What is Ebay and how to use it? Ebay online store in Russian: registration, entry, catalog. What is eBay and what are its advantages in comparison with analogues

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Clark's 3rd law.

eBay is one of the most famous IT companies. eBay is (traditional now, of course, but when eBay started, it was just unconventional). Which, before reaching mass success, went through numerous difficulties.

Today, you can hardly meet a person who has never heard of the eBay online auction - a place where you can buy anything from used T-shirts to exclusive vintage jewelry.

Sama begins at the end of 1995. It was then that the world saw the first version of the online auction. The owner of a consulting company, Pierre Omidyar, created a unique Internet space for that time.


According to one version, the programmer Omidyar decided to please his wife, who had a very unusual hobby - collecting PEZ dispensers (in other sources, these were candy boxes, but by the way, this is no longer important). It was this desire that gave Omidyar the idea of ​​creating a platform where his wife could exchange finds with other collectors. But in the eBay company itself, this legend is denied, and in 2002 Adam Cohen’s book “The Perfect Store” was published, in which the legend was dispelled like smoke: it turns out that one of the PR managers of the auction invented a beautiful story about the hobby of the programmer’s wife back in 1997.

But there is still some truth in the legend: the original version of eBay (called AuctionWeb, not eBay) was conceived as a hobby, which eventually grew into a serious business. The first transaction through the company's auction took place in the very first days of work. Some say that Omidyar first put up for sale an old broken laser pointer, and another source claims that it was a laser printer, also broken.

The proceeds from the deal were $13.83.

Gradually, the eBay online auction gained popularity, and with it new visitors who want to get rid of unnecessary things. Two years after the first sale, Pierre looked at his passion differently. He decided to turn an amateur online auction into a full-fledged business.

And interesting is the fact that Omidyar himself spent only $30 on eBay. And the number of lots at the end of the first year already exceeded 1000 per month.

The name AuctionWeb disappears in 1997, replaced by the well-known and familiar today - eBay. Thus, Omidyar was able to tie into his consulting company Echo Bay Technology Group. EchoBay.com, as it turned out, was already busy. It was owned by the Echo Bay Mines gold mining company. This forced Pierre to shorten the name of the online auction site to eBay.com.

The success of the auction was ensured - eBay.com at that time was the only site that did not take commissions for the transaction. Similar projects, as a rule, took from their visitors up to 35% of a successfully completed transaction.

And it was the surge in deals that made Omidyar change his mind about eBay. Prior to this, the young founder did not even think about seriously developing an online auction. Pierre realized that he was able to come up with and implement something relevant. Having decided to put all his efforts into the development of the project, the programmer comes up with the principles that were taken as the basis for the existence of eBay:

These three principles are at the core of eBay's work to this day.

In just a couple of years of its history, eBay has achieved visible success and was able to take a leading position among other online platforms in the United States. But along with the transformation of the hobby into a serious business, Pierre faced serious problems: the project required a lot of expenses. In this regard, Omidyar decides to cover part of the costs by introducing a commission on eBay for each successful transaction.

Since then, eBay has charged 6% of the value of the lot.

Then Omidyar realized one more thing: for the further growth and prosperity of his company, a good manager who understands the logic of business processes is needed. During the search for such a person, Omidyar even turned to the founder of Apple - who in those days was free and open for cooperation. However, Jobs could not accept the offer he was interested in, as he returned to his own Apple corporation.

Eventually Pierre Omidyar finds the right person. They become the manager of Hasbro (the production of children's toys) - Margaret Whitman. After the negotiations, Whitman leaves his post in the "toy" company and moves to eBay.

And an interesting coincidence: with the appearance of a CEO in Omidyar's company, competition in the online auction market is sharply intensifying. Large companies like Yahoo and News.com sensed big profits and launched their auctions. And besides, they began to actively promote them.

Yahoo, for example, introduced a commission of 0% for a successful transaction at its auction. eBay, in response to this, began to actively buy a variety of small auctions around the world. In 1999, eBay bought the German auction house Alandom for $43 million. It later became eBay Germany. A year later, Half.com was bought, which later became part of the eBay Marketplace.

In 2001, eBay enters the Latin American market by acquiring local auctions Lokau, iBazar and Mercado Libre. eBay then enters into an agreement with AOL.

Around the same time, eBay began checking sellers and buyers through credit bureau databases. This verification has increased user confidence in eBay. Especially among those who are traditionally afraid to make purchases through online auctions.

What made eBay even more competitive was the addition of cashless payments for purchases (credit cards). This method was then gaining popularity and eBay paid attention to it just in time. The logical conclusion of the introduction of cashless payments was the purchase of the PayPal payment system in 2002. Its value at that time was 1.5 billion dollars. Bought in 1999 under the name Billpoint, it was closed immediately after the purchase of PayPal.

Thus, eBay has become the undisputed leader in the Internet auction market in almost all countries of the world. There are very few states where this is not the case. For example, in Japan, the leading position is permanently held by an online auction from Yahoo.

In 2003, another major deal took place, as a result of which EachNet, the leader in the Chinese e-commerce market, came under the control of eBay. eBay paid $150 million for it.

