EBay

[18]. Costco has issued a document [3] clearly leveled at the charges of mural damage and unnecessary tree removal. As well as a long list of other items that are either wholly prohibited or restricted in some manner. Costco tore down the Casino de la Selva in Cuernavaca, Mexico, to build a store there and has faced opposition [1] from TIAA-CREF shareholders as well as its own shareholders [2]. Among the hundred or so banned categories (note that these relate to ebay.com (the US site), other regions may vary in their rules) :. A yearly event (usually in mid-July) is pizza week, where $3 coupons are distributed for whole pizzas. But as eBay grew, it found it necessary to restrict or forbid auctions for various items. The chicken strips found in chicken bakes are the same chicken strips used in the chicken salads.

eBay in its earliest days was essentially unregulated. The company has added other types of food, such as pizza, chicken bakes, chicken salad, smoothies, churros, pretzels and ice cream.
. The hot dogs used are kosher and the brands used are Sinai Kosher or Hebrew National. One of the largest items ever sold was a World War II submarine, sold by a small town in New England that decided it did not need the historical relic anymore. As a matter of fact, the price of the hot dog and soda is still the same price as it was when they first opened, $1.50, a price Jim Sinegal has stated will remain indefinitely. Other notable controversies involving eBay include:. These began as stand-alone impromptu arrangements outside of warehouses but are now built directly into current warehouses as actual mini-restaurants.

Frauds committed by buyers include:. Finally, Costco is well known for its hot dog stands. Frauds that can be committed by sellers include:. Even the membership fee is fully refundable at any time. Of course, all laws still apply and legal action may also be possible. Computers, which most retailers loathe to accept for a refund, have a six-month return period. An eBay account (whether seller, buyer or both) may canceled if there are too many complaints against the account holder. Buyers effectively "rent" the product temporarily by buying and later returning it for a refund.

When a user feels that a seller or buyer has been dishonest, a dispute can be filed with eBay. Many people take advantage of this with DVDs, software and other media. Weaknesses of the feedback system include:. Unlike other stores, Costco allows returns of opened media. The feedback system can protect sellers as well as buyers; a seller can reject a bid from a potential buyer if the buyer's feedback rating isn't to the seller's liking. Costco has a very generous product return policy that allows customers to return most products indefinitely. Learning the system and examining a seller's feedback history is a buyer's best protection. They have also introduced an automobile purchasing program where members can purchase new cars at specially arranged prices.

So if a buyer has problems, he can rate the seller "negative" and leave a comment such as "never received product". Costco also acts as a broker for services such as investment products and travel including air travel and cruise vacations. They can give a "positive", "negative", or "neutral" rating and leave a short comment. Some locations have liquor stores which are usually separate in order to comply with liquor license restrictions. After every transaction both the buyer and seller have the option of rating each other. Many stores have tire garages, pharmacies,Hearing Aid Centers, optometrists, photo processing and gas stations. The major fraud prevention mechanism for eBay users is its feedback system. It now sells many other products that are more difficult to handle, such as fresh produce, meat, seafood, fresh baked goods, flowers, clothing, books, software, home electronics, jewelry, art and furniture.

eBay data shows that less than .01% of all transactions result in a confirmed case of fraud. Initially it preferred to sell only boxed products that could be dispensed by simply tearing the shrinkwrap off a pallet. eBay has its share of controversy, ranging from its privacy policy (eBay typically turns over user information to law enforcement without a subpoena) to well-publicized seller fraud. Over the years, Costco has gradually expanded its range of products and services. The only place where expansion failed was Japan where Yahoo had a head start. Sinegal in 2004, saying "it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder." Sinegal counters that good wages and benefits more than pay for themselves by holding down employee turnover, reducing employee theft and by appealing to a certain percentage of affluent customers who appreciate that the low prices do not come at the workers' expense. eBay has already expanded to almost two dozen countries including China and India. Wall Street analyst Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank criticized Mr.

