Ebay

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eBay Inc. is an American Internet company that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide. In addition to its original U.S. Web site, eBay has established localized Web sites in thirty other countries. eBay Inc. also owns PayPal, Skype,[1] StubHub, and other businesses.
Contents
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* 1 Origins and early history
* 2 International
* 3 Items and services
o 3.1 PayPal-only categories
o 3.2 eBay Express
o 3.3 eBay Specialty Sites
* 4 Auction types
* 5 Bidding
* 6 Profit and transactions
* 7 Acquisitions
* 8 Controversy and criticisms
o 8.1 Fraud
o 8.2 Ebay requires sellers to use Paypal
+ 8.2.1 Australia
+ 8.2.2 United Kingdom
o 8.3 Other controversial practices of users
o 8.4 Stealing eBay accounts
o 8.5 Forgeries
o 8.6 Intellectual property in auctions
o 8.7 Romanian hacker "Vladuz" & website security
o 8.8 Bid Sniping
o 8.9 Other eBay controversies
* 9 Prohibited or restricted Items
* 10 Unusual sale items
* 11 Charity auctions
* 12 Customer support
* 13 Environmental record
* 14 See also
* 15 Notes and references
* 16 Further reading
* 17 External links

[edit] Origins and early history

The online auction Web site was founded in San Jose, California, on September 3, 1995, by French-born Iranian computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb,[2] part of a larger personal site that included, among other things, Omidyar's own tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Ebola virus.[3] In 1997, the company received approximately $5 million in funding from the venture capital firm Benchmark Capital.[4]

The very first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. Astonished, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood that the laser pointer was broken. In his responding email, the buyer explained: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers."[5] The frequently-repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancée trade PEZ Candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media. This was revealed in Adam Cohen's 2002 book, The Perfect Store,[3] and confirmed by eBay.

Chris Agarpao was hired as eBay's first employee and Jeffrey Skoll was hired as the first president of the company in early 1996. In November 1996, eBay entered into its first third-party licensing deal, with a company called Electronic Travel Auction to use SmartMarket Technology to sell plane tickets and other travel products. The company officially changed the name of its service from AuctionWeb to eBay in September 1997. Originally, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. Omidyar had tried to register the domain name echobay.com (the domain has recently been put up for sale) but found it already taken by the Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so he shortened it to his second choice, eBay.com.[6]

eBay went public on September 21[7], 1998, and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires.[5] The company purchased PayPal on October 14, 2002.

[edit] International

In addition to its original U.S. Web site, eBay has established localized Web sites in several other countries:
Country/region ↓ Website ↓ Language ↓ Launch date ↓
Flag of Argentina Argentina http://www.mercadolibre.com.ar/ Spanish 01999-08-02 2 August 1999
Flag of Australia Australia http://www.ebay.com.au/ English 01999-10 October 1999[8]
Flag of Austria Austria http://www.ebay.at/ German 02000-12-18 18 December 2000[9]
Flag of Belgium Belgium http://www.ebay.be/ Dutch, French ?
Flag of Brazil Brazil http://www.mercadolivre.com.br/ Portuguese ?
Flag of Canada Canada http://www.ebay.ca/ English, French 02000-04 April 2000[10]
Flag of the People's Republic of China China http://www.ebay.com.cn/ Chinese ?
Flag of France France http://www.ebay.fr/ French 02000-10-05 5 October 2000[11][12]
Flag of Germany Germany http://www.ebay.de/ German 01999-06 June 1999
Flag of Hong Kong Hong Kong http://www.ebay.com.hk/ Chinese, English 02003-12-21 21 December 2003[13]
Flag of India India http://www.ebay.in/ English 02005-03-25 25 March 2005
Flag of Ireland Ireland http://www.ebay.ie/ English 02001-03-29 29 March 2001[14]
Flag of Israel Israel http://www.ebay.co.il/ English ?
Flag of Italy Italy http://www.ebay.it/ Italian 02001-01-15 15 January 2001[15]
Flag of Malaysia Malaysia http://www.ebay.com.my/ English 02004-12-01 1 December 2004[16]
Flag of Mexico Mexico http://www.mercadolibre.com.mx/ Spanish ?
Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands http://www.ebay.nl/ Dutch ?
Flag of New Zealand New Zealand http://pages.ebay.com/nz English 02001-03-29 29 March 2001[14]
Flag of the Philippines Philippines http://www.ebay.ph/ English 02004-11-16 16 November 2004[17]
Flag of Poland Poland http://www.ebay.pl/ Polish 02005-04-22 22 April 2005[18]
Flag of Singapore Singapore http://www.ebay.com.sg/ English 02001-10-24 24 October 2001[19]
Flag of South Africa South Africa http://www.ebay.co.za/ English ?
Flag of South Korea South Korea http://www.auction.co.kr/ Korean 02001-02-15 15 February 2001[20]
Flag of Spain Spain http://www.ebay.es/ Spanish 02002-01-08 8 January 2002[21]
Flag of Sweden Sweden http://www.tradera.com/ Swedish ?
Flag of Switzerland Switzerland http://www.ebay.ch/ German 02001-03-29 29 March 2001[14]
Flag of the Republic of China Taiwan http://www.ruten.com.tw/ Chinese ?
Flag of Turkey Turkey http://www.gittigidiyor.com/ Turkish 02007-05-03 3 May 2007
Flag of the United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates http://www.ebay.ae/ English ?
Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom http://www.ebay.co.uk/ English 01999-10 October 1999[22]
Flag of the United States United States http://www.ebay.com/ English 01995-09-03 3 September 1995
Flag of Uruguay Uruguay http://www.mercadolibre.com.uy/ Spanish ?
Flag of Venezuela Venezuela http://www.mercadolibre.com.ve/ Spanish ?
Flag of Vietnam Vietnam http://www.ebay.vn/ Vietnamese, English 02007-06-27 27 June 2007[23]

[edit] Items and services

Millions of collectibles, decor, appliances, computers, furniture, equipment, vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are listed, bought, and sold daily. In 2005, eBay launched its Business & Industrial category, breaking into the industrial surplus business. Some items are rare and valuable, while many others are dusty gizmos that would have been discarded if not for the thousands of eager bidders worldwide. Anything may be offered for sale as long as it is not illegal and does not violate the eBay Prohibited and Restricted Items policy.[24] Services and intangibles can be sold, too. Large international companies, such as IBM, sell their newest products and offer services on eBay using competitive auctions and fixed-priced storefronts. Separate eBay sites such as eBay US and eBay UK allow the users to trade using the local currency. Software developers can create applications that integrate with eBay through the eBay API by joining the eBay Developers Program.[25] As of June 2005, there were over 15,000 members in the eBay Developers Program, comprising a broad range of companies creating software applications to support eBay buyers and sellers as well as eBay Affiliates.