In a year, eBay buys:

  • the $50 million Indian online auction Baazee.com;

  • a 25% stake in craigslist.org;

  • shares of "Korean online trading company";

  • the $225 million Marktplaats.nl project.

eBay's last deal that year was the purchase of rent.com for a then-record $415 million, of which the company paid $30 in stock.

eBay's 2005 purchase of Shopping.com for $635 million, followed by a $2.6 billion acquisition of VoIP by Skype.

In 2006, eBay bought the Swedish online auction site Tradera.com for $46 million. And a year later - Afterbuy (developer of various software for auctions).

Today, eBay still holds the leading position, which is facilitated by a well-chosen business model. Quite easy to understand, it is based on the help of online auction users: there are rare cases of deception on eBay, because it is possible to leave a review in the seller's profile.

Projects implemented by eBay are presented in more than 20 countries of the world, including only developing India and China. You can sell anything at auction that your heart desires, excluding items that are prohibited by the laws of the country. For example, in the United States, firearms are blacklisted and cannot be sold or bought over the Internet.

For the sake of completeness, here is a list of the most expensive items on eBay. In ascending order of price:

  • 1. Golf game with golf legend Tiger Woods ($425,000)

  • 2. A bat that belonged to the famous baseball player Joe Jackson (the cost was $ 577,610 thousand)

  • 3. Ferrari Enzo ($975 thousand, in December 2005)

  • 4. Resort in the USA, in Western Kentucky, Diamond Lake ($1.2 million)

  • 5 Honus Wagner's 1909 baseball card ($1.65 million)

  • Source 6The only yellow McLaren F1 in 1993 ($1.7 million)

  • 7 Grumman Gulfstream II Aircraft ($4.9 million)

  • 8. A 340-year-old Prince of Tire Shakespeare manuscript that survived the great fire of London in 1666 ($5 million).

And on the list of the most unusual items in the history of eBay was, for example, a cup with the remains of water, which, according to the owner, was taken by Elvis Presley to a concert in North Carolina in 1977 (sold for $455). Another funny thing happened when in 2004 a man decided to sell his ex-wife's wedding dress. To do this, he took a picture of himself in this dress and posted the lot on eBay. He wanted to raise money to buy tickets for the Seattle Marines, but the stakes far exceeded his initial expectations. The seller himself during the auction received a fair amount of marriage proposals from his buyers.

In Runet, the history of eBay began on February 23, 2010. On this day, the eBay International Trade Center in Russian became available at http://www.eim.ru.ebay.eu/. And on June 20, 2012, an eBay representative office in Russia was opened. Vladimir Dolgov became the head of the Russian representative office, who since 2005 has managed the Russian one. It is interesting that Dolgov in 2000-2005. already worked in the field of online sales - in .

On October 8, 2012, Dolgov announced that the Ebay online auction for settlements in Russia would use only the Paypal payment system. And since the withdrawal of funds from Paypal through Russian banks is not available, Russians will not be able to trade on Ebay. Which, of course, is very sad.

This is all of what I wanted to tell about the history of Ebay. Its development will certainly not stop there. And I am sure that we will hear a lot of news from the camp of this online auction.

We wish Ebay every success. May his story continue. And we all - good health to follow this story.

Greetings, dear readers of my blog! Tell me honestly: how many things in your closet that you have long stopped wearing or have never worn at all? And how long ago did you last sort out on a balcony or pantry - storage of unnecessary things?

Or maybe your grandfather was a collector, but you don’t like this hobby, and everything he collected is now gathering dust somewhere on the mezzanine.

Everyone is familiar with this situation: the thing is not needed, but it’s just a pity to throw it away. So why throw it away when you can sell it for a profit? I suggest you take a closer look at eBay online auction.

What is eBay?

Ebay - what is it and how to use it? This is a company that runs a site of the same name where anyone can buy or sell almost anything. There are no geographical boundaries - wherever a person is, he can buy any product and receive it (if it is not prohibited in the country of his stay, of course).

EBay is an intermediary between the seller and the buyer. It provides a venue for the auction. Previously, he did this for free - to attract an audience, but now sellers pay for a "place" for their lot, and also give 10% of its value after the sale. There are other paid services, but they are not required. Well, the buyer pays only for the purchase itself, he does not need to make any additional contributions.

Advantages and disadvantages

Why is eBay so popular? Because a large number of buyers attracts new sellers and vice versa. This is such a vicious circle or, better to say, a spiral - due to this, the site develops more and more.

This site has many analogues. The most popular in Runet can be called Avito and Yulu. These are good online stores, but not so famous all over the world. It is more profitable to use eBay, because there are many times more potential buyers there.

Don't worry about not being able to buy or sell something to someone from the other side of the world because of the language barrier. The site is translated into various languages, including Russian.

Turning to the history of the creation of this site, I learned that the first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer - the buyer collected them. What I mean is that everything can be sold. There will be at least one person who will be interested in what you want to throw away. What a good thing the Internet is!

Of course, not everything is so smooth. On eBay, as elsewhere, there are scammers: you paid for some product, but in the end you were simply scammed - no money, no "purchased" thing. There are many other unpleasant situations. How to isolate yourself from them? The most important thing is to be attentive to the seller.

