eBay is the world’s largest online sales platform with over 150 million active users in over 190 countries. It was founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar and has since become a brand known all over the world. Here, we take a look at the history, origins and activities of eBay, as well as the services it provides and its core values and mission.
eBay was created by Pierre Omidyar and is currently divided into three main business segments: Marketplaces (where retail consumers and businesses trade with each other), eBay Enterprise (listing shops and small business products), and PayPal. Though its origins go back to auctions, today it has evolved into a large commercial trading platform with many types of offers, including fixed-price retail goods.
eBay’s mission is to “connect buyers and sellers around the world by empowering people to trade virtually anything through online auctions” – which it has been doing right from the start. The company provides a platform for trading in both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) relationships.
EBay’s core values are leadership, innovation and teamwork. He pays a lot of attention to employing the best people for his work. It has an open culture that takes in new perspectives, accepts change and encourages employees to share their own ideas to improve the way it operates. The eBay Foundation, which is eBay’s formalized charity program, was established in 1999 and has donated over $ 500 million to various initiatives.
EBay marketplaces cover over 800 categories, 476 of which are in the United States alone. The most important markets are North America, Great Britain and Australia. The company’s greatest strengths are its strong brand recognition. MarkBay has very committed users, strong loyalty and considerable cultural diversity.
eBay currently consists of several well-known brands:
- eBay.com, which is one of the world’s most popular online shopping sites, used by both consumers and businesses.
- Half.com to sell new or used items at a fixed price.
- Gumtree for UK classified ads.
- Craigslist, which is an online community bulletin board listing jobs, housing, goods for sale, services, discussions and other categories; is available in over 700 cities in 70 countries.
- StubHub !, which is an online ticket marketplace for buying and selling tickets for sports, theater and other live entertainment events.
- The eBay Classifieds group is an classifieds portal with over 100 global sites that connects buyers and sellers through online classifieds.