Controversy has arisen over certain items put up for bid. For instance, in late 1999, a man offered one of his kidneys for auction on eBay, attempting to profit from the potentially lucrative (and, in the United States, illegal) market for transplantable human organs. On other occasions, people and even entire towns have been listed, often as a joke or to garner free publicity. In general, the company removes auctions that violate its terms of service agreement after hearing of the auction from an outsider; the company's policy is to not pre-approve transactions. eBay is also an easy place for unscrupulous sellers to market counterfeit merchandise, which can be difficult for novice buyers to distinguish without careful study of the auction description.

[edit] PayPal-only categories

Beginning in August 2007, eBay required listing in "Video Games" and "Health & Beauty" to accept its payment system PayPal and sellers could only accept PayPal for payments in the category "Video Games: Consoles".[26] Starting January 10, 2007, eBay says sellers can only accept PayPal as payment for the categories "Computing > Software", "Consumer Electronics > MP3 Players", "Wholesale & Job Lots > Mobile & Home Phones", and "Business, Office & Industrial > Industrial Supply / MRO".[27] eBay announced that starting in March 2008, eBay had added to this requirement that all sellers with fewer than 100 feedbacks must offer PayPal and no merchant account may be used as an alternative.[28][29] This is in addition to the requirement that all sellers from the United Kingdom have to offer PayPal.[30]

Further, and as noted below, it is a requirement to offer Paypal on all listings in Australia and the UK.

[edit] eBay Express

April 2006, eBay opened its new eBay Express site, which is designed to work like a standard Internet shopping site to consumers with United States addresses (eBay Express). Selected eBay items are mirrored on eBay Express where buyers shop using a shopping cart to purchase from multiple sellers. The UK version was launched to eBay members in mid October 2006 but on 29 January 2008 eBay announced their intention to close the site[31]. The German version was also opened in 2006 and closed in 2008 (eBay Express Germany).
[edit] eBay Specialty Sites

In June 2006, eBay added an eBay Community Wiki and eBay Blogs to its Community Content which also includes the Discussion Boards, Groups, Answer Center, Chat Rooms, and Reviews & Guides. eBay has a robust mobile offering, including SMS alerts, a WAP site, and J2ME clients, available in certain markets.

Best of eBay is a new specialty site for finding the most-unusual items on the eBay site. Users can also vote on and nominate listings that they find.

eBay Pulse provides information about popular search terms, trends, and most-watched items.

[edit] Auction types

eBay offers several types of auctions.

* Auction-style listings allow the seller to offer one or more items for sale for a specified number of days. The seller can establish a reserve price.
* Fixed Price format allows the seller to offer one or more items for sale at a Buy It Now price. Buyers who agree to pay that price win the auction immediately without submitting a bid.
* Dutch Auctions allow the seller to offer two or more identical items in the same auction. Bidders can bid for any number from one item up to the total number offered.

[edit] Bidding

For auction-style listings, the first bid must be at least the amount of the minimum bid set by the seller. Regardless of the amount the first bidder actually bids, until a second bid is made, eBay will then display the auction's minimum bid as the current high bid. After the first bid is made, each subsequent bid must be equal to at least the current highest bid displayed plus one bidding increment. The bidding increment is established by eBay based on the size of the current highest displayed bid. For example, when the current highest bid is less than or equal to $0.99, the bidding increment is $0.05; when the current highest bid is at least $1.00 but less than or equal to $4.99, the bidding increment is $0.25. Regardless of the amount each subsequent bidder bids, eBay will display the lesser of the bidder's actual bid and the amount equal to the previous highest bidder's actual bid plus one bidding increment. For example, suppose the current second-highest bid is $2.05 and the highest bid is $2.40. eBay will display the highest bid as $2.30, which equals the second-highest bid ($2.05) plus the bidding increment ($0.25). In this case, eBay will require the next bid to be at least $2.55, which equals the highest displayed bid ($2.30) plus one bidding increment ($0.25). The next bid will display as the actual amount bid or $2.65, whichever is less. The figure of $2.65 in this case comes from the then-second-highest actual bid of $2.40 plus the bidding increment of $0.25. The winning bidder pays the bid that eBay displays, not the amount actually bid. Following this example, if the next bidder is the final bidder, and bids $2.55, the winner pays $2.55, even though it is less than the second-highest bid ($2.40) plus one bidding increment ($0.25). However, if the next bidder is the final bidder and bids an arbitrarily large amount, for example $10.00 or even more, the winner pays $2.65, which equals the second-highest bid plus one bidding increment.

For Dutch Auctions, which are auctions of two or more identical items sold in one auction, each bidder enters both a bid and the number of items desired. Until the total number of items desired by all bidders equals the total number of items offered, bidders can bid any amount greater than or equal to the minimum bid. Once the total numbers of items desired by all bidders is greater than or equal to the total number offered, each bidder is required to bid one full bidding increment above the currently-displayed winning bid. All winning bidders pay the same lowest winning bid.

eBay has established detailed rules about bidding, retraction of bids, shill bidding (collusion to drive up the price), and other aspects of bidding. These rules can be viewed on the help pages.

In 2007, eBay began using detailed seller ratings with four different categories. When leaving feedback, buyers are asked to rate the seller in each of these categories with a score of one to five stars, with five being the highest rating and one the lowest. Unlike the overall feedback rating, these ratings are anonymous; neither sellers nor other users learn how individual buyers rated the seller. The listings of sellers with a rating of 4.3 or below in any of the four rating categories appear lower in search results. Power Sellers are required to have scores in each category above 4.5. [32][33][34][35][36]

[edit] Profit and transactions
This section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (November 2007)

eBay generates revenue from a number of fees. The eBay fee system is quite complex; there are fees to list a product and fees when the product sells, plus several optional fees, all based on various factors and scales. The U.S.-based eBay.com takes $0.20 to $80 per listing and 5.25% or less of the final price (as of 2007). The Mexican eBay "mercado libre" takes 1% (price of the article × number of articles to be sold), and 4.99% of the final price if there is a successful trade. The UK based ebay.co.uk (ebay.co.uk offices) takes from GBP £0.15 to a maximum rate of GBP £3 per £100 for an ordinary listing and from 0.75% to 5.25% of the final price. In addition, eBay now owns the PayPal payment system which has fees of its own.