First, they are all evaluated by users of the resource. If the rating is low, it is better to choose another seller. Be sure to read the reviews - the more, the better. It is also worth paying attention to what was sold from the account before. It is quite possible that the scammer has “earned” a good rating for himself on cheap things, and now he is trying to sell something expensive and scam the buyer after payment.

I advise you not to rush to the first product you like in the catalog - spend a little more time, dig deeper, maybe you will find a better option.

The buyer can also deceive - he will place an order, but then refuse to pay for it. Here again, you need to pay attention to the rating (yes, buyers also have it).

As for payment, all monetary transactions are made using. So you will need to register there. You can do without it, the site has an adaptation for accepting payments from cards, but PayPal has many advantages.

The site itself has a Security Center where you'll find lots of tips and a Conflict Resolution Center. As you can see, eBay tries to keep fraud on its platform to a minimum. The company cares about its customers and if you are careful you will be fine.

Your online store

If you are interested in such a business, you can create and. You will buy things on the same eBay or Aliexpress and sell them from Russia. This can be difficult to do on your own, so I want to advise you on the course of Mikhail Rusakov " Creating an online store on OpenCart ».


It is inexpensive, 4700 rubles, from it you will get all the necessary knowledge and even more. It's even easier to create a landing - . I have prepared for you in this case Sergey Sadovnikov's course .


Well, now you know what eBay is and how it can help you in business. I hope this article has been helpful. If so, then tell your friends about the blog and subscribe to public Start Luck Vkontakte !

Well, I wish you good luck in all your endeavors and say goodbye!

The history of development

The famous story about how eBay was created so that Pierre's fiancée could trade PEZ dispenser toys with other collectors was made up in 1997 by the company's public relations manager, which was later confirmed by the company itself.

The first item sold on AuctionWeb was Omidyar's faulty laser pointer for $13.83. After contacting the buyer, Pierre asked him, "did you understand that the laser pointer is faulty?". In a reply email, the buyer explained, "I am a collector of faulty laser pointers."

Initially, AuctionWeb was completely free, and gradually began to attract sellers and buyers. By the end of 1995, the site was hosting thousands of auctions.

Business model

The main idea of ​​eBay is to provide sellers with an online platform to sell any goods. The eBay company itself acts only as an intermediary in the conclusion of the contract of sale between the seller and the buyer. Payment for the goods and its shipment takes place without the participation of eBay. Sellers pay a fee to use the platform, usually consisting of a listing fee and a percentage of the sale price. For buyers, using eBay is free. Since eBay's profit is directly dependent on the volume of sales made using this platform, there are sufficient liberal conditions on it. Any goods and services that do not violate the laws of the country in which the corresponding eBay affiliate is registered and are not blacklisted by eBay are allowed to be sold.

When selling, the seller has the opportunity to choose one of three models:

  • Auction sale English Online Auction

This is the selling method that has made eBay so successful. The seller indicates the starting price of the lot, the start time of the auction and its duration. Anyone who is interested can place a certain bid on this lot at any time, but the bid may be outbid by other potential buyers. Current rates are available for viewing at any time. The participant of the auction, whose bid was the largest at the time of its end, receives the right to purchase the goods. The final purchase price is not equal to the maximum bid, but exceeds the second highest bid by one currency unit (for example, USD or EUR). Thus, eBay implements a second-price auction (a special case of the Vickrey auction).

  • Sale at a fixed price English fixed price

The seller offers his goods at a predetermined price ( Buy It Now) until a certain point (end of trading). The first bidder who agrees to pay the specified price receives the right to purchase. It is possible to combine a fixed price sale with an auction sale.

  • Advertisement English ad format

The seller creates a perpetual listing that will run on the section of the eBay website that lists only the seller's items. In similar sections called eBay shop, the seller can create listings without specifying an expiration date. Additionally, this section lists the goods of this seller that are currently sold at auction or at a fixed price.

In addition, eBay offers services to facilitate the conclusion and execution of a contract. These include, in particular, the Skype VoIP system and the PayPal online payment system.

The current business strategy of the company is to increase profits by increasing the number of international sales. eBay currently operates in over 20 countries, including China and India. The only country where eBay hasn't been successful so far is Japan, where Yahoo dominates the online auction market almost exclusively.

Intermediaries

Despite the fact that the eBay auction has several local branches (in the UK, Germany, Holland, and other countries), it does not have its own branch in Russia, although the Russian version of the site has recently opened. Many sellers at the auction also do not send their goods to Russia and the CIS countries for fear of fraud. For this reason, services of intermediaries offering services for the purchase and delivery of goods from the eBay auction to Russia and the CIS countries have been developed.

Differences between online auctions and traditional ones

An Internet auction, also known as an “online auction”, is organized via the Internet. Unlike conventional auctions, online auctions are not held on the basis of the personal participation of buyers in them, but remotely. You can participate in them from anywhere in the world and make bids through the auction website or a special computer program. The moment of the end of the online auction, unlike traditional auctions, is predetermined by the seller himself when the goods are put up for auction. In ordinary auctions, the struggle goes on as long as the auction rates rise. At the end of the online auction, the buyer must transfer money to the seller by bank transfer (less often - in cash, for example - upon receipt of the goods in person), and the seller is obliged to send the goods to the buyer by mail to almost any country in the world. The boundaries of the possible shipment of goods are indicated by the seller in advance. Internet auctions are an integral part of e-commerce.

