I. INTRO
“Web 2.0 is a trend in the use of World Wide Web technology that aims to enhance creativity, communications, secure information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web” (StiltonStudios.net, pg 1). For the past couple of years, Web 2.0 applications have become very popular and important for people that use the internet. One Web 2.0 communication medium that many use is eBay. eBay is an online marketplace that allows its users to bid and auction off items. From day one, eBay was founded on what remain the company’s core values, a belief that: people are basically good, everyone has something to contribute, and an open environment brings out the best in people (eBay.com). On this belief, eBay has become one of the biggest online marketplaces. This application heavily relies on users to buy and sell items in order for the website to continue to function. Without users, the website would cease to exist. Therefore, it would be very important that eBay always have a lot of members and the members be satisfied. Although many people have had great success in finding items and also have acquired much wealth, there are a lot of problems with eBay that have resulted in many members leaving to find alternate websites. Even though eBay is an industry leader, it is currently struggling to adapt to the problems that have recently occurred in reference to user feedback, higher selling fees, and the decline of people wanting to participate in auction style shopping.
II. HISTORY
On September 3rd, 1995, a 28 year old software developer named Pierre Omidyar came up with a code that would eventually evolve into what we know as eBay today. Originally called AuctionWeb, this online auctioning site began with the listing of a single broken laser pointer that would eventually sell for $14.83. Pierre knew that he had created something special because when he contacted the winner of the bid, they knew the pointer was broken and still wanted it because he was a collector of broken laser pointers. This meant that people were willing to buy and collect all types of items, which changed the whole notion of what has value in the world. If people are willing to buy broken laser pointers, even more people are going to be willing to sell them. By 1997, AuctionWeb officially changed its name to eBay, short for Echo Bay, and became large enough to require the skills of a Stanford MBA, Jeffrey Skoll as president, and Meg Whitman, a Harvard graduate, as CEO. eBay finally went public on September 21, 1998, and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires. In addition to its original U.S. website, eBay has established localized websites in 30 other countries (eBay.com)
III. COMMUNITY
The eBay community is made up of 212 million people around the world that want to sell and buy items. The community includes individual buyers and sellers, small businesses, and even enterprises. Seller’s and small businesses make up 95% of eBay’s members (TheBidFloor). The type of people that use eBay are people in need of certain goods, people who want to buy items at a cheaper rate, people who want to sell items for money, and people who rely on eBay as a primary source of income. One of the most important aspects of eBay is the fact that users help one another be successful on the site. They make connections and form communities because they share common interests of items that they buy or sell. These users form relationships with one another through discussion boards, chat rooms, Online Workshops, and eBay Groups. These forums help the users receive assistance from other users, share ways to be successful on eBay, or just to socialize.
IV. FUNCTIONS (HOW IT WORKS)
eBay works like an auction. It allows people to trade online at any time and any item that they want. People place bids on items of their choice and have a certain amount of time to keep bidding. When the bidding is over, whoever has the highest bid wins the item. You receive a message when someone outbids you and you can chose to continue to bid or try another item. You can also purchase items without bidding. However, the item may not be cheaper than if you were to bid.
There are three primary agents involved in eBay. First, I am going to talk about the seller. Sellers are users that have items that they put up for auctioning. These sellers have the option of three different types of selling auctions. They can do the most common one that allows the seller to offer one or more items for sale and for a certain amount of days. For this type of auction, the seller can start the bid at a minimum price they are willing to accept for the item. The other option is a fixed price format. This allows the seller to offer one or more items at a fixed price that they can purchase right away. The last type of auction allows the seller to offer two or more of the same item in the same auction (Wikipedia). Sellers are required to pay basic fees. The basic fee depends on the auction style the seller prefers. This includes an insertion fee when putting up the item for sale plus a final value fee when the item sells (eBay/Fees.com). Sellers are also able to set their own shipping and handling fees. Sellers have the option of putting up a picture of their item to attract more buyers. It’s important for the seller to do some research on the items they are going to sell so they have a good starting price and are not overpricing the items (Karp, 2006) According to a survey conducted for eBay by ACNielsen International Research located on TheBidFloor.com, 724,000 Americans reported that eBay is their primary or secondary source of income.
The next primary agent involved in eBay is the buyer. When you go onto eBay's front page, you can either search for an item by typing it in or searching by categories. This is helpful because sometimes you’re not completely sure what you want, but by looking at a list of things you may find something of your interest. There are also eBay stores where you can look at and purchase items. In addition, there are subsidiaries of eBay. These eBay sites include Half.com (textbooks), Motors.ebay.com (cars), PayPal, Kijiji, ProStores, Rent.com, Stubhub, and Shopping.com. There are about 19 million products on eBay, so sometimes people would rather “windowshop” for items in case they aren’t completely sure what they want. Some items include collectibles (most popular), clothing, appliances, electronics, furnishings, and other miscellaneous products. They can be rare and valuable, or old items that have not been used in years. Basically, anything can go for sale unless it’s illegal or violates eBay’s restricted items (TheBidFloor).
Most of these items that are purchased on eBay are done so by bidding through online auctioning. Bidding on eBay's auction-style listings is called proxy bidding. When someone goes on eBay and types in the item they want into the search bar, the hunt is on. People begin looking at what the lowest and best bid is so they can purchase the item at a cheaper price. When the item is found, the bidding begins. When a buyer first places their bid, they also have a maximum bid. There also is a bid increment. As the auction proceeds, eBay automatically increases the buyer’s bid on their behalf up to their maximum bid. By doing this, the buyer maintains their position as the highest bidder or to meet the item’s minimum price set by the seller. The bid increment is the minimum amount the buyer’s bid will be raised. It is based on most current high bid of the item (eBay.com). At first, I was not sure how eBay generated so much money and how people profited so much from it. After doing research, I found out that eBay generates revenue from a number of fees. There are fees to list a product and fees when the product sells, plus several optional fees(eBay.com/Fees). The company's current business strategy includes increasing international trade.