Under current U.S. law, a state cannot require sellers located outside the state to collect a sales tax, making deals more attractive to buyers. Although some state laws require purchasers to pay sales tax to their own states on out-of-state purchases, it is not a common practice. However, most sellers that operate as a full time business do follow state tax regulations on their eBay transactions.[citation needed] However for the tax called Value added tax (VAT), eBay requires sellers to include the VAT fees in their listing price and not as an add-on and thus eBay profits by collecting fees based on what governments tax for VAT.[37]

The company's current business strategy includes increasing revenue by increasing international trade within the eBay system.[citation needed] eBay has already expanded to over two dozen countries including China and India. The only places where expansion failed were Taiwan and Japan, where Yahoo! had a head start, and New Zealand where TradeMe, owned by the Fairfax media group is the dominant online auction website.

A more recent strategy involves the company increasingly leveraging the relationship between the Ebay auction site and Paypal: the impact of driving buyers and sellers to use Paypal means not only does Ebay turn buyers into clients (as a pure auction venue its clients used to be predominantly sellers) but for each new Paypal registration it achieves via the Ebay auction site it also earns offsite revenue when the resulting Paypal account is used in non-Ebay transactions. In its Q1 2008 results total payment volume via Paypal increased 17% but off the Ebay auction site it was up 61%.[38]

[edit] Acquisitions

Main article: List of acquisitions by eBay

[edit] Controversy and criticisms

eBay has its share of controversy, ranging from its privacy policy (eBay typically turns over user information to law enforcement without a subpoena)[citation needed] to well-publicised seller fraud. eBay claims that their data shows that less than .01% of all transactions result in a confirmed case of fraud. However, eBay states that their stated fraud statistic both undercounts and overcounts fraud.[39]

[edit] Fraud

One mechanism eBay uses to combat fraud is its feedback system. Before eBay's January 29th, 2008, policy-change announcement, at the end of every transaction, both the buyer and seller had the option of rating each other. Both parties had the ability to rate each other and the experience as a "positive", "negative", or "neutral" rating and leave a comment no longer than 80 characters. As of incoming CEO's John Donahoe's announcement however, the option for sellers to leave anything other than positive feedback to buyers was removed.[40][41][42]

Weaknesses of the feedback system include:[43][44]

* Small and large transactions carry the same weight in the feedback summary. It is therefore easy for a dishonest user to initially build up a deceptive positive rating by buying or selling a number of very low value items, such as e-books, recipes, etc., then subsequently switching to fraud. eBay has since restricted digitally-delivered items to classified listings, which do not involve feedback.
* Users and generators of feedback may have different ideas about what it means. eBay offers virtually no guidelines.
* Feedback and responses to feedback are allotted only 80 characters each. This can prevent users from being able to fully list valid complaints.
* Although eBay protects sellers from getting a negative feedback from a deadbeat buyer when the deadbeat buyer/bidder did not respond to Unpaid Item dispute, they do not offer the same protection for a buyer who gets a deadbeat seller.

eBay acknowledges weaknesses in its feedback system on its own policy pages, noting several of the above points.[45]

When a user feels that a seller or buyer has been dishonest, a dispute can be filed with eBay. An eBay account (whether seller, buyer or both) may be suspended if there are too many complaints against the account holder.

Originally, feedback could be left for a seller or buyer whether or not it involved a transaction and could be left multiple times by the same person. While one upside is that it allowed people to offset feedback in case of fortune reversals (as feedback can never be edited or retracted once it is left) and has even allowed people to leave feedback for a seller or buyer simply for answering a question, the downside of this more than offset it as it allowed people to flame others or try to ruin credibility (as every feedback also counted towards one's rating, no matter what). Eventually, one could only leave feedback if they won an auction, and only one feedback message could be left per transaction.

eBay allows Mystery Box and Mystery Envelope auctions; however, these are almost all fraudulent auctions because the seller can manipulate the box contents to make sure it is never a good deal for the buyer.[46] Mystery Envelope auctions offer cash prizes of an undisclosed amount to auction winners. The auction winner usually receives from 10% to 30% of the money he/she paid for the auction back in 'winnings'.[47] Mystery Envelope auctions are considered by many to be illegal lotteries.[citation needed] This was also the case with auctions for "repackaging" of collectible card game cards (such as Magic: The Gathering or Pokemon) with the promise that one of the repackages has an expensive rare card.[citation needed]

Professional scammers target new members to take advantage of their unfamiliarity with how eBay or PayPal work.[48] New members can be easily tricked into thinking there is a special Web site they should make payments through (which is in fact a fake site setup by a scammer) or they may be tricked more easily into using a fake escrow company.

Many complaints have been made about eBay's system of dealing with fraud, leading to its being featured on the British consumer rights television program Watchdog. It is also regularly featured in The Daily Mirror's Consumer Awareness page. The complaints are generally that eBay sometimes fails to respond when a claim is made.

Frauds that can be committed by sellers include:

* receiving payment and not shipping merchandise;
* shipping items other than those described;
* giving a deliberately misleading description;
* knowingly and deliberately shipping faulty merchandise;
* selling counterfeit or bootleg merchandise;
* knowingly selling stolen goods;
* inflating total bid amounts by bidding on their own auction with "shill" account(s), either the seller under an alternate account or another person in collusion with the seller (Shill bidding is prohibited by eBay and, in at least one high-profile case involving Kenneth Walton and his accomplices Kenneth Fetterman and Scott Beach has been prosecuted by the federal government as criminal fraud.);
* misrepresenting the cost of shipping; and
* shipping at a slower service than that paid for.[49]

Frauds committed by buyers include:

* PayPal fraud, namely filing false shipping damage claim with the shipping company and with PayPal;
* receiving merchandise and claiming otherwise;
* returning items other than received; and
* the buyer sending a forged payment-service e-mail that states that the buyer has made a payment to the seller's account (an unsuspecting seller may ship the item before realizing that the e-mail was forged).

Fraud is combated by:

* third-party businesses, such as CheckMEND, compiling lists of stolen goods from local authorities and businesses so eBay consumers can check to see whether the goods they are buying are stolen; and
* third-party software that could potentially eliminate eBay account hijacking by alerting users if they are being tricked into going to a bogus, or "spoof", Web site (see anti-phishing).