Unusual situations at the auction

These should include:

  • Making changes to the description of the lot after it is put up for auction.
  • Changing the initial price of the lot, the cost of shipping and the form of payment.
  • Early withdrawal of the lot from the auction.
  • Crossing out an unwanted buyer.
  • Refusal to participate in the auction after the bid.
  • Refusal of the buyer to pay for the goods.
  • Non-receipt of goods after payment.
  • Refusal to return funds for the received goods that do not match the description.
  • Latest changes on the eBay auction

Since February 2008:

  1. The seller has no right to leave negative or neutral feedback: either positive or none.
  2. On the German auction site - ebay.de, in the case of an initial price of 1 euro and the non-sale of the goods, the seller does not pay anything to the auction.

Acquisitions

  • In May, eBay acquires the online payment system Billpoint, which was later shut down after acquiring Paypal.
  • In 1999, eBay acquired Butterfield & Butterfield, which was sold in 2002 to Bonhams.
  • In 1999, eBay acquired the Alando auction from Mark and Oliver Zamwer for $43 million, which was then converted to eBay Germany.
  • In June, eBay buys Half.com, later integrated into the eBay Marketplace.
  • In August, eBay buys Mercado Libre, Lokau and iBazar, the largest Latin American online auction sites.
  • eBay acquires PayPal in July for $1.5 billion.
  • 11 July eBay Inc. acquires EachNet, a leading Chinese e-commerce company, for approximately $150 million.
  • June 22 eBay acquires Baazee.com, India's leading auction site, for approximately $50 million.
  • On August 13, eBay acquires a 25% stake in craigslist.org by acquiring an existing shareholder.
  • In September, eBay makes significant progress in the Korean market by acquiring 3 million shares of Korean online trading company for approximately 125,000 Korean won (about US$109) per share.
  • In November, eBay takes over Marktplaats.nl for €225 million. It was a German company that owned 80% of the auction market in the Netherlands and received income mainly from the sale of advertising.
  • On December 16, eBay acquires rent.com for $30 million in cash and $385 million in eBay stock.
  • In May, eBay takes over Gumtree, a network of advertising sites in the UK.
  • In June, eBay acquires Shopping.com, a site that provides product comparison and price comparison services, for $635 million.
  • In August, eBay buys Skype for $2.6 billion in cash and stock.

Some of the most valuable items sold on eBay

  1. Shakespeare's 340-year-old Prince of Tire manuscript that survived the great fire of London in 1666 (£5m)
  2. Grumman Gulfstream II aircraft ($4.9 million)
  3. 1993 yellow McLaren F1 ($1.7 million) (There is only one yellow McLaren F1 in the world)
  4. Honus Wagner baseball card Honus Wagner) 1909 ($1.65 million)
  5. Diamond Lake Resort, Western Kentucky, US ($1.2 million)
  6. Bat of famous baseball player Joe Jackson "Black Betsy" ($577,610)
  7. Golf game with legendary golfer Tiger Woods ($425,000)

Largest Items

One of the largest items sold on eBay is a World War II submarine sold by a small New England town when the city decided it no longer needed the relic.

Biggest failed auction

One of the largest items ever auctioned was a decommissioned aircraft carrier. The item was created by an anonymous Brazilian seller on eBay Motors.

Unusual Items

  • In June, Utah resident Karolyne Smith sold the right to permanently tattoo someone's advertisement on her forehead for $10,000. The popular virtual casino Golden Palace took advantage of this offer.
  • In May, a Volkswagen Golf previously owned by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who had been elected Pope Benedict XVI a month before) was sold for €188,938.88. The buyer was GoldenPalace.com casino
  • In 2004, a Seattle man sold a photograph of himself wearing his ex-wife's wedding dress. Much to his surprise, he got much more for this shot than he bargained for. At first, he just wanted to sell the dress to get some money for it to buy Seattle Mariners tickets, but the bids exceeded several thousand dollars, and the seller himself received many offers of a hand and heart from buyers.
  • In September 2004, the owner of MagicGoat.com sold the contents of his trash can to a high school art teacher whose students wrote essays about the trash.
  • 50,000 year old mammoth. The giant was put up for sale in 2004 by its German owner due to lack of storage space and was sold for £61,000. Experts confirm that this is one of the best preserved mammoth skeletons in the world, containing 90% of the original bones.
  • The owner of Cockeyed.com sold an ad space on his site equal to one pixel for 21 days for $100.
  • Water that was allegedly left in a cup Elvis Presley took with him to a North Carolina concert sold for $455.
  • American artist painting Bill Stoneham"The Hands Resist Him", for sale with a mystical backstory that tells about unusual phenomena associated with it.
  • The California city of Bridgeville has been put up for auction three times. In 2002, it was sold for $1.77 million, but after inspecting the "purchased item" the buyer backed out of the deal. In 2006, another owner put it up for auction for $1.75 million. Another owner tried to sell it for $1.3 million for several months.

Cases of deception

Despite a relatively low percentage of cases, deception and scams still occur on eBay.