The third agent in eBay is the eBay administrators. They are the providers of the market place that mediate and police what items are being sold. There are some restricted items that cannot be sold on eBay, including alcohol, drugs, human parts, and even teachers’ editions of textbooks. eBay administrators are also in charge of making sure that people’s identity is kept safe. In order to ensure this, eBay now has an online payment system, known as PayPal. This is a secure service which instantly transfers payments from one members account to the other. What’s good about this is that no one has to reveal any credit card details, which makes people more comfortable to make purchases. The administrators of eBay also police the positive, negative, and neutral feedback that people receive. Feedback and commenting to other users is an important aspect of the Web 2.0 application that makes it different than Web 1.0. eBay requires a 4.3 average or better rating in order for the seller to continue to sell goods in reference to handling and shipping feedback. A 4 on the eBay scale is known as a “reasonable” transaction and a 3 on the scale is known as neutral (BusinessWeek). Feedback is a very important feature to eBay because it acts as the user’s reputation. This is important because having a good reputation is vital to the person selling items. If the person has a bad reputation, they aren’t able to sell products due to their account being suspended by eBay administrators. Many people base who they buy items from on the seller’s rating and feedback. According to the article, “How to Obey on Ebay” in the Economist, “Many of the traders on eBay have come to value their reputations greatly, and those with enough positive-feedback scores are allowed to participate in buyer-protection schemes, which offer refunds. But as in any market, the rule is always caveat emptor: let the buyer beware” (pg. 66, 2005).
V. IMPLICATIONS
As stated earlier, eBay does have some problems that are causing people to find other means of conducting their businesses and lives. According to an article in Businessweek, a couple received negative feedback and was not allowed to sell items anymore, which caused them to shut down their business because it was based on selling to customers all around the world through eBay. If a seller keeps receiving 4’s, this will potentially decrease their rating causing them to be suspended by eBay. They received under a 4.3, resulting in suspension. This is not fair because some people mistakenly click the wrong rating, some people are too lazy to leave good feedback, or some people think that the seller’s fees are too high. Sometimes seller’s fees have to be high in order for them to make money, since eBay raised the price of selling an item. As stated earlier, hundreds of thousands of people rely on eBay as a source of income. If people’s accounts are being suspended due to feedback, they are no longer able to conduct business and able to make a living. This is detrimental to people that rely on eBay as their primary source of income due to disability, age, or just the type of business they run. Another problem they had with eBay is the lack of communication from the corporate headquarters. The telephone system has automated messages and E-mails are met with similar responses. This is a problem when people have suspended accounts, questions, and/or comments.
eBay has also had its share of controversy, including cases of fraud. One of the biggest internet fraud cases in U.S history had to do with eBay. People were bidding and purchasing items that they thought were for sale on eBay, but they never received any of the items. The victims shelled out over 5 million dollars to these scammers(RenewAmerica). Other controversies of eBay include its policy of requiring sellers to use PayPal and concerns over forgeries in auction items. These problems are really hurting eBay because these angry sellers are going to a different website similar to eBay known as Shopify.com.
Earlier noted, there were different ways of auctioning off items that sellers could choose from. One of these options was having the item sell for a fixed price, known as Buy it Now. This is becoming more popular because people are getting sick of auctioning. Even though people can purchase items at a cheaper price, it can be time consuming. According to an article on Businessweek, a user named Dave Dribin talked about how he no longer wants to spend hours tracking an auction, especially if he does not win what he wants. Instead, he just buys things online in retail. People are becoming more interested in buying products quickly online at a set price. One of the main reasons people are not participating in auctions is because they have no time and are just too busy. Buyers are not the only ones who are getting tired; sellers are too now that no one is bidding on their items. According to an article in Businessweek, a member of eBay that has been selling posters and memorabilia for a decade has to stop due to the fact that people are using Buy it Now, rather than bidding for a couple of days.
Another problem with eBay is the fact that they have raised their fees. This has caused people to be hesitant of selling their items on eBay and causing them to find somewhere cheaper. According to the article, “Threatening eBay's Dominance, More Online Sellers Go It Alone,” more people are choosing not to use eBay anymore and start their own sites. Technology has helped people out a lot but the main reason is because of the disadvantages of paying higher fees and the dissatisfaction people are receiving from eBay.
VI. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, eBay has endured a lot of success as the world’s largest online marketplace. Even though right now it is struggling with user dissatisfaction and implications, it is still prospering and servicing millions of users all around the world. Many people cannot live without eBay, whether they rely on it for income or do it as a hobby. Even though there is a decline of online auctioning shopping, the Buy it Now feature of eBay will help these people still come to this website and buy items. eBay revolutionized the online market place and forever will be a place that people can buy whatever they want because there are always people that are willing to see anything.
Bibliography
Economist.How to Obey on eBay ; 6/11/2005, Vol. 375 Issue 8430, p66-66, 1/4p
Karp, David A. "Secrets of Selling On eBay." PC Magazine 25 (2006): 72-75. 2 Feb. 2006. EBSCOHost. SUNY Albany, Albany.