[edit] Ebay requires sellers to use Paypal

In some countries, eBay requires sellers to use their Paypal service to facilitate payment, which has led to consumer backlash [50] with the view that Paypal is the only choice that makes sense and so should be the only choice available.[51]

[edit] Australia

In April 2008 eBay announced an introduction of a 'Paypal only' policy in Australia.[52] The new policy would have meant that sellers will only be able to offer Paypal or cash payment on pick-up as payment methods. eBay claims that Paypal is the most secure method of payment.

eBay Australia's Trust & Safety Director Alastair MacGibbon said at the time;

"eBay is no longer willing to stand aside and allow payment methods on the site that are proven to be less safe for consumers. "We're not allowing people to offer unsafe choices, just like in this democracy you can't go out and buy heroin on the streets."[53]

Under the Australian Trade Practices Act 1974, it is unlawful for a company to require the use of a third party's products or services in order for a person to deal with the company, known as Third Line Forcing.[54] eBay submitted a notification under the Act,[55] which provides automatic exemption from this provision unless the notification is subsequently revoked by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

As part of its assessment of the notification, the Commission called for submissions from interested parties.[56]. This attracted a number of concerns from eBay members, members of the business community and the Reserve Bank of Australia.[57]

The ACCC completed an initial draft proposal to revoke eBay's notification, stating that it believed consumers were in a better position to judge risk on individual transactions than eBay's management and has ruled the plan anti-competitive[58]. However, before a final decision could be announced on July 3, 2008, eBay announced that it had withdrawn the notification to the ACCC and shelved its 'Paypal only' plans. [59][60]

[edit] United Kingdom

A similar policy requiring sellers to offer Paypal was also introduced in the United Kingdom, though in stages. The first stage, which was adopted on March 25, 2008, was aimed at sellers with feedback scores under 100 and in certain high risk categories. However, the requirement was extended to all sellers from June 3, 2008.[61]

[edit] Other controversial practices of users

* Sellers of inexpensive items may benefit from inflating the shipping cost while lowering the starting price for their auctions,[62] because some buyers overlook the shipping cost when calculating the amount they are willing to spend. Since eBay charges their fees based on final sales price without including shipping, this allows sellers to reduce the amount they pay eBay in fees (and also allows buyers to reduce or avoid import fees and sales taxes). This is called "fee avoidance", and is prohibited by eBay policy,[63] as are excessive shipping and handling charges.[64] A danger to the buyer in such cases is that in the event of defective merchandise, the seller may claim to have met his refund obligations by returning only the minimal purchase price and not the shipping costs.
* Sellers sometimes charge fees for use of PayPal as well to cover the fees that PayPal charges them. Although this is officially banned by eBay and PayPal and is against some local laws as well as violating merchant agreements with Visa, MasterCard, and Discover (except in the UK), eBay does sometimes police for this and will suspend auctions where the seller requests an additional fee for taking PayPal. This could lead inexperienced users to pay these illegal and unenforceable fees.

[edit] Stealing eBay accounts

According to Ofer Elzam from Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd., there is a botnet which steals eBay accounts.[65] The attacks use such techniques as compromising genuine websites with SQL injection, inserting IFrame code which redirects visitors to other sites which host a Trojan. Trojan-infected computers are used to provide a brute search for login/password pairs, using XML-formatted code to communicate with eBay servers directly.

[edit] Forgeries

It is estimated that about a quarter of all ancient coins and about two-thirds of all antiquities sold on eBay are modern forgeries.[66] In March 2008, Professional Coin Grading Service issued an alert noting counterfeit PCGS slabs and various United States and Chinese coins originating from China being sold on eBay.[67]

In court papers introduced by attorney for Tiffany & Co., it was claimed that researchers for Tiffany had determined that over 70% of the Tiffany silver jewelry offered for sale on eBay were fake.[68] Tiffany & Co. filed a lawsuit against eBay in 2004. The lawsuit claimed that eBay profitted from the sales of counterfeit Tiffany items that infringed on its trademark. On July 14, 2008, Judge Richard Sullivan of the Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled that eBay does not have a legal responsibility to monitor users selling counterfeit items. [69]

[edit] Intellectual property in auctions

Holders of intellectual property rights, have claimed that eBay profits from the infringement of intellectual property rights. eBay responded by creating the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) program, which provides to rightsholders auction takedowns and private information on eBay users on demand, but has likewise been criticized.

* In September 2005, eBay's privacy practices relating to its VeRO program came under scrutiny when WNDU-TV reported that the Embroidery Software Protection Coalition was accusing United States buyers, identified by eBay, of copyright infringement, and demanding monetary settlements. eBay's privacy policy warns that eBay may disclose personal information on the request of any VeRO rightsholder investigating illegal activity,[70] although according to a University of Notre Dame law professor, there is no legal basis, in the United States, for copyright infringement claims against buyers.[71]
* Some manufacturers have abused eBay's VeRo program, through which copyright and trademark owners can quickly protect their rights, by seeking to prevent all sales of their products on eBay.[citation needed]
* In November 2006, a U.K. High Court ruled that a VeRO rightsholder's takedown request to eBay constituted a legal threat under design patent law. Since groundless legal threats under design patent law are unlawful, the ruling holds that groundless VeRO takedown requests based on design patents are also unlawful. Further, the text of the ruling appears critical of the VeRO program in general: "It is entirely wrong for owners of intellectual property rights to attempt to assert them without litigation, or without the threat of litigation, in reply."[72]
* On June 4, 2008, a court in Troyes, France awarded Hermes damages of $30,000 as a result of the sale of two counterfeit Hermes bags on eBay in 2006. The court also ordered eBay to run a statement reporting the court case on the home page of eBay's French Web site for three months.[citation needed]
* On June 29, 2008, a court in Paris, France awarded damages of 40 million euros ($ 63 million) to luxury goods group LVMH over eBay auctions of counterfeit bags, perfumes and other items. The plaintiffs further alleged that auctions of legitimate perfumes were also illegal, because, they claim, only authorized resellers are permitted to sell them, and authorized resellers are not permitted to sell on eBay. The court agreed, entering a permanent injunction against eBay auctions of LVMH perfumes, whether counterfeit or not.[73] After the appeals court declined to stay that injunction,[74] eBay announced that French users would be barred from buying or selling LVMH perfumes and cosmetics on any of eBay's sites.[75]
* In July 2008, a United States court decided a trademark infringement lawsuit by jeweler Tiffany & Co. in eBay's favor: "… It is the trademark owner's burden to police its mark, and companies like eBay cannot be held liable for trademark infringement based solely on their generalized knowledge that trademark infringement might be occurring on their websites." eBay advertises and profits from the sale of Tiffany products through its site, while Tiffany claims that no third-party resellers are authorized to sell Tiffany jewelry. Despite eBay's efforts to find and cancel illegal listings, many "Tiffany" listings are judged by buyers or by Tiffany to be counterfeit. The judgment specifies that eBay's advertising of the availability of Tiffany products on its site is a protected fair use of Tiffany's trademark, that eBay sufficiently protects buyers by canceling auctions reported to the VeRO program as believed to be infringing, and that eBay is not obligated to suspend sellers reported to VeRO without further evidence of infringement.[76][77][78]