The most important fraud prevention mechanism is eBay's user rating system. After each transaction, both the seller and the buyer can leave a review about the partner that affects his rating (eng. reference). There are three rating options: "positive", "negative", or "neutral". A review is a brief commentary on a completed transaction. Since 2008, sellers have been prohibited from giving negative feedback to buyers.

In the event of fraud, the buyer or seller can file a complaint with eBay, as well as use legal methods to influence the partner. However, in most cases, with a low purchase value, only the eBay rating system is used.

see also

Notes

Bibliography

  • Baikov V.D., Baikov D.V. How to learn how to work on the eBay Internet auction. - DMK-Press, 2007. - S. 192. - ISBN 5-94074-354-4

Serebryakov D. eBay. - ruebay.ru, 2007. - S. 55.

  • Safonova Elena Anatolievna Secrets of the international eBay auction for Russians. Home-based business. - M.: "Williams", 2007. - S. 144. - ISBN 978-5-8459-1294-7

Links

  • eBay USA(English)
  • eBay Australia(English)
  • eBay UK(English)
  • eBay Germany(German)
  • eBay Canada(English)
  • eBay Russia(Russian)
  • eBay Ukraine(Russian)

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I suggest watching a video tutorial that tells about the auction eBay, its advantages with examples of comparing prices for goods. The continuation of this mini video course is available at this link “Mini video course: How to buy on eBay“. The author of the video course is Vasily Kupchikhin. If you have any questions about the video tutorial, then this article is at your service.

Summary of the article:

The success of eBay is inextricably linked with the history of the emergence of this online auction, the longer something exists, the more famous and popular it becomes, more and more users learn about this phenomenon. The same thing happened with eBay, only according to the best scenario of those that could develop over the years. Okay, I will not detain you, I will give just a couple of facts from history eBay, This will be quite enough for you to understand how authoritative an online auction is. eBay in the Internet.

A bit of eBay history

eBay was created in 1995, by the standards of the Internet, this is a very long time ago, at that time the domain zone .RU was only one year old! Over the past years, the auction has become global, national branches have appeared in more than 30 countries, including Russia. Items currently on the online auction eBay divided into more than 4 thousand categories.

What is an online auction?

What is eBay ?

What's happened eBay? Almost half a million Russians ask this question. And these are just statistics for this particular request, but there are also potential users of this online auction who ask using synonyms or various transcriptions of this phrase, for example: What is ebay? What is ebay? Thanks to various variations, the total number of such requests approaches a million users. What happens every month more than a million (I take into account other search engines) Russians - Internet users wonder: “What is eBay?”. If you asked the same question What's happened eBay? “then you are on the right track site, this article will tell you about that” What is eBay? ” and the main advantages of shopping on eBay.

The security of transactions is ensured by the buyer protection system eBay and the system for protecting transactions of the payment system PayPal. And in case of any problems and disputes, the buyer may demand a full or partial refund of the funds paid for the goods and its delivery. In most cases, if the seller refuses, paid by the buyer for the goods and delivery, supervision services eBay and transaction protection systems of the payment system will consider all the nuances of the problem and make a decision. As a rule, such decisions are made in favor of the buyer.

Did this article help you? Perhaps your friends will like it too, tell us about the article on social networks. To always be up to date with the latest auction newseBaydo not forget to subscribe to new articles of the site through It's free and won't cause you any inconvenience. See you on the waves .

Are you ready to shop around the world on eBay?

1. General information about the eBay contest

2. History of development

3. Business model

Sale by sale under the hammer

- Sale at a fixed price

4. Reasons for the effectiveness of the business model

5. Services competition

6. Intermediaries

7. Differences between online auctions and traditional ones

8. Registration and rules for tender eBay

- Trade

End of sales

Delivery

Rules eBay

9. Is it profitable to buy on eBay

10. What to sell

11. How to list lots

12. Non-standard situations on competition

13. Acquisitions

14. Interesting facts

Particularly valuable items

Largest Items

Biggest Failed competition

Unusual Items

15. Cases of deception

ebay- it American organization providing services in the areas of online auctions (the main field of activity), online stores, instant payments, VoIP. Operates the eBay.com website and its local versions in several countries, owns Paypal and Skype.

eBay is the largest online auction with hundreds of millions of registered users, a huge number of simultaneously exhibited on lots in more than 3 thousand categories, about thirty branches around the world.

General information about the tendereBay

Every month, 1.5 billion pages are viewed on eBay! eBay is a turnover of billions of dollars. The popularity of this online auction is also evidenced by the fact that even eBay seller accounts are listed on bargaining. Here you can buy and sell everything that is not prohibited by law - from stickers on a PC keyboard to ocean yachts. In general, no one can compete with this giant today.

On eBay, goods are presented not only physical. individuals, but also firms that periodically hold grandiose sales on the most "delicious" prices. On the eBay contest, you can buy any product many times cheaper than in your hometown, here it is quite possible to buy a normal computer for $ 100-150, a decent cell phone for $ 10-20. Now imagine how much you could resell a computer and telephone set purchased for such prices in your hometown, even if delivery would it cost the same?