The company's current business strategy includes increasing revenue by increasing international trade within the eBay system. A recent estimate (New York Times, July 17, 2005) puts Costco's average pay at $17 per hour, or 42% higher than Walmart-owned "Sam's Club". In addition, eBay now owns the PayPal payment system which many buyers use to pay for their purchases, so it often receives an extra fee via that. These perks are the highest in the industry and especially surprising considering Costco's price-centric sales strategy (similar to Wal-Mart's, a company criticized for its low pay and refusal to offer benefits to most employees). The eBay fee system is quite complex and takes $0.20 to $80 per listing and 3-5% of the final price. For instance, a cashier with four years of experience can earn more than $40,000 with full benefits, including medical, dental, Rx, disability, and life, and is even entitled to participate in a 401k program and purchase stock options. There are fees to list a product and fees when the product sells. Costco is noted for providing full benefits and comparatively generous compensation to its employees.

eBay generates revenue from a number of fees. This use of float is a major advantage in its own right; Costco is essentially borrowing money from their suppliers with no interest. eBay's main rivals are Amazon.com Marketplace and Yahoo.com Auction. Since Costco has such high sales volume and rapid inventory turnover, it is able to receive cash from the sale of a large portion of its inventory before it has to pay back its suppliers. eBay's Latin American partner is MercadoLibre. This encourages consumers to regularly visit their local warehouse for surprise deals. 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. In many other categories the company constantly seeks the best deals currently available, so products will appear and disappear over short periods of time.

In general, the company removes auctions that violate its terms of service agreement within a short time after hearing of the auction from an outsider; the company's policy is to not pre-approve transactions. In some product categories, the company does not rotate products often, so customers can expect certain brands of snacks or beverages to be in stock indefinitely. On other occasions, people and even entire towns have been listed, often as a joke. Many of the products it stocks are high quality at a reasonable cost instead of inferior quality at a low price. 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. Costco concentrates more on overall value than the lowest possible price for its product range. There has also been controversy regarding items put up for bid that violate ethical standards. Rather, stores carry only a few very popular product categories and selected products within each category.

Some exceptions to this rule are made for rare aged liquors, where a bottle may sell for many times higher than its actual value in alcohol. Unlike many retailers, stores do not maintain a full range of every product type and every major brand within each product category. In June 2004, eBay prohibited the sale and auction of both alcohol and tobacco products on the British site ebay.co.uk. Besides frugality, Costco is also famous for its idiosyncratic inventory practices. As of January 2006, there were over 25,000 members in the eBay Developers Program, comprising a broad range of companies creating software applications and services to support eBay buyers and sellers as well as eBay Affiliates. Costco caps its profit margin on most products at 14% and allows itself slightly higher margins only on its Kirkland Signature store brand (a name derived from its previous headquarters in Kirkland) with a strict 15% profit limit. Software developers can create applications that integrate with eBay through the eBay API by joining the eBay Developers Program. This contrasts with other retailers who take the additional trouble to break down pallets and stock individual products on shelves.

Regional searches of the database make shipping slightly more rapid or cheaper. Most products are delivered to the store on shipping pallets, and the pallets are used to display products for sale on the retail floor. Large international companies, such as IBM, sell their newest products and offer services on eBay using competitive auctions and fixed-priced storefronts. The company's warehouses are sparsely decorated, with the exception of colorful marketing banners. It is fair to say that eBay has revolutionized the collectibles market by bringing together buyers and sellers internationally in a huge, never-ending yard sale and auction. The corporate jet is not used unless it is filled to capacity. Services and intangibles can be sold too. Costco doesn't have a public relations department either, believing it is unnecessary.

Anything can be sold as long as it is not illegal or on the eBay banned list. In fact, many senior executives, including Costco's CEO, use office furniture that was purchased from the Boeing Company when Costco was started. 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, proving that if one has a big enough market, one will find someone willing to buy anything. Costco is able to charge sometimes astonishingly low prices by keeping overhead low, returning savings to consumers. Millions of collectibles, appliances, computers, furniture, equipment, vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are listed, bought, and sold daily. Purchases made with gift cards, called