[edit] Romanian hacker "Vladuz" & website security

Beginning sometime in early 2007, a hacker reportedly in Romania going by the screen name "Vladuz" repeatedly breached eBay's security. As of April 17th, 2008, eBay and Romanian authorities have claimed to have caught "Vladuz".[79][80][81][82]

[edit] Bid Sniping

Main article: Auction sniping

[edit] Other eBay controversies

Other notable controversies involving eBay include:

* In May 2000, eBay seller Kenneth Walton auctioned an oil painting on eBay for $135,805, due to speculation that it might be the work of California modernist Richard Diebenkorn. Walton pretended to know nothing about art and claimed to be surprised by the price the painting fetched, and the auction attracted international media attention. In several investigative reports by The New York Times, it was revealed that Walton was in fact an experienced eBay art dealer with several unhappy customers, and that he had colluded with two other eBay sellers to bid up each other's auctions. The Times described this as a "shill bidding ring".[83] Walton and his cohorts were banned from eBay and subsequently pleaded guilty to fraud after a threat by the federal government of the first ever prosecution for shill bidding on eBay.
* On May 28, 2003, a U.S. District Court jury found eBay guilty of willful patent infringement and ordered the company to pay $35 million in damages. The plaintiff was MercExchange, which had accused eBay in 2000 of infringing on three patents (one of which is used in eBay's "Buy It Now" feature for fixed-price sales, 30 percent of eBay's business and growing). The decision was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). The CAFC affirmed the judgment of willful infringement, and reversed the lower court and granted a permanent injunction. eBay appealed the permanent injunction to the U.S. Supreme Court, which on May 15, 2006 found an injunction is not required nor automatic in this or any patent case where guilt has been established. The case was sent back to the Virginia district court for consideration of the injunction and a trial on another MercExchange patent the inventor claims covers the remaining 70 percent of eBay's business model (see eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. [84]). This case has been particularly controversial since the patents involved are considered to be business method patents (see Software patent debate).
* On July 28, 2003, eBay and its subsidiary PayPal agreed to pay a $10 million fine to settle allegations that they aided illegal offshore and online gambling. According to the settlement, between mid-2000 and November 2002, PayPal transmitted money in violation of various U.S. federal and state online gambling laws.[85] eBay's announcement of its acquisition of PayPal in early July said that PayPal would begin the process of exiting this market, and was already doing so when the ruling occurred.[86] These offenses occurred prior to eBay's purchase of PayPal.
* In late 2006, eBay effected a policy change which showed less information about bidders once auctions reached a certain value. This policy has been criticized for making shill bidding much harder to detect, to the potential disadvantage of buyers and significant advantage to unethical sellers who may artificially inflate the price of an auction. An investigation by The Sunday Times in January 2007 uncovered substantial evidence of shill bidding on eBay.[87]
* April 2007 lawsuit in California over monopoly practices.[88]
* An August 2007 class-action lawsuit in which attorney John Fabry stated, "eBay has been deceiving millions of consumers over the years by claiming their auctions start when submitted, when in reality they do not begin for at least several hours, and up to 24 hours. However, the clock starts running on your selected auction time even though eBay hasn't posted it yet." [89]
* On January 29, 2008, a series of new policy changes were announced including an increase in the final value fee and a decrease in the listing fee (when averaged out, the fees actually cost sellers more).[90] Among the more controversial moves was the announcement that sellers would soon only be able to leave positive feedback for buyers, and would no longer have the ability to provide negative or neutral ratings regardless of the experience.[91] The policies also give greater benefits to higher volume sellers. eBay now explicitly gives higher volume "Powersellers" a 5% to 15% discount on the final value fees. These sellers can also receive better terms on shipping costs and preferential positioning in search results.[92]
* On February 18, 2008, sellers and buyers who felt the new fees and feedback structure were unfair commenced a one-week strike against eBay.
* In April 2008, eBay announced it was suing Craigslist to "safeguard its four-year financial investment". eBay claimed that in January 2008, Craigslist executives took actions that "unfairly diluted eBay's economic interest by more than 10%".[93] In response, Craigslist filed a countersuit against eBay in May 2008 "to remedy the substantial and ongoing harm to fair competition" that Craigslist claims is constituted by eBay's actions as Craigslist shareholders.[94]
* In July 2008, eBay started letting web retailer Buy.com list millions of items for sale on eBay without having to pay the listing fees required of other sellers.[95]

[edit] Prohibited or restricted Items

In its earliest days, eBay was essentially unregulated. However, as the site grew, it became necessary to restrict or forbid auctions for various items. Note that some of the restrictions relate to eBay.com (the US site), while other restrictions apply to specific European sites (such as Nazi paraphernalia). Regional laws and regulations may apply to the seller or the buyer. Among the hundred or so banned or restricted categories:

* Tobacco (tobacco-related items and collectibles are accepted.)[96]
* Alcohol (alcohol-related collectibles, including sealed containers, as well as some wine sales by licensed sellers are allowed)[97]
* Drugs and drug paraphernalia[98]
* Nazi paraphernalia[99]
* Bootleg recordings[100]
* Firearms and ammunition,[101] including any parts that could be used to assemble a firearm as well as (as of July 30, 2007) any firearm part that is required for the firing of a gun, including bullet tips, brass casings and shells, barrels, slides, cylinders, magazines, firing pins, trigger assemblies, etc. Crossbows and various types of knives are also forbidden
* Used underwear (see Panty fetishism) and dirty used clothing[102]
* Teachers' editions of textbooks including homeschool teacher's editions.[103][104]
* Human parts and remains (with an exception for skeletons and skulls for scientific study, provided they are not Native American in origin)[105]
* Live animals (with certain exceptions)[106]
* Certain copyrighted works or trademarked items.[107]
* Lock-picking tools, accessories, and practice locks fall into the category of burglar tools.[dubious – discuss]
* Lottery tickets, sweepstakes tickets, or any other gambling items.
* Military hardware such as working weapons or explosives.
* Virtual items from massively multiplayer online games, restrictions which vary by country[108][109]
* Many other items are either wholly prohibited or restricted in some manner.[110]
* Non-physical items no longer can be sold through eBay. They can only be advertised through classified ads on eBay and do not get feedback.[111]