So, the first thing you need is to master the navigation on the eBay tender site. The most profitable for trading is naturally the North American branch of eBay under the hammer, much more is exhibited here. lots and at a better price compared to other branches, but, unfortunately, there is no support for the Russian language on the site. If you have problems with English, use the PROMT online text and web page translation service - translate.ru or the Russian localization of the Maxthon browser. As a rule, an ordinary Runet user "knows" English only with a dictionary, i.e. no way.

Anyone, not even an “advanced” user of the network, will now tell you that the concept of “network” has now firmly entered the life of the Internet community. People who are far from computers and the World Wide Web, having heard enough stories of acquaintances about buying goods “that are not found anywhere else” and about “fabulously low prices”, begin to feverishly join the Internet industry. And very often they face certain difficulties, not understanding the basic rules and moments of network trading.

State/Province/Region For example: Krasnodarskiy kray

Primaries telephone telephone set, including the area code in brackets.

Email address Your email. I advise you not to use well-known mail servers (hotmail.com, Yahoo.com, Mail.ru, etc.), as in this case the tender will require additional information about you.


Re-enter email address Re-enter your email manually.

Create an eBay user ID Enter your eBay user ID. This is sort of like a login and will be used in the URL of your auction pages when you start trading yourself. Therefore, it is desirable to come up with a more or less meaningful one. Attention! Do not use your email as user ID! The use of the word "eBay" is also prohibited. To check the availability of the invented user ID, click the "check Availability of user ID" button. If it is already taken, then eBay will offer its options below.

Create password Create and enter your password (minimum 6 characters). Never, under any circumstances, tell anyone your password, even if you receive an email supposedly from eBay! Be aware that eBay fake emails are often used by scammers!

Re-enter password Re-enter password.

Secret question Select a Secret Question. You will need an answer if you forget your password.

Secret answer Enter the answer to the Secret Question. For example: Ivanova

Date of birth Date of your birthday - month, day, year.

I agree to the following: Check the box to agree to the eBay User Agreement and Privacy Policy.

Now press the "CONTINUE" button to proceed to the second stage of registration.

At this stage, your email will be verified. Check your mail. You will receive an email with the subject "Complete Your eBay Registration" (usually comes very quickly). In the body of the email, click on the "Activate Your eBay Membership" link. If the link does not work, then find the confirmation code in the letter (next to "Write down this confirmation code”), follow the link below and enter the code and email used during registration manually. Seeing the inscription “Congratulations, user ID! You can now bid and buy" consider the 2nd stage of registration on eBay completed. After successful registration, you will additionally receive an email with the subject “Welcome to eBay!”. You have become the owner of a virtual value that you can sell (the higher you can raise your rating on the eBay tender, the more expensive your account).

After registration, you need to make at least one bet, otherwise your account may be deleted as inactive and you will have to register again. In addition, you need to start earning a rating.


Trading on eBay is based on honesty and member ratings. Points in the rating are earned through the feedback system - "feedback rating system". At the same time, both sellers and buyers can leave comments about each other, which are available for viewing by all participants in the eBay auction sale. For each positive review, +1 point is awarded, for neutral - 0 points, for negative -1. Participants who score at least 10 points receive "insignia" - stars of different colors, ranging from yellow to red "flying star" (100,000 points).

A newly registered person does not yet have any rating and within 30 days he is marked with a "newcomer" badge. Because of this, some sellers may not want to deal with it. Therefore, it is better to start placing bets earlier - this has a positive effect on the rating. Even if you're not ready to buy yet, you need to look around. Some novice sellers specifically buy all sorts of small things on eBay, such as a CD, in order to quickly gain a rating (of course, it is more important for the seller than for the buyer).

Trade

You can buy a product at the competition by placing bets. Each seller, putting up his lot for auction, determines how long they will last. At the end of the auction, the buyer with the highest bid will be entitled to purchase the product. Any bid made can be withdrawn, but according to the rules of the competition, if the auction is over, the winner is obliged to buy the product. If he refuses to do this, then he is threatened with a negative review from the seller, after 3 such reviews, the account of a malicious defaulter may be closed.


It is important to know that the eBay tender has an automatic machine, whose responsibility is to monitor the progress of the auction and raise rates only by the minimum amount (step) set depending on the value of the lot. For example: the step is 1, someone placed $10 per lot, you bet $20 — in this case, the lot price will be $11. If a little later another bidder makes a $15 bid, you will still be in the lead and the lot price will increase to $16. If someone gives 30 dollars, then the cost of the lot will be 21 dollars, and the one who gave 30 dollars will already be in the lead. The competition will send you an e-mail that someone outbid your bid. Some lots have the "Buy It Now" option - this means that the lot will be closed ahead of schedule if any of the buyers agrees to pay the amount specified in this option for the lot.

In the description of each lot there is a date and time of the end of the tender. We recommend making bids or 5-10 minutes before the closing of the lot, in order not to draw too much attention to the lot and not create unnecessary excitement or use the "sniper" program. You can use an online service for this, which is easy to find through any search engine, but it is better to download and install the program on your computer, because. when using the online service, your account may be stolen.


End of sales

At the end of the auction for each lot that you won, eBay sends you an email with the lot number - item number, the seller's login - user ID, the seller's mailing address and the price for which the product was sold. As a rule, the seller also sends you an email with the cost of the lot, the price for shipping and a list of payment methods.