Mangalindan, Mylene. "Threatening eBay's Dominance, More Online Sellers Go It
Alone." The Wall Street journal 245 (2005): pg 1.22 June. 2005. EBSCOHost. SUNY Albany, Albany.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
eBay-Web 2.0 application (Rough Draft)
I. INTRO
“Web 2.0 is a trend in the use of World Wide Web technology that aims to enhance creativity, communications, secure information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web” (StiltonStudios.net). For the past couple of years, Web 2.0 applications have become very popular and important for people that use the internet. One Web 2.0 communication medium that many people have used is eBay. eBay is an online marketplace that allows its users to bid and auction off items. From day one, eBay was founded on what remain the company’s core values, a belief that: people are basically good, everyone has something to contribute, and an open environment brings out the best in people (eBay.com). On this belief, eBay has become one of the biggest online marketplaces. This application heavily relies on users to buy and sell items in order for the website to continue to function. Without users, the website would cease to exist. Therefore, it would be very important that eBay always have a lot of members and the members be satisfied. Although many people have had great success in finding items and also have acquired much wealth, there are a lot of problems with eBay that have resulted in many members leaving to find alternate websites. Even though eBay is an industry leader, it is currently struggling to adapt to the problems that have recently occurred in reference to user feedback, higher selling fees, and the decline of people wanting to participate in auction style shopping.
II. HISTORY
On September 3rd, 1995, a 28 year old software developer named Pierre Omidyar came up with a code that would eventually evolve into what we know as eBay today. Originally called AuctionWeb, this online auctioning site began with the listing of a single broken laser pointer that would eventually sell for $14.83. Pierre knew that he had created something special because when he contacted the winner of the bid, they knew the pointer was broken and still wanted it because he was a collector of broken laser pointers. This meant that people were willing to buy and collect all types of items. This changed the whole notion of what has value in the world. If people are willing to buy broken laser pointers, even more people are going to be willing to sell them. By 1997, AuctionWeb officially changed its name to eBay, short for Echo Bay, and became large enough to require the skills of a Stanford MBA, Jeffrey Skoll as president, and Meg Whitman, a Harvard graduate, as CEO. eBay finally went public on September 21, 1998, and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires. In addition to its original U.S. website, eBay has established localized websites in 30 other countries (About.com)
III. COMMUNITY
The eBay community is made up of 212 million people around the world that want to sell and buy items. The community includes individual buyers and sellers, small businesses, and even enterprises. Seller’s and small businesses make up 95% of eBay’s members (TheBidFloor). The type of people that use eBay are people in need of certain goods, people who want to buy items at a cheaper rate, people who want to sell items for money, and people who rely on eBay as a primary source of income. One of the most important aspects of eBay is the fact that users help one another be successful on the site. They make connections and form communities because they share common interests of items that they buy or sell. These users form relationships with one another through discussion boards, chat rooms, Online Workshops, and eBay Groups. These forums help the users to get help from other users, share ways to be successful on eBay, or just to socialize.
IV. FUNCTIONS (HOW IT WORKS)
eBay works like an auction. It allows people to trade online at any time and any item that they want. People place bids on items of their choice and have a certain amount of time to keep bidding. When the bidding is over, whoever has the highest bid wins the item. You receive a message when someone outbids you and you can chose to continue to bid or try another item. You can also purchase items without bidding. However, the item may not be cheaper than if you were to bid.
There are three primary agents involved in eBay. First, I am going to talk about the seller. Sellers are users that have items that they put up for auctioning. These sellers have the option of three different types of selling auctions. They can do the most common one that allows the seller to offer one or more items for sale and for a certain amount of days. For this type of auction, the seller can start the bid at a minimum price they are willing to accept for the item. The other option is a fixed price format. This allows the seller to offer one or more items at a fixed price that they can purchase right away. The last type of auction allows the seller to offer two or more of the same item in the same auction (Wikipedia). Sellers are also able to set their own shipping and handling fees. Some people set low fees and charge more for the item, while others set high fees and charge less.
There are certain ways in which people can be a more successful seller. Buyers are able to see pictures of their items and find out it is used or brand new. Sellers could use this as an advantage by making sure they take great pictures of the items. If people see a great picture, they are more likely to bid on it, rather than a bad picture or no picture at all. It’s critical to inspire trust from the buyers. This can be done by giving them a thorough description and flexible payment terms. It’s important for the seller to do some research on the items they are going to sell so they have a good starting price and are not overpricing the items (Karp, 2006) According to a survey conducted for eBay by ACNielsen International Research located on TheBidFloor.com, 724,000 Americans reported that eBay is their primary or secondary source of income.
The next primary agent involved in eBay is the buyer. When you go onto the eBay's front page, you can either search for an item by typing it in or you can search by categories. This is helpful because sometimes you’re not completely sure what you want, but by looking at a list of things there is always the chance that something can get you interested. There are also eBay stores where you can look at and purchase items. In addition, there are subsidiaries of eBay. These eBay sites include Half.com (textbooks), Motors.ebay.com (cars), PayPal, Kijiji, ProStores, Rent.com, Stubhub, and Shopping.com. There are about 19 million products on eBay, so sometimes people would rather “windowshop” for items in case they aren’t completely sure what they want. Some items include collectibles (most popular), clothing, appliances, electronics, furnishings, and other miscellaneous products. They can be rare and valuable, or old items that have not been used in years. Basically, anything can go for sale unless it’s illegal or violates eBay’s restricted items (TheBidFloor).
Most of these items that are purchased on eBay are done so by bidding through online auctioning. Bidding on eBay's auction-style listings is called proxy bidding. When someone goes on eBay and types in the item they want into the search bar, the hunt is on. People begin looking at what the lowest and best bid is so they can purchase the item at a cheaper price. When the item is found, the bidding begins. When a buyer first places their bid, they also have a maximum bid. There also is a bid increment. As the auction proceeds, eBay automatically increases the buyer’s bid on their behalf up to their maximum bid. By doing this, the buyer maintains their position as the highest bidder or to meet the item’s minimum price set by the seller. The bid increment is the minimum amount the buyer’s bid will be raised. It is based on most current high bid of the item (eBay.com). At first, I was not sure how eBay generated so much money and how people profited so much from it. After doing research, I found out that eBay generates revenue from a number of fees. There are fees to list a product and fees when the product sells, plus several optional fees. The company's current business strategy includes increasing international trade.