[edit] Unusual sale items

* In February 2004, a scrapped F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet was listed on eBay by Mike Landa, of Landa and Associates, with a starting bid of $1,000,000. He was the legal owner of the plane after purchasing it from a scrap yard and also offered to have the plane restored for flying condition for a Buy It Now price of $9,000,000. Landa also told potential buyers that maintenance of the plane would cost roughly $40,000 a month for just 2 to 3 hours of flying time. The FBI told Landa that he can only sell the plane to an American citizen residing in the United States and that the plane must not leave US airspace. The auction ended without a sale because nobody could come up with the money.[112][113]
* In January 2006, a British man named Leigh Knight, sold an unwanted Brussels sprout left over from his Christmas dinner for £1550 in aid of cancer research.[114][115]
* In May 2006, a Chinese businessman named Zhang Cheng bought a former Czech Air Force MIG-21 fighter jet from a seller in the United States for $24,730. It is not known whether the Chinese government will allow the plane to be delivered.[116]
* In June 2005, the wife of Tim Shaw, a British radio DJ on Kerrang! 105.2, sold Tim's Lotus Esprit sports car with a Buy It Now price of 50 pence after she heard him flirting with model Jodie Marsh on air. The car was sold within 5 minutes, and it was requested that the buyer pick it up the same day.[117]
* In May 2005, a Volkswagen Golf that had previously been registered to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who had been made Pope Benedict XVI) was sold on eBay's German site for €188,938.88 ($277,171.12 USD). The winning bid was made by the GoldenPalace.com online casino, known for their outrageous eBay purchases.[118]
* A seaworthy 16,000-ton aircraft carrier, formerly the British HMS Vengeance, was listed early in 2004. The auction was removed when eBay determined that the vessel qualified as ordnance, even though all weapons systems had been removed.[119]
* Water that was said to have been left in a cup Elvis Presley once drank from was sold for $455. The few tablespoons came from a plastic cup Presley sipped at a concert in North Carolina in 1977.[120]
* A Coventry University student got £1.20 for a single cornflake.[121]
* A man from Brisbane, Australia, attempted to sell New Zealand at a starting price of $.01AUD. The price had risen to $3,000 before eBay closed the auction.[122]
* An Australian newspaper reported in December 2004 that a single piece of the Kellogg's breakfast cereal Nutri-Grain sold on eBay for AUD$1,035 because it happened to bear a slight resemblance to the character E.T. from the Steven Spielberg movie. Apparently the seller went on to make even more money in relation to the sale for his appearance on a nationally televised current affairs program.[123]
* One of the tunnel boring machines involved in the construction of the Channel Tunnel was auctioned on eBay in 2004.[124]
* A group of four men from Australia auctioned themselves to spend the weekend with the promise of "beers, snacks, good conversation and a hell of a lot of laughs" for AU$1,300[125]
* Disney sold a retired Monorail Red (Mark IV Monorail) for $20,000[126]
* The German Language Association sold the German language to call attention for the growing influence of Pidgin-English in modern German.[127]
* In late November 2005, the original Hollywood Sign was sold on eBay for $450,400.[128][129]
* In January 2007, a cooked but uneaten Brussel Sprout was sold on eBay, finishing at over £15,000 ($29,000)[130] .
* In February 2007, after Britney Spears shaved all of her hair off in a Los Angeles salon, it was listed on eBay for $1million USD before it was taken down.[131]
* Bridgeville, California (pop. 25) was the first town to be sold on eBay in 2002, and has been up for sale 3 times since.[132]
* Boston Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramírez attempted to sell his neighbor's JENN-AIR Gas Grill on eBay. The auction started at $3,000 and the price escalated to an astounding $99,999,999, the maximum amount allowed by eBay. The auction was later closed by eBay because of the promise of an autographed baseball going to the winner as well as the grill; it is a violation of eBay policy to include items other than those advertised.[133]
* In April 2005, American entrepreneur Matt Rouse sold the right to choose a new middle name for him. After receiving an $8,000 "Buy It Now" bid, the Utah courts refused to allow the name change. He currently still has his original middle name "Jean".[134]
* In 2004, a partially-eaten, 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich said to bear the image of the Virgin Mary sold on eBay for $28,000.[135]
* In January 2008, four golf balls were auctioned on eBay after being surgically removed from the carpet python which had inadvertently swallowed them whilst raiding eggs in a chicken enclosure. The story attracted considerable international attention and the balls eventually sold for more AUD$1,400. The python recovered and was released.[136]
* In May 2008, Paul Osborn of UK puts his wife Sharon for sale in eBay alleging that she had an affair with a coworker.[137]
* In June 2008, Ian Usher put up his "entire life" on auction. The auction includes his house in Perth, belongings, introduction to his friends and a trial at his job.[138] When bidding closed, his "life" sold for $384,000.[139]

[edit] Charity auctions
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

Using MissionFish as an arbiter, eBay allows sellers to donate a portion of their auction proceeds to a charity of the seller's choice. The programme is called eBay Giving Works [1]in the US, and eBay for Charity [2]in the UK.

Some high-profile charity auctions have been advertised on the eBay home page, and have raised large amounts of money in a short time. For example, a furniture manufacturer raised over $35,000 for Ronald McDonald House by auctioning off beds that had been signed by celebrities.[citation needed]

To date the highest successful bid on a single item for charity was for a letter sent to the owner of Clear Channel by United States Senator Harry Reid and forty other Democratic senators, complaining about comments made by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. The winning bid was $2,100,100, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, benefiting the education of children of men and women who have died serving in the armed forces. The winning bid was matched by Limbaugh in his largest charity donation to date.[140]

[edit] Customer support

eBay offers various online help features, including a library of self-help resources, e-mail contact forms and "Live Help," which lets users chat with customer service representatives via instant messaging. Although this is not available to users on international sites such as eBay.co.uk, members of international eBay Web sites are welcome to utilize eBay.com's Live Help service. eBay does offer some phone support to its customers although this is limited to sellers of the rank "Bronze PowerSeller" and above, the company's term for members who sell at least an average of $1,000 worth of goods per month on the site, as well as to eBay Store owners.

