Forum Moderators: rogerd
I just caught the re-run, and thought it was quite interesting when they showed the fraud division and how bit of how it worked. Pretty good piece if you catch it. It's funny how ebay is really "old" in the online world, but the legal ramifications are really just starting to be established and create precedents.
Ebay sure has changed the face of retail and the web imho. The interviewed Meg Whitman and Omid A. on some of the issues their facing Ebay. Including fraud, fees, ecommerce, globalization and more.
Ebay has turned into a cultural phenomena. Both for success stories and record level of fraud. The way they implemented the idea of user feedback has been revolutionary and will impact ecommerce for years to come.
It was quite interesting seeing some of the things they had to debate about NOT auctioning off. A family for rent, breast milk, guns, and other questionable things. Over 100k customer srvices requests per DAY. I would imagine you have to yell quite loud to get through redtape.
This show really demonstrated the unique struggle between a large corporation and their very vocal community of buyers and sellers.
If ebay was a country, they would be the 9th most populous country in the world. 1/2 of revenues come from outside the US. It's amazing how many ambitious business owners have made a living off the big E. Whole companies dedicated to drop shipping/packaging. It's astounding the franchising and micro-economies that are spawning around ebay.
Only 15% of transactions are international at this point. Makes you wonder about the worldwide economic impact of the "ebay model" at the very least. 10k ebayers at ebay live. Lost $13 billion in one day in trading.
Makes search look little.
How would you handle the major issues that ebay faces? Fraud? Phishing? Buyer protection? Illegal or immoral listings? Community upheaval to new policy? Reputation management? Where will they be in another 10 years?
Like any pioneer, eBay is likely to get the first arrows. For the rest of the world, though, their precedents will have a major effect.
IMO, Amazon has had a major impact too... different clientele, but a huge business community and lots of trend-setting innovations.
