1. eBay Business Case Presentation
Hannah Reilly
Marketing 476

2. What is eBay?
• eBay Inc. is a multinational internet consumer to
consumer corporation founded by Pierre Omidyar
in September of 1995
• eBay Inc. manages eBay.com, an online auction
and shopping website that allows users to buy and
sell goods and services over the internet
• The first item sold on eBay was a broken laser
pointer for $14.83
• eBay.com started as a side hobby for Omidyar until
he realized the potential
• In 1996, Jeffery Skoll was hired as the first President
of the company

3. What is eBay?
• As President, Skoll lead eBay into its first third party
licensing deal, which enabled the company to
grow from 250,000 to 2,000,000 auctions
• In 1998, Meg Whitman was hired as CEO and
President
• Under Whitman's leadership, eBay went public
selling for $53.50 a share on the first day of
trading, $35 more than the target price
• Today eBay has expanded world wide, has
hundreds of millions of users, and over 15,000
employees

4. Decentralized Structure
• eBay is the concept of a
garage sale taken to a
global level, it allows
users to clean out their
garage or attic and
make money
• eBay brings buyers and
sellers together through
auction style listings
broken down into
specific categories

5. Decentralized Structure
• eBay allows users to rate
other users performance
• Through the use of the
feedback forum, users
can give good
recommendations to
honest sellers and warn
other users of dishonest
sellers
• Users interact with each
other to find out specifics
about items and shipping
information

6. Key Competitors
• Craigslist: Online interface that brings buyers and
sellers together, users can search for anything they
wish to buy and sellers can list anything they wish to
sell
• Amazon: Users can search for most any item they
want to buy. Sometimes users are directed to eBay
but other times they are directed to other online
retailers, at times making Amazon a partner but
overall a competitor

7. Key Competitors
• Etsy: An online buying and selling interface that
captured a niche category by specializing in
handmade items and crafts
• Startups: eBay’s biggest competition right now
comes from start up companies such as
Yardsellr, Gazelle, Fab, and B-Stock Solutions

8. User Base
• User base of 233,000,000
• Global presence in 37 markets including the United
States
• Estimated that 1,300,0000 sellers around the world
use eBay as their primary or secondary source of
income

9. Stakeholders
• Over 15,000 employees worldwide
• Business owners who rely on eBay stores to sell their
products
• Buyers and sellers who use eBay as a source of
income or to search for goods or services
• Investors who have purchased stock in eBay
• Venture capital group Benchmark, who funded
$6,700,000 to eBay during its startup

10. Assets and Tools
• Buying and selling is maintained through auction
style listings unique to eBay
• eBay maintains specialty sites for users such as chat
rooms, an answer center where users can get
answers to all of their questions and discussion
boards
• eBay offers a charity auction feature allowing sellers
to donate a portion of their proceeds to a charity of
their choice
• Detailed seller ratings which allow users to rate
sellers in four different categories on a scale of one
to five stars

11. Assets and Tools
• In 1998, eBay purchased PayPal offering a safe and
easy way for users to pay for the products or
services that they purchase on eBay
• Through PayPal eBay is able to offer their buyer
protection policy, which guarantees that buyers will
receive a full refund in the event that they do not
receive their product or service

12. Assets and Tools
• eBay offers buyers the opportunity to earn 2% back
on everything they purchase through eBay Bucks
• eBay Bucks are accumulated for a three month
period, at the end of the three month period eBay
Bucks can be used toward an eBay purchase
• This tool serves to reward buyers and create
customer loyalty

13. Funding
• eBay received their first funding in 1997 when
venture capital firm Bench Mark Capital invested
$6,700,000 in the company
• One year later eBay went public selling its shares on
the New York Stock Exchange

14. Revenue
• eBay’s revenue model is primarily fee based
• eBay charges the seller a transaction fee for every
sale that takes place on its site, the current
transaction fee is 9% of the sale price including
shipping
• Sellers can choose from optional fees to upgrade
their listing such as a bolder font, multiple photos
and multi-category listing
• eBay also earns revenue through owning
PayPal, sellers are charged a transaction fee
through Pay Pal of approximately 3%

15. User to User Distribution
• eBay differs from many online retailers in the way
that it does not carry inventory
• eBay does not actually buy or sell any product but
instead is in the business of connecting buyers and
sellers
• eBay provides technology for e-commerce through
platforms and tools
• eBay is maintained strictly through the use of user
interaction, the site would not exist without active
buyers and sellers

16. Intellectual Property
• The name eBay and the company's colorful logo
are registered trademarks internationally
• When talking about eBay, the name is always to be
spelled “eBay” not “Ebay”, “e-bay”, or any other
way
• Anything containing the eBay name is also
trademarked for example eBay Bucks and domain
names such as ebaymotors.com