[edit] Environmental record

On May 8th, 2008, eBay announced the opening of its newest building on the company's North Campus in San Jose, which is the first structure in the city to be built from the ground up to LEED Gold Standards.[141] The building, the first the company has built new in its 13-year existence, utilizes a solar panel array comprised of 3,248 solar panels, spanning 60,000 square feet (5,600 m²), and providing 650 kilowatts of power to eBay's campus.[142][143] All told the array can supply the company with 15-18 percent of its total energy requirements, reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that would be produced to create that energy by other means.[142] SolarCity, the company responsible for designing the array, estimates that the solar panels installed on eBay's campus will prevent 37 million pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the environment as a result of replaced power production over the next three decades.[143] Creating an equivalent impact to remove the same amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere would require planting 322 acres (1.30 km²) of trees.[143] The design of the building also incorporates other elements to reduce its impact on the environment. The building is equipped with a lighting system that detects natural ambient light sources and automatically dims artificial lighting to save 39 percent of the power usually required to light an office building.[141] eBay's newest building also reduces demand on local water supplies by incorporating an eco-friendly irrigation system, low-flow shower heads, and low-flow faucets.[141] Even during construction, more than 75 percent of the waste from construction was recycled.[141] eBay also runs buses between San Francisco and the San Jose campus to reduce the number of commuting employees.[141]

[edit] See also

* Electronic commerce

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ Suciu, Peter (2008-04-18). "Skype and PayPal – A Different Set of Rules". All Business. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
2. ^ misc.forsale.non-computer post about Auctionweb
3. ^ a b Cohen, Adam. The Perfect Store. ISBN 0-316-16493-3.
4. ^ Stross, Randall (2001-05-29). eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work. Ballantine Books (May 29, 2001), 28-29. ISBN 978-0345428899.
5. ^ a b How did eBay start?, About.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-26.
6. ^ The history of ebay
7. ^ eBay Inc. - MSN Fact Sheet
8. ^ "eBay Fact Sheet" (PDF). eBay. eBay Inc. (2006-03-31). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
9. ^ "eBay Launches Service for Austria". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2000-12-18). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
10. ^ "Gary Briggs Appointed Vice President and Country Manager of eBay Canada". eBay Canada. eBay Inc. (2004-04-28). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
11. ^ WORLD'S LARGEST ONLINE TRADING COMMUNITY LAUNCHES NEW WEB SITE IN FRANCE
12. ^ (French) eBay France, lancement officiel du site d'enchères
13. ^ "eBay Launches Service For Hong Kong". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2003-12-21). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
14. ^ a b c "eBay Launches Service For Ireland, New Zealand And Switzerland". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2001-03-29). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
15. ^ "eBay Launches in Italy". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2001-01-15). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
16. ^ "eBay Launches Service for Malaysia". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2004-12-01). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
17. ^ "eBay Launches Service for the Philippines". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2004-11-16). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
18. ^ "eBay Launches Service for Poland". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2005-04-22). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
19. ^ "eBay Launches Service for Singapore". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2001-10-24). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
20. ^ "[Internet Auction] Auction "eBay will start Korean service next month"". Hangyore News (Yonhab News). (2001-01-08). Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
21. ^ "eBay.es Dossier de Prensa" (PDF). eBay.es. eBay Inc. (January 2001). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
22. ^ "eBay Worldwide". eBay.co.uk. eBay Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
23. ^ "Nhịp sống số".
24. ^ "Prohibited and Restricted Items - Overview". eBay. Retrieved on 2006-06-28.
25. ^ "eBay Developers Program". eBay. Retrieved on 2006-06-28.
26. ^ August 10, 2007, 10:38AM BST post to eBay annoucement board by eBay's staff
27. ^ 21 December, 2007 12:10PM GMT General announcement by eBay
28. ^ Announcement posted in a section on ebay called Changes in 2008
29. ^ eBay February 2008 announcement board posted on 28 February, 2008 02:49PM GMT
30. ^ eBay announcement 24 March, 2008 09:00AM GMT
31. ^ January 2008
32. ^ February 2008
33. ^ January 2008
34. ^ Upcoming Changes to Feedback
35. ^ Fees 2008 Overview
36. ^ January 2008
37. ^ eBay January 2008 announcement board. Posted on 30 January, 2008 06:20PM GMT
38. ^ Q1 eBay earnings call April 16th 2008
39. ^ Chat with Rob Chesnut, Vice President of eBay's Trust & Safety Department
40. ^ "ebay.com, Home > Community > Feedback Forum > Upcoming Changes to Feedback".
41. ^ "BBC, 5-Feb-2008, eBay to ban negative seller views".
42. ^ "blog.auctionbytes.com, 29-Jan-2008, Upcoming Changes to Feedback on eBay".
43. ^ "eBay Feedback: Fatally Flawed?".
44. ^ "San Francisco Bay Guardian - Bias on eBay".
45. ^ "eBay.com Feedback Policies - Overview".
46. ^ Scams And Scoundrels Book ISBN-13: 978-0-9774760-2-2
47. ^ Scams And Scoundrels Book ISBN-13: 978-0-9774760-2-2 Chapter 8
48. ^ "PayPal-Scam.com".
49. ^ "The safe eBay Scam!", Daniel Rutter, retrieved 3rd December 2007.
50. ^ Trade backlash at eBay's PayPal-only policy
51. ^ eBay: pro-choice, but only when it suits
52. ^ "PayPal mandatory, says eBay Australia" (html). News Limited. Australian IT (2008-04-10). Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
53. ^ eBay boss: "not offering PayPal is like buying heroin"
54. ^ Trade Practices Act PDF
55. ^ ACCC Ebay Notice
56. ^ ACCC puts eBay's PayPal plans under scrutiny NEWS.com.au
57. ^ RBA wary of eBay's PayPal push
58. ^ ACCC stymies eBay PayPal plan
59. ^ eBay backs down on PayPal changes
60. ^ Suppression of bank payments festers for eBay
61. ^ eBay.co.uk - Business Centre - Changes to Payment Methods
62. ^ "…Plus Shipping and Handling: Revenue (Non) Equivalence in Field Experiments on eBay". Berkeley Electronic Press. Retrieved on 2006-06-26.
63. ^ "Circumventing Fees". eBay. Retrieved on 2006-06-11.
64. ^ "Excessive Shipping & Handling". eBay. Retrieved on 2006-06-11.
65. ^ "Custom-built botnet steals eBay accounts.".
66. ^ "Counterfeit Coin Detection". Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
67. ^ "COUNTERFEIT PCGS HOLDERS". Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
68. ^ Tiffany and eBay in Fight Over Fakes by Katie Hafner, The New York Times, November 27, 2007.
69. ^ Stone, Brad (2008-07-14). ""Court Clears eBay in Sale of Counterfeit Items"". New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-07-14.
70. ^ "eBay Privacy Policy". Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
71. ^ "Contact 16: Embroidery software buyer under investigation", WNDU-TV (2005-09-07).
72. ^ "Design right threat fails to stop eBay sales" (2006-11-14).
73. ^ BBC NEWS, Court fines eBay over fake goods
74. ^ eBay denied stay in LVMH case
75. ^ Suite de la décision de justice rendue le 30 juin dernier (French)
76. ^ "Tiffany sues eBay, says fake items sold on Web site", USA Today (2004-03-22).
77. ^ "Sure you bagged a bargain?", Courier Mail, News Limited (2006-05-24).
78. ^ Tiffany v. eBay, Opinion after Bench Trial (Southern District N.Y. 2008).
79. ^ eBay Brags Hacker 'Vladuz' Arrested
80. ^ Justice Dept. Sees Surge In Global Crime Networks - washingtonpost.com
81. ^ eBay Has Its Romanian Hacker
82. ^ News and Press release service TransWorldNews
83. ^ "F.B.I. Opens Investigation Of EBay Bids", The New York Times, June 7, 2000. Accessed April 6, 2008.
84. ^ "EBAY INC. ET AL. v. MERCEXCHANGE, L. L. C." (PDF). US Supreme Court. Retrieved on 2006-06-17.
85. ^ USATODAY.com - PayPal to pay $10 million to settle online gambling charge
86. ^ eBay picks up PayPal for $1.5 billion - CNET News.com
87. ^ http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/01/ebay_shilling.html
88. ^ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/26/ebay_lawsuits/
89. ^ EBay 'deceiving millions of users' - Internet - iTnews Australia
90. ^ eBay Lowers Insertion Fees, Raises Commission Fees
91. ^ Sellers Give Negative Feedback on eBay Changes - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog
92. ^ Fees 2008 Overview
93. ^ BBC NEWS Business | EBay sues Craigslist ad website
94. ^ "Craigslist strikes back at eBay". BBC (2008-05-13). Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
95. ^ Michelle Megna (2008-07-14). "Power Sellers Say Bye-Bye to eBay Over Buy.com Deal" (html), ECommerce-Guide. Retrieved on 2008-07-17.
96. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/tobacco.html
97. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/alcohol.html
98. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/drugs-drug-paraphernalia.html
99. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/offensive.html
100. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/bootlegs.html
101. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/firearms-weapons-knives.html
102. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/used-clothing.html
103. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/teachersedition.html
104. ^ http://worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51702
105. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/remains.html
106. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/wildlife.html
107. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/programs-vero-ov.html
108. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/downloadable.html
109. ^ http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070130-8731.html
110. ^ http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/ia/prohibited_and_restricted_items.html
111. ^ eBay announcement March 24, 2008 01:00PM PST/PT
112. ^ Landa also told potential bidders and buyers that maintenance of the plane would cost $40,000 a month for just 2 to 3 hours flying time.
113. ^ U.S. navy jet fighter F18 is for sale on eBay
114. ^ Charity sprout craze sweeps the nation as £1,550 bid on eBay
115. ^ The NIBS: Unwanted brussel sprout on sale for charity
116. ^ Chinese man buys fighter jet on eBay - Breaking - Technology - theage.com.au
117. ^ "£25,000 revenge of DJ's wife", This Is London (2005-06-21).
118. ^ "Golf IV von Josef Kardinal Ratzinger". Golden Palace. Retrieved on 2006-06-28.
119. ^ "For internet sale: aircraft carrier, only three owners". Telegraph.co.uk (2004-01-10). Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
120. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4134407.stm
121. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk./1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/4137877.stm
122. ^ http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411365/712869
123. ^ "Nutri-Grain that looks like ET".
124. ^ "Eurotunnel drill bids reach £5m", BBC (2004-04-05).
125. ^ Hearn, Louisa (2006-01-17). "Blokes pull in the bids on eBay".
126. ^ http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/CPMarkIV.html
127. ^ "10 Millionen Euro für die deutsche Sprache (German)".
128. ^ "Hollywood Sign Sold For $450K".
129. ^ "Buy a piece of HOLLYWOOD".
130. ^ "eBay offers Nick Leeson's trading jacket".
131. ^ "Britney Spears' Shaved Hair on Sale on Ebay!".
132. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4875206.stm
133. ^ "Manny Ramirez's Grill Auction Taken Off eBay".
134. ^ "Matthew Sells The Middle".
135. ^ "ABC News: Hungry for Miracles?".
136. ^ "Snake's golf balls fetch $1400".
137. ^ "Jealous husband puts wife on eBay".
138. ^ "Bidding begins on 'entire life'".
139. ^ ""Man auctions life, but disappointed at bid price"". Associated Press (2008-06-30). Retrieved on 2008-06-30.
140. ^ Critical Letter to Limbaugh Fetches $2 Million - New York Times
141. ^ a b c d e eBay Inc. Opens New "Green" Building and Unveils Largest Commercial Solar Installation in San Jose
142. ^ a b http://origin.mercurynews.com/healthandscience/ci_9191170?nclick_check=1
143. ^ a b c SolarCity Helps eBay Campus, Employees Switch to Clean Power With Largest Commercial Solar Installation in San Jose

