eBay

I visited eBay to find out a little more about this popular and extremely successful trading website. Here's what i found:

Major Purposes - to host trading transactions (locally/nationally and internationally) between public consumers all over the world. This involves the buying and selling of various goods other consumers may desire.

Target Audience - Anybody above 18 years old. Although products of all ages/genders/income are available to satisfy a large variety of markets.

How it works - All users have a registration which allows them to auction their own items or purchases others. Auctioning is usually carried out within a specific time frame, such as two days, and bids are made by other users on the price they are willing to pay (there is often a starting bid). The product will go to the highest bidder who will in turn be shipped the product to his/her destination. The buyer will have to cover the shipping costs, which may vary depending on the respective locations. These costs are transferred online, specified buy the seller e.g. through credit cards or checks.

This is the basic process and it quite trustworthy due to a pointing system where positive/negative comments can be made on purchases and therefore the service and reliability of sellers can be reviewed.

Benefits - A clear and simple buying/selling service with a huge network of members featuring a large selection of goods that will appeal to all markets of buyers. It holds a good navigation system with a search facility, favorites, viewed items and facilities like help/forums/reviews/charts etc. Being so established it is also very safe and trustworthy with detailed seller profiles and a positive feedback rating system.

Limitations - Some of the products lack detail and technical accuracy. There is also language limitations as while English is primarily used (being an American site) some products descriptions are in others and no translator is available. This could lead to communication errors.

Overall a very good site/e-business considering the amount of data necessary and complexity of the processes that must accurately be constantly carried out 24/7 in order to carer for its millions of worldwide users. This is what has made it such a successful shopping model.