EBay began its humble beginnings as an antique flea market in 1995 (Conhaim, 2004) that recognised the growing power of the Internet to reach markets around the world that were formerly deemed impossible. Work began to create this site, and thus www.ebay.com was established to help buyers and sellers of antique goods to communicate more easily and conduct business more efficiently. This online auctioning site drew in many online users, and soon the demand for eBay to expand into other areas of expertise grew until eventually they branched out into all areas of shopping, now covering an expansive list including the following (http://www.ebay.com, 2004):
This sole domination of the online auctioning marketplace was however challenged in 1999, whereby the site experienced technical difficulties and was forced to close down for 22 hours (Queensland University of Technology, 2004). This delay was critical and caused eBay and its customers much distress, resulting in a loss of credibility and trust in the online business. However eBay effectively managed the crisis and overcome this problem, through building a stronger network and waiving fees for the period of shutdown, successfully recovering from what could have been a potentially devastating stage.
It remains today as the industry leader in online auctioning, boasting tens of millions of online members around the world (http://www.ebay.com, 2004). It’s mission is now different to its foundings, aiming to provide a “global trading platform where practically anyone can trade practially anything�. It currently has local websites in the following 17 countries (http://www.ebay.com, 2004):
Further, all other countries can access its home base, http://www.ebay.com, with Latin America accessing eBay through MercadoLibre.com and China through EachNet.
Further information can be found at:
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Angela Klein 20:59, 27 Oct 2004 (EST)