[edit] Further reading

* Cihlar, Christopher (2006). The Grilled Cheese Madonna and 99 Other of the Weirdest, Wackiest, Most Famous eBay Auctions Ever. Random House. ISBN 0-7679-2374-X.
* Cohen, Adam (2002). The Perfect Store: Inside eBay. Little, Brown & Company. ISBN 0-316-15048-7.
* Collier, Marsha (2004). eBay For Dummies. John Wiley. ISBN 0-7645-5654-1.
* Hillis, Ken and Michael Petit with Nathan Epley (2006). Everyday eBay: Culture, Collecting and Desire. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-97436-4.
* Jackson, Eric M. (2004). The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth. World Ahead Publishing. ISBN 0-9746701-0-3.
* Kent, Peter & Finlayson, Jill (2005). Fundraising on eBay. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-226248-6.
* Klink, Edward & Klink, Stephen (2005). Dawn of the eBay Deadbeats: True Tales of Treachery, Lies, and Fraud from the Dark Recesses of the World's Largest Online Auction Marketplace. Mooncusser Media. ISBN 0-9768372-1-8.
* Nissanoff, Daniel (2006). FutureShop: How the New Auction Culture Will Revolutionize the Way We Buy, Sell and Get the Things We Really Want. The Penguin Press. ISBN 1-59420-077-7.
* Spencer, Christopher Matthew (2006). The eBay Entrepreneur. Kaplan Publishing. ISBN 1-4195-8328-X.
* Walton, Kenneth (2006). FAKE: Forgery, Lies, & eBay. Simon Spotlight Entertainment. ISBN 1-4169-0711-4.
* Ford, Michael (2007). Scams & Scoundrels: Protect yourself from the dark side of eBay. Elite Minds Inc. ISBN 978-0-9774760-2-2.
* Ford, Michael (2007). Dont Bid On It: Until I Tell You How eBay Really Works. Elite Minds Inc. ISBN 978-0-9774760-1-5.

[edit] External links

* eBay.com

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