The third agent in eBay is the eBay administrators. They are the providers of the market place that mediate and police what items are being sold. There are some restricted items that cannot be sold on eBay, including alcohol, drugs, human parts, and even teachers’ editions of textbooks. eBay administrators are also in charge of making sure that people’s identity is kept safe. In order to ensure this, eBay now has an online payment system, known as PayPal. This is a secure service which instantly transfers payments from one members account to the other. What’s good about this is that no one has to reveal any credit card details, which makes people more comfortable to make purchases. The administrators of eBay also police the positive, negative, and neutral feedback that people receive. Feedback and commenting to other users is an important aspect of the Web 2.0 application that makes it different than Web 1.0. eBay requires a 4.3 average or better rating in order for the seller to continue to sell goods in reference to handling and shipping feedback. A 4 on the eBay scale is known as a “reasonable” transaction and a 3 on the scale is known as neutral. Feedback is a very important feature to eBay because it acts as the user’s reputation. This is important because having a good reputation is vital to the person selling items. If the person has a bad reputation, they aren’t able to sell products due to their account being suspended by eBay administrators. Many people base who they buy items from on the seller’s rating and feedback. According to the article, “How to Obey on Ebay” in the Economist, “Many of the traders on eBay have come to value their reputations greatly, and those with enough positive-feedback scores are allowed to participate in buyer-protection schemes, which offer refunds. But as in any market, the rule is always caveat emptor: let the buyer beware” (pg. 66, 2005).
V. IMPLICATIONS
As stated earlier, eBay does have some problems that are causing people to find other means of conducting their businesses and lives. According to an article in Businessweek, a couple received negative feedback and was not allowed to sell items anymore, which caused them to shut down their business because it was based on selling to customers all around the world through eBay. If a seller keeps receiving 4’s, this will potentially decrease their rating causing them to be suspended by eBay. They received under a 4.3, resulting in suspension. This is not fair because some people mistakenly click the wrong rating, some people are too lazy to leave good feedback, or some people think that the seller’s fees are too high. Sometimes seller’s fees have to be high in order for them to make money, since eBay raised the price of selling an item. As stated earlier, hundreds of thousands of people rely on eBay as a source of income. If people’s accounts are being suspended due to feedback, they are no longer able to conduct business and able to make a living. This is detrimental to people that rely on eBay as their primary source of income due to disability, age, or just the type of business they run.
Another problem they had with eBay is the lack of communication from the corporate headquarters. The telephone system has automated messages and E-mails are met with similar responses. Also, eBay has had its share of controversy, including cases of frauds, its policy of requiring sellers to use PayPal, and concerns over forgeries in auction items. These problems are really hurting eBay because these angry sellers are going to a different website similar to eBay known as Shopify.com.
Earlier noted, there were different ways of auctioning off items that sellers could choose from. One of these options was having the item sell for a fixed price, known as Buy it Now. This is becoming more popular because people are getting sick of auctioning. Even though people can purchase items at a cheaper price, it can be time consuming. According to an article on Businessweek, a user named Dave Dribin talked about how he no longer wants to spend hours tracking an auction, especially if he does not win what he wants. Instead, he just buys things online in retail. People are becoming more interested in buying products quickly online at a set price. One of the main reasons people are not participating in auctions is because they have no time and are just too busy. Buyers are not the only ones who are getting tired; sellers are too now that no one is bidding on their items. According to an article in Businessweek, ), a member of eBay that has been selling posters and memorabilia for a decade has to stop due to the fact that people are using Buy it Now, rather than bidding for a couple of days.
Another problem with eBay is the fact that they have raised their fees. People are hesitant to sell on eBay because of the recent fee increase. According to the article, “Threatening eBay's Dominance, More Online Sellers Go It Alone,” more people are choosing not to use eBay anymore and start their own sites. Technology has helped people out a lot but the main reason is because of the disadvantages of paying higher fees and the dissatisfaction people are receiving from eBay.
VI. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, eBay has endured a lot of success as the world’s largest online marketplace. Even though right now it is struggling with user dissatisfaction and implications, it is still prospering and servicing millions of users all around the world. Many people cannot live without eBay, whether they rely on it for income or do it as a hobby. Even though there is a decline of online auctioning shopping, the Buy it Now feature of eBay will help these people still come to this website and buy items. eBay revolutionized the online market place and forever will be a place that people can buy whatever they want because there are always people that are willing to see anything.
Bibliography
Economist.How to Obey on eBay ; 6/11/2005, Vol. 375 Issue 8430, p66-66, 1/4p
Karp, David A. "Secrets of Selling On eBay." PC Magazine 25 (2006): 72-75. 2 Feb. 2006. EBSCOHost. SUNY Albany, Albany.
Mangalindan, Mylene. "Threatening eBay's Dominance, More Online Sellers Go It
Alone." The Wall Street journal 245 (2005): pg 1.22 June. 2005. EBSCOHost. SUNY Albany, Albany.
“Web 2.0 is a trend in the use of World Wide Web technology that aims to enhance creativity, communications, secure information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web” (StiltonStudios.net). For the past couple of years, Web 2.0 applications have become very popular and important for people that use the internet. One Web 2.0 communication medium that many people have used is eBay. eBay is an online marketplace that allows its users to bid and auction off items. From day one, eBay was founded on what remain the company’s core values, a belief that: people are basically good, everyone has something to contribute, and an open environment brings out the best in people (eBay.com). On this belief, eBay has become one of the biggest online marketplaces. This application heavily relies on users to buy and sell items in order for the website to continue to function. Without users, the website would cease to exist. Therefore, it would be very important that eBay always have a lot of members and the members be satisfied. Although many people have had great success in finding items and also have acquired much wealth, there are a lot of problems with eBay that have resulted in many members leaving to find alternate websites. Even though eBay is an industry leader, it is currently struggling to adapt to the problems that have recently occurred in reference to user feedback, higher selling fees, and the decline of people wanting to participate in auction style shopping.