Payment

PayPal (lots are marked with a special icon) is the main payment method for eBay's US affiliate.

Western union is a popular money transfer system.

MoneyGram - a system similar to Western union but rates are slightly lower.

If you live in one of the republics of the former USSR, then in order to interact with the above foreign payment systems, it is best to open an account in the Russian universal processing system Z-PAYMENT, this will make it much easier for you to deposit and withdraw funds on the Internet and transfer money to foreign payment systems. You can learn more about Z-PAYMENT here.

Some professional merchants (usually organizations) accept credit cards, usually through the payment services 2Checkout and CCNow.

Delivery

Usually the seller chooses the shipping method for the product, but eBay rules allow the buyer to choose the shipping method that is more profitable for him.

The seller can send you a package using postal services that have the right to work with international postal items: USPS, and courier EMS or using services that do not have such a right FedEx, TNT, DHL, UPS. The difference is that for the former there is a simplified procedure for customs clearance and customs payments are sometimes much lower.

After sending you the parcel, the seller receives a “tracking number” (almost all operators support this service) - this is a special identification number that is assigned to the parcel, and using this number online, you can track the delivery progress on the operator’s website. After receiving this number, the seller sends it to you as proof that the package has been sent. If the seller did not send you a "tracking number", then ask him to do so.

Customs

Before buying any lot at the competition, please read the list of goods prohibited for import or export in your country and the rules for imposing customs taxes on postal items. This is a rather important topic that requires your close attention.

eBay Rules

Services are free for buyers. Sellers pay a symbolic amount for putting the product up for auction and a small amount from the contract if it is successfully sold. One account on eBay allows you to be both a buyer and a seller at the same time. The tender collects funds from sellers for its services by means of a credit card, information about which must be entered on the competition website by each seller. Once you register on any of the regional eBay sites, you can bid on customs taxes and buy goods at any of the 30 branches. Why are regional branches of eBay created? Firstly, they differ in the interface language and support groups.


And the second main difference is the language for describing the lots, because branches are focused on the population of the country where they are located. Again, any user, having registered once, has the opportunity to buy and sell goods at any of the branches. Under the same login, you can go to any of them. But it is not necessary to do this. all products listed from all eBay branches are added to one large database, accessible from any of the branches. Those. working, for example, with one of the most popular - the American branch, you can buy goods in Federal Republic of Germany, Australia, Poland, etc.

Is it profitable to buy on eBay

Most likely, an ordinary network user, having become acquainted with the eBay network competition, will immediately ask: “Why do I need all this? After all, I can buy a product in any store ... ". Tens of millions of eBay tender users will answer this question unequivocally - because it is profitable. Not just profitable, but VERY PROFITABLE. You get huge advantages not only over the buyers of regular stores, but also over the buyers of online stores. And these advantages are not only in low prices. Let's try to briefly outline the main benefits that you get:

Really very low prices. Sometimes they differ from prices in ordinary and online stores by several orders of magnitude, and this is for the goods of the most famous manufacturers in the world.

Huge product selection. There is no such freedom of choice on any trading platform. Dozens (or even hundreds) of variants of the same product: different configurations, degree of use, cost, etc.

The quality of goods is much higher. For example, most electronics sold on eBay, the so-called. "white assembly", i.e. Product manufactured in USA, Western Europe, Japan, South Korea, etc.

Items are up for auction that you can't buy anywhere else. The newest models of electronic goods, before the appearance of which we still have many months. Also, eBay has long become a kind of Mecca for various kinds of collectors, tuning enthusiasts, fashionistas, etc.


How to explain such low prices? Indeed, sometimes it seems that the seller trades at a loss. There are many factors here. You can start with the basics: try to calculate the cost of a product in a store in your city. The cost of a foreign manufacturer company + "cheating" of a foreign dealer + customs taxes+ cheating one (and sometimes more) domestic dealers. As a result, the price will increase by at least 50-70%, for some popular goods (electronics, cell phones, clothes) it will be up to 200-300% (!!!). This is followed by the fact that in developed countries the prefix used to the name of the product automatically reduces its cost by 50-70%. Also, do not forget that when a new model or modification of a particular product appears with us - in the West it has ceased to be a novelty and, accordingly, the price is much lower.

What to sell

This question will be easier to answer if you say that you can not sell. Ta customs taxes eBay's auction customers are American citizens, the following is a list of prohibited items for import into America:

Alcoholic beverages and substances that lead to a state of intoxication; tobacco trade item; contraceptives or means intended for abortion, as well as printed texts dealing with these issues; perishable food products; medicines, therapeutic and cosmetic products; weapons, including knives, the blade of which opens automatically, ammunition, explosive or flammable substances, matches, agricultural products; drugs; fur; cosmetics; diagnostic tools, as well as any objects that violate legislation USA about copyright.


All goods that do not fall into any of the above categories can be sold at the tender.

How to post lots

In order to sell, you need to create an auction page with a photo of the product, its description, shipping and payment methods, and a return policy. Let's consider sequentially.

Product photo

To add photos to the auction page you need:

Get a digital image of your product.

Get a digital image of your product

Before discussing the various ways to get a digital image of your product, we would like to warn you about the following: do not be tempted to find and copy a photo of a similar product from another seller. You run the risk of misrepresenting the facts and violating law about copyright.

