 8 May 2005 (UTC) :I would agree that this should be reworked and not very NPOV. User:Morven 03:10, May 8, 2005 (UTC) ::Anything POV on Wikipedia should be removed until purified. -User:Stevertigo|User_talk:Stevertigo 05:55, 8 May 2005 (UTC) PS. Otherwise maybe edit it? Actually [http://www.google.com/search?q=feeBay Google] comes up with a number of hits, including a Red Herring article. :::Sure. Doesn't mean it's encyclopedic. --User:JpgordonUser talk:Jpgordon 05:20, 16 May 2005 (UTC) ::::Actually it does - Rather singling it out for m:exclusionism it would be unencyclopedic -User:Stevertigo|User_talk:Stevertigo 01:26, 19 May 2005 (UTC) :::::Nonsense. It's an insult, tantamount to calling you "Peeve", with no more value than that. The phenomenon of people complaining about fee increases might be worthy of discussion; the pejoratives are just grade school name-calling. --User:JpgordonUser talk:Jpgordon 01:45, 19 May 2005 (UTC) == Most expensive items == Does anyone have a more up-to-date list of the five most expensive items sold on eBay? Surely Pope Benedict's old car would be on the new list, wouldn't it? --User:Angr/User_talk:Angr 06:22, 11 May 2005 (UTC) *Who the fackle is Bailey Zumalt Rose? (The person whose autograph garnered upwards of $300k on ebay? No such person with that name exists on google. == Police badges == Recently, I heard a news report on Channel 4 in the Metro Detroit area. This news report talked about police badges being sold on EBAY and how they lead to falsified police imposters. Should we make an article about this controversy? --User:SuperDude115 03:19, 16 May 2005 (UTC) *Hm. eBay banned the selling of police, fire, and similar badges years ago. All this will boil down to is "occasionally people get away with selling stuff that's against the rules". --User:JpgordonUser talk:Jpgordon 04:38, 16 May 2005 (UTC) == Added trivia sub-sections == I added two sub-sections under the heading "trivia" and felt like posting the fact that I did in the talk page because I am not sure if those facts that I added were true. I had read about them in an issue of Wired but cannot seem to locate the said issue. If someone were to checkup on this, it would be greatly appreciated. --User:Pimpalicious Nerd 00:20, Jun 7, 2005 (UTC) ==Pure breed BEAGLE POOP/INDIANA SNOW== *I have an mirror of the ebay item page, does any one know if I would be breaking any copyright laws if I posted this mirror so people can see it? --User:T0ny 06:14, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC) :*posting a hyperlink wouldn't break copyright... User:UkPaolo 06:33, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC) ::*Its not an url to ebay it would be to my site with a mirror of the old page. The item is no longer listed on ebay. ---User:T0ny 09:11, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC) ==SnipeSwipe service== Why does this service, which is linked on this page, ask users for their eBay passwords? Why not just allow users to create an account for themselves? Is this site legitimate? :: the idea of the service (if you read the article) is that it enables bid sniping, ie placing a bid in the last few seconds. The SnipeSwipe service places the bid on your behalf, and thus requires the auction number, and your username and password. Of course you could bid yourself, but ensuring you are available to bid in the last few seconds could be tricky, hence services like this exist. It is quite reputable, but you are right in thinking that you're ultimately trusting the company with your ebay password; whether you chose to do that is down to you. User:UkPaolo 22:12, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC) == Ebay no credit card? == How do you get started? What if you don't have a credit card? Does anyone know any auctions online that are free? PAypal is that like the way to go if you don't have a credit card? I hope someone can help. --User:Somaliafriend 18:57, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC) :: this page should really be discussions about the eBay wikipedia article. you should ask questions about the ebay site, at the site directly. In answer to your question, however, I think you'll find that it's up to individual sellers as to what payment methods they accept. Some may accept cheque (check US), etc. User:UkPaolo 19:00, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC) :::Apparently it's time for somebody to do a general article on internet auction sites in general. User:Gzuckier 19:23, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Ebay
#REDIRECTeBay
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YouTube.com videos better site than Turbo Tax 2007