II. HISTORY
On September 3rd, 1995, a 28 year old software developer named Pierre Omidyar came up with a code that would eventually evolve into what we know as eBay today. Originally called AuctionWeb, this online auctioning site began with the listing of a single broken laser pointer that would eventually sell for $14.83. Pierre knew that he had created something special because when he contacted the winner of the bid, they knew the pointer was broken and still wanted it because he was a collector of broken laser pointers. This meant that people were willing to buy and collect all types of items. This changed the whole notion of what has value in the world. If people are willing to buy broken laser pointers, even more people are going to be willing to sell them. By 1997, AuctionWeb officially changed its name to eBay, short for Echo Bay, and became large enough to require the skills of a Stanford MBA, Jeffrey Skoll as president, and Meg Whitman, a Harvard graduate, as CEO. eBay finally went public on September 21, 1998, and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires. In addition to its original U.S. website, eBay has established localized websites in 30 other countries (About.com)
III. COMMUNITY
The eBay community is made up of 212 million people around the world that want to sell and buy items. The community includes individual buyers and sellers, small businesses, and even enterprises. Seller’s and small businesses make up 95% of eBay’s members (TheBidFloor). The type of people that use eBay are people in need of certain goods, people who want to buy items at a cheaper rate, people who want to sell items for money, and people who rely on eBay as a primary source of income. One of the most important aspects of eBay is the fact that users help one another be successful on the site. They make connections and form communities because they share common interests of items that they buy or sell. These users form relationships with one another through discussion boards, chat rooms, Online Workshops, and eBay Groups. These forums help the users to get help from other users, share ways to be successful on eBay, or just to socialize.
IV. FUNCTIONS (HOW IT WORKS)
eBay works like an auction. It allows people to trade online at any time and any item that they want. People place bids on items of their choice and have a certain amount of time to keep bidding. When the bidding is over, whoever has the highest bid wins the item. You receive a message when someone outbids you and you can chose to continue to bid or try another item. You can also purchase items without bidding. However, the item may not be cheaper than if you were to bid.
There are three primary agents involved in eBay. First, I am going to talk about the seller. Sellers are users that have items that they put up for auctioning. These sellers have the option of three different types of selling auctions. They can do the most common one that allows the seller to offer one or more items for sale and for a certain amount of days. For this type of auction, the seller can start the bid at a minimum price they are willing to accept for the item. The other option is a fixed price format. This allows the seller to offer one or more items at a fixed price that they can purchase right away. The last type of auction allows the seller to offer two or more of the same item in the same auction (Wikipedia). Sellers are also able to set their own shipping and handling fees. Some people set low fees and charge more for the item, while others set high fees and charge less.
There are certain ways in which people can be a more successful seller. Buyers are able to see pictures of their items and find out it is used or brand new. Sellers could use this as an advantage by making sure they take great pictures of the items. If people see a great picture, they are more likely to bid on it, rather than a bad picture or no picture at all. It’s critical to inspire trust from the buyers. This can be done by giving them a thorough description and flexible payment terms. It’s important for the seller to do some research on the items they are going to sell so they have a good starting price and are not overpricing the items (Karp, 2006) According to a survey conducted for eBay by ACNielsen International Research located on TheBidFloor.com, 724,000 Americans reported that eBay is their primary or secondary source of income.
The next primary agent involved in eBay is the buyer. When you go onto the eBay's front page, you can either search for an item by typing it in or you can search by categories. This is helpful because sometimes you’re not completely sure what you want, but by looking at a list of things there is always the chance that something can get you interested. There are also eBay stores where you can look at and purchase items. In addition, there are subsidiaries of eBay. These eBay sites include Half.com (textbooks), Motors.ebay.com (cars), PayPal, Kijiji, ProStores, Rent.com, Stubhub, and Shopping.com. There are about 19 million products on eBay, so sometimes people would rather “windowshop” for items in case they aren’t completely sure what they want. Some items include collectibles (most popular), clothing, appliances, electronics, furnishings, and other miscellaneous products. They can be rare and valuable, or old items that have not been used in years. Basically, anything can go for sale unless it’s illegal or violates eBay’s restricted items (TheBidFloor).
Most of these items that are purchased on eBay are done so by bidding through online auctioning. Bidding on eBay's auction-style listings is called proxy bidding. When someone goes on eBay and types in the item they want into the search bar, the hunt is on. People begin looking at what the lowest and best bid is so they can purchase the item at a cheaper price. When the item is found, the bidding begins. When a buyer first places their bid, they also have a maximum bid. There also is a bid increment. As the auction proceeds, eBay automatically increases the buyer’s bid on their behalf up to their maximum bid. By doing this, the buyer maintains their position as the highest bidder or to meet the item’s minimum price set by the seller. The bid increment is the minimum amount the buyer’s bid will be raised. It is based on most current high bid of the item (eBay.com). At first, I was not sure how eBay generated so much money and how people profited so much from it. After doing research, I found out that eBay generates revenue from a number of fees. There are fees to list a product and fees when the product sells, plus several optional fees. The company's current business strategy includes increasing international trade.