Your photo must be clear and have a contrasting background. How many times have you seen a competition with a poor quality photo? Having a nondescript photo on the auction page is like not having one at all. The photo speaks of the professionalism of the seller. You only have 12 seconds to impress a potential buyer.

Photo Format

To post a photo on the Internet, you need to make a digital image in GIF or JPEG format. These are computer files with a .gif or .jpg extension. You have several options. You can use a digital camera or scan regular photos.


Well, you say, I have photos in GIF or JPEG format, I post them on the Internet, right? Not so fast! Do you have a large file? If it's too big, your auction page can take up to a day to load. Studies have shown that the average customer waits 12 seconds. If your tender has not loaded during this time, the buyer goes to the next seller. Therefore, the photo file should be made as small as possible, but at the same time, without violating the image quality. We recommend not exceeding 30 kilobytes. for such files.

There are 3 ways to reduce the size. We suggest using a combination of all 3.

Reduce the dot density, dpi, (dots per inch, dots per inch) when scanning. You can set 72 dpi, which will significantly increase the scanning speed and give a decent picture quality.

Decrease the visible size of the image. Do not take a photo in full screen. You just need to make it in such a size that you can see the quality and condition of your product.

Apply compression (compression) when saving the image: if it is a GIF file - reduce the number of colors in the image, if JPEG - compression with a decrease in image quality Quality, reducing the quality to 80% is visually indistinguishable from the original, but we recommend compressing up to 40-60% , visually assessing the quality.

There are many recommendations and tips on the web for image quality after scanning. It would be nice, for example, to get rid of moiré after scanning, improve contrast, sharpness, etc. Much depends on whether this image is a scanned image or a digital photograph.

Some auction sites such as Yahoo! and Amazon.com allow you to upload photos to your server. Recently, the eBay contest also began to provide such a service. You can also save photos on your own site.

If you don't have your own site, you need to place the photos on some server. We suggest you find hosting using any search server.

By the way, make sure you put the correct URL for your photo on the auction page.

After you have saved the file on the Internet, you can check it by writing the URL in your browser. If an image appears in the browser, everything is fine. If there is no image, then you need to check everything and correct if necessary.

Clear and high-quality photographs speak of professionalism and, to some extent, stimulate potential buyers.


Description

First of all, in the description you need to indicate the condition of the product. Also provide relevant information about the product. Try to answer the possible questions of potential buyers in the description, this way you will save yourself from the simplest questions that they may have. The description must be clear and, of course, truthful.

Non-standard situations at the competition

These should include:

Making changes to the description of the lot after it is put up for auction.

Changing the initial price of the lot, the cost of shipping and the form of payment.

Early withdrawal of the lot from the auction.

Crossing out an unwanted buyer.

Refusal to participate in the auction after the bid.

Refusal of the buyer to pay for the product.

Non-receipt of the product after payment.

Refusal to return funds for a product received that does not match the description.

Latest changes on the eBay tender

Since February 2008:

The seller has no right to leave negative or neutral feedback: either positive or none.

On the German website of the competition - eBay.de in the case of a starting price of 1 Euro and non-sale of the product, the seller does not pay anything by selling under the hammer.

Acquisitions

In May 1999, eBay acquires Billpoint, an online payment system that was later closed by the Paypal acquisition.

In 1999, eBay acquires the Butterfield & Butterfield tender, which was sold in 2002 to Bonhams.

In 1999, eBay acquired the Alando contest from Mark and Oliver Zamwer for $43 million, which was then converted to eBay Germany.

In June 2000, eBay buys Half.com, later integrated into the eBay Marketplace.

In August 2001, eBay buys Mercado Libre, Lokau and iBazar, the largest Latin American online auction sites.

In July 2002, eBay acquires PayPal for $1.5 billion.

July 11, 2003 eBay Inc. acquires EachNet, China's leading e-commerce organization, for approximately $150 million.

June 22, 2004 eBay acquires Baazee.com, India's leading auction site, for approximately $50 million.


In September 2004, eBay made a significant move in the Korean market by acquiring 3 million shares of Korean online trading Company for approximately 125,000 Korean won (about US$109) per share.

In November 2004, eBay takes over Marktplaats.nl for €225 million. It was a German company that owned 80% of the auction market in the Netherlands and received profit mainly from the sale of advertising.

December 16, 2004 eBay acquires rent.com for $30 million in cash and $385 million in eBay stock.

In June 2005, eBay acquired Shopping.com, a site that provides a comparison service for products and prices, for $635 million.


In August 2005 eBay buys Skype for $2.6 billion in cash and stock.

Interesting Facts

Particularly valuable items

Some of the Highest Value Items Sold on the eBay Contest

340-year-old Shakespeare's "Prince of Tire" manuscript that survived the great fire of London in 1666 (£5 million)

Grumman Gulfstream II aircraft ($4.9 million)

1993 yellow McLaren F1 ($1.7 million) (There is only one yellow McLaren F1 in the world)

1909 Honus Wagner baseball card ($1.65 million)

Diamond Lake Resort, Western Kentucky, USA ($1.2 million)

Bat of famous baseball player Joe Jackson "Black Betsy" ($577,610)


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