The third agent in eBay is the eBay administrators. They are the providers of the market place that mediate and police what items are being sold. There are some restricted items that cannot be sold on eBay, including alcohol, drugs, human parts, and even teachers’ editions of textbooks. eBay administrators are also in charge of making sure that people’s identity is kept safe. In order to ensure this, eBay now has an online payment system, known as PayPal. This is a secure service which instantly transfers payments from one members account to the other. What’s good about this is that no one has to reveal any credit card details, which makes people more comfortable to make purchases. The administrators of eBay also police the positive, negative, and neutral feedback that people receive. Feedback and commenting to other users is an important aspect of the Web 2.0 application that makes it different than Web 1.0. eBay requires a 4.3 average or better rating in order for the seller to continue to sell goods in reference to handling and shipping feedback. A 4 on the eBay scale is known as a “reasonable” transaction and a 3 on the scale is known as neutral. Feedback is a very important feature to eBay because it acts as the user’s reputation. This is important because having a good reputation is vital to the person selling items. If the person has a bad reputation, they aren’t able to sell products due to their account being suspended by eBay administrators. Many people base who they buy items from on the seller’s rating and feedback. According to the article, “How to Obey on Ebay” in the Economist, “Many of the traders on eBay have come to value their reputations greatly, and those with enough positive-feedback scores are allowed to participate in buyer-protection schemes, which offer refunds. But as in any market, the rule is always caveat emptor: let the buyer beware” (pg. 66, 2005).
V. IMPLICATIONS
As stated earlier, eBay does have some problems that are causing people to find other means of conducting their businesses and lives. According to an article in Businessweek, a couple received negative feedback and was not allowed to sell items anymore, which caused them to shut down their business because it was based on selling to customers all around the world through eBay. If a seller keeps receiving 4’s, this will potentially decrease their rating causing them to be suspended by eBay. They received under a 4.3, resulting in suspension. This is not fair because some people mistakenly click the wrong rating, some people are too lazy to leave good feedback, or some people think that the seller’s fees are too high. Sometimes seller’s fees have to be high in order for them to make money, since eBay raised the price of selling an item. As stated earlier, hundreds of thousands of people rely on eBay as a source of income. If people’s accounts are being suspended due to feedback, they are no longer able to conduct business and able to make a living. This is detrimental to people that rely on eBay as their primary source of income due to disability, age, or just the type of business they run.
Another problem they had with eBay is the lack of communication from the corporate headquarters. The telephone system has automated messages and E-mails are met with similar responses. Also, eBay has had its share of controversy, including cases of frauds, its policy of requiring sellers to use PayPal, and concerns over forgeries in auction items. These problems are really hurting eBay because these angry sellers are going to a different website similar to eBay known as Shopify.com.
Earlier noted, there were different ways of auctioning off items that sellers could choose from. One of these options was having the item sell for a fixed price, known as Buy it Now. This is becoming more popular because people are getting sick of auctioning. Even though people can purchase items at a cheaper price, it can be time consuming. According to an article on Businessweek, a user named Dave Dribin talked about how he no longer wants to spend hours tracking an auction, especially if he does not win what he wants. Instead, he just buys things online in retail. People are becoming more interested in buying products quickly online at a set price. One of the main reasons people are not participating in auctions is because they have no time and are just too busy. Buyers are not the only ones who are getting tired; sellers are too now that no one is bidding on their items. According to an article in Businessweek, ), a member of eBay that has been selling posters and memorabilia for a decade has to stop due to the fact that people are using Buy it Now, rather than bidding for a couple of days.
Another problem with eBay is the fact that they have raised their fees. People are hesitant to sell on eBay because of the recent fee increase. According to the article, “Threatening eBay's Dominance, More Online Sellers Go It Alone,” more people are choosing not to use eBay anymore and start their own sites. Technology has helped people out a lot but the main reason is because of the disadvantages of paying higher fees and the dissatisfaction people are receiving from eBay.
VI. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, eBay has endured a lot of success as the world’s largest online marketplace. Even though right now it is struggling with user dissatisfaction and implications, it is still prospering and servicing millions of users all around the world. Many people cannot live without eBay, whether they rely on it for income or do it as a hobby. Even though there is a decline of online auctioning shopping, the Buy it Now feature of eBay will help these people still come to this website and buy items. eBay revolutionized the online market place and forever will be a place that people can buy whatever they want because there are always people that are willing to see anything.
Bibliography
Economist.How to Obey on eBay ; 6/11/2005, Vol. 375 Issue 8430, p66-66, 1/4p
Karp, David A. "Secrets of Selling On eBay." PC Magazine 25 (2006): 72-75. 2 Feb. 2006. EBSCOHost. SUNY Albany, Albany.
Mangalindan, Mylene. "Threatening eBay's Dominance, More Online Sellers Go It
Alone." The Wall Street journal 245 (2005): pg 1.22 June. 2005. EBSCOHost. SUNY Albany, Albany.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Observations for the final essay
For the past couple of weeks, I have been observing the Web 2.0 medium eBay. On this website, people are able to buy and sell items from other people or businesses. I previously have used eBay therefore I have my own account. Being a member provides me with reminders, a summary of my account, items that I am watching or bidding on, items that I am selling, and items that I have won and not won. When you first go on the site, there are categories to choose from or you can type in what you want. Now that it’s getting closer to Christmas time, there is even a link of Christmas gifts you can purchase for your significant other and family members. You can purchase items from businesses or eBay users.
eBay relies heavily on trust. People must trust the person that they are buying the item from that it is exactly what they said it was and that they ship it to them. What helps with this is the option of rating the seller and making comments about them. People are less likely to buy a product from you if you have a low percentage and there are negative comments written about you. I once purchased an item on eBay and never received it, but thankfully to the new payment system PayPal (electronic way of making payments and money transfers), I received my money back. You also get feedback from the seller so if you did not have a good transaction due to not paying fast or not paying at all, that hurts your reputation as a buyer.
I really do not know that much about eBay and plan to do a lot of research to further my knowledge and become a better user on it.
eBay relies heavily on trust. People must trust the person that they are buying the item from that it is exactly what they said it was and that they ship it to them. What helps with this is the option of rating the seller and making comments about them. People are less likely to buy a product from you if you have a low percentage and there are negative comments written about you. I once purchased an item on eBay and never received it, but thankfully to the new payment system PayPal (electronic way of making payments and money transfers), I received my money back. You also get feedback from the seller so if you did not have a good transaction due to not paying fast or not paying at all, that hurts your reputation as a buyer.
I really do not know that much about eBay and plan to do a lot of research to further my knowledge and become a better user on it.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Issues of Privacy
For today’s reading, we had to read “A privacy paradox: social networking in the United States” by Susan B. Barnes. This reading is about the privacy issues with social networking in regards to teenagers. According to the reading, one of the biggest problems with teenagers interacting in these networks is that they are learning how to use them from their friends, not from their parents or teachers. This is a problem because teenagers reveal most of their intimate thoughts and behaviors online. So when they believe that their information is private, not only do marketers read what is being revealed, but also college administration, teachers, and parents (Barnes, 2006). They need to realize that sharing personal information on social networks with online friends also means sharing with parents, future employees, and university officials. This can directly influence a student’s education, employment, and financial future (Barnes, 2006).
According to the reading, another problem with privacy is that the government agency marketers collect personal data about them using this information. This is seen as a problem because many people don’t even know that their privacy is being jeopardized and they do not know how to keep their personal information safe (Barnes, 2006). According to Barnes, adults are concerned about the invasion of their privacy, while teenagers give up their personal information so willingly.
Later on in the reading, it talks about how when teenagers are giving up their personal information, this information could also be used by data-miners. Some of the solutions discussed in the reading include getting the parents more involved. Also, some schools have tried to make the students aware of the possible dangers of giving up too much information, even not allowing some students and athletes to be on any of these social networks.
After reading this, I realized that I too may be putting too much personal information about me on these networks. Although I do not have MySpace, I do have my name, address, birth date, and e-mail address on Facebook. I did not see it as that much of a problem because I thought my friends were the only ones that could see it. I knew that once I got out of college that I was either going to delete my Facebook, or change the privacy preferences on it so no pictures or information about me was available to anyone I didn’t authorize. After reading this, I might be doing that sooner than later.
Barnes, Susan B. (2006)A privacy paradox: social networking in the United States. First Monday, 11. Retrieved on August 21, 2008 from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_9/barnes/index.html
According to the reading, another problem with privacy is that the government agency marketers collect personal data about them using this information. This is seen as a problem because many people don’t even know that their privacy is being jeopardized and they do not know how to keep their personal information safe (Barnes, 2006). According to Barnes, adults are concerned about the invasion of their privacy, while teenagers give up their personal information so willingly.
Later on in the reading, it talks about how when teenagers are giving up their personal information, this information could also be used by data-miners. Some of the solutions discussed in the reading include getting the parents more involved. Also, some schools have tried to make the students aware of the possible dangers of giving up too much information, even not allowing some students and athletes to be on any of these social networks.
After reading this, I realized that I too may be putting too much personal information about me on these networks. Although I do not have MySpace, I do have my name, address, birth date, and e-mail address on Facebook. I did not see it as that much of a problem because I thought my friends were the only ones that could see it. I knew that once I got out of college that I was either going to delete my Facebook, or change the privacy preferences on it so no pictures or information about me was available to anyone I didn’t authorize. After reading this, I might be doing that sooner than later.
Barnes, Susan B. (2006)A privacy paradox: social networking in the United States. First Monday, 11. Retrieved on August 21, 2008 from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_9/barnes/index.html
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Bloggers vs. Traditional Journalists
A blog could be described as a personal diary that one can use to post their ideas and receive feedback on. For my fourth essay, we were assigned to explore the blogosphere and explain our experiences using a blog of our choice. Aaron Barlow, author of Blogging America, talks about how the blogosphere is a public sphere in which people are open to comment on and criticize anything that they please. Barlow raises many themes of how blogging affects the internet, media, and the people who have access to it. One theme that really caught my eye was the tension between bloggers and traditional journalists, when they are not at all that different. These Journalists take on a more vertical prospective, which means they believe there is a passive audience that they have to provide information to. They do not believe that the audience should be writing about things that they may not necessarily have the proper resources and education to write about. The horizontal perspective, in contrast, believes that blogs and amateur journalism can still be successful even if people who write them are not professional journalists. According to Barlow in Chapter 5, traditional journalists fear the horizontal structure that comes with bloggers because they are able to revise and participate on thesejournals, unlike the past. In the blog that I observed for seven days, the author shows that the new breed of journalists is capable of writing informative and successful blogs. This provides a whole new idea of journalism, where the reader can actively participate (Barlow, 2008).
The blog that I decided to use is entitled debbieschussel.com, and it features blogs that cover mostly politics. After reading her biography, I found out that besides from having her own website (where she is the only author of the blogs), she also blogs twice weekly on a column for PoliticalUSA, and occasionally for the New York Post. She is an attorney, a radio talk show host, and has other successes that have led to her being famous. She is #83 on Top Blogs and a finalist for the 2005 Weblog Awards. With all this being said, I believe her to have a lot of credibility and believe what she says is true, and not fictitious. I also do see how opinionated she is, and how a traditional journalist would think she was just ranting and raving. She also can be bias towards certain groups of people, which may hurt her chances of being credible to some.
It is understood that according to Barlow, traditional journalists see blogs simply as opinions. I completely agree. As stated before, I instantly was able to tell that she was Jewish and very Conservative just from reading two or thereof her blogs. However, I also was able to tell that she was very intelligent, knew what she was talking about, and definitely had done research in order to write what she writes. Although I didn’t always side with her beliefs, she had such strong arguments that actually made me think about where she was coming from and even once almost changing my mind. Also, reading people’s comments helped me to think about it from her point of view. This is something that a journalist would have a lot of trouble doing since they do not get reader participation.
One thing that I was disappointed about was that even though her website is a blog where people are suppose to leave all type of comments, there was not a lot of negative feedback. This plays into the belief that blogs aren’t interesting to everyone except the group of people that share common interests. One of the negative comments that I did see, was someone agreed with the paper and said that Debbie was wrong .Then, someone else commented after about them being a “troll”. I wouldn’t be surprised if the person who did write that to Debbie was in fact a journalist agreeing with the paper, or just someone who was an Obama fan. This is another form of tension that goes on. I also never received any feedback when I posted a comment, on debbieschlussel (gamegrl23).I found it funny that when Debbie was asked why she moved from journalism to blogging, she actually replied that she wanted to do something more creative. This is another tension where bloggers see themselves as creative and intelligent, where traditional journalists just see them as ranting.
Although there is tension between the two groups of people, I believe in the long run it would be better for them to come together and help each other out. There are blogs out there that I find absolutely unintelligent and ignorant, so I can see where journalists are coming from. There are also people who comment and blog irrelevant things which can frustrate anyone. However, there are two sides to every story. As much as these journalists disagree with blogging, it is inevitable to stop it and blogging will only get more and more popular.
Bibliography
Barlow, Aaron. (2008). Blogging America. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
The blog that I decided to use is entitled debbieschussel.com, and it features blogs that cover mostly politics. After reading her biography, I found out that besides from having her own website (where she is the only author of the blogs), she also blogs twice weekly on a column for PoliticalUSA, and occasionally for the New York Post. She is an attorney, a radio talk show host, and has other successes that have led to her being famous. She is #83 on Top Blogs and a finalist for the 2005 Weblog Awards. With all this being said, I believe her to have a lot of credibility and believe what she says is true, and not fictitious. I also do see how opinionated she is, and how a traditional journalist would think she was just ranting and raving. She also can be bias towards certain groups of people, which may hurt her chances of being credible to some.
It is understood that according to Barlow, traditional journalists see blogs simply as opinions. I completely agree. As stated before, I instantly was able to tell that she was Jewish and very Conservative just from reading two or thereof her blogs. However, I also was able to tell that she was very intelligent, knew what she was talking about, and definitely had done research in order to write what she writes. Although I didn’t always side with her beliefs, she had such strong arguments that actually made me think about where she was coming from and even once almost changing my mind. Also, reading people’s comments helped me to think about it from her point of view. This is something that a journalist would have a lot of trouble doing since they do not get reader participation.
One thing that I was disappointed about was that even though her website is a blog where people are suppose to leave all type of comments, there was not a lot of negative feedback. This plays into the belief that blogs aren’t interesting to everyone except the group of people that share common interests. One of the negative comments that I did see, was someone agreed with the paper and said that Debbie was wrong .Then, someone else commented after about them being a “troll”. I wouldn’t be surprised if the person who did write that to Debbie was in fact a journalist agreeing with the paper, or just someone who was an Obama fan. This is another form of tension that goes on. I also never received any feedback when I posted a comment, on debbieschlussel (gamegrl23).I found it funny that when Debbie was asked why she moved from journalism to blogging, she actually replied that she wanted to do something more creative. This is another tension where bloggers see themselves as creative and intelligent, where traditional journalists just see them as ranting.
Although there is tension between the two groups of people, I believe in the long run it would be better for them to come together and help each other out. There are blogs out there that I find absolutely unintelligent and ignorant, so I can see where journalists are coming from. There are also people who comment and blog irrelevant things which can frustrate anyone. However, there are two sides to every story. As much as these journalists disagree with blogging, it is inevitable to stop it and blogging will only get more and more popular.
Bibliography
Barlow, Aaron. (2008). Blogging America. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
blog #5
Today, being Veteran’s Day, I figured that Debbie would’ve posted a lot of blogs about it. To my surprise, she only posted one. I had the same feelings as she did about how not a lot of attention from the media dedicated to this day. I would’ve never even have known based on the Wall Street and Albany news that it was a holiday and actually a parade down the road from me occurred. I commented, under the name gamegrl23, about how I agreed with her and enjoyed the two pictures that she put up. I also decided to look at her movie reviews today, which I had not done before. I felt she was a little harsh on one particular movie, “Role Models”, because I didn’t think it was as bad as she is. I also found it interesting that she had a “Discussion” tab on her blog that was a group dedicated to promoting, discussing, and publicizing her writings. The category that was used for what type of group it was is “Journalism.” One question that was asked on her discussion board was about how she jumped from journalism to something more creative. I find this interesting because people think of blogging as more creative then journalism, something that professional writers may have a problem with.
Monday, November 10, 2008
blog #4
One of the blogs that Debbie wrote today was about the USA today paper and how it was promoting tourism to Iran. She goes on to say that now with Obama as president-elect, we will be seeing a lot more of these types of things. What was very interesting today was that someone stuck up for the paper and disagreed with Debbie, than was later called a troll by another commenter. I find this interesting because I had yet so see any type of troll activity, but I guess after today there is. One criticism I do have for Debbie’s blogs is that sometimes they are just too long. A lot of this is due to the fact that she posts a lot of long paragraphs from newspapers. She also is very harsh on Obama and other Democrats, but after all the wrong and mean things that have and are still being said about McCain, it’s such a change to hear Obama bashing. A lot of her writing also has a lot of emphasis on Jewish people and the false information that has been passed through history. With her being Jewish, it’s kind of hard to look past any type of bias that she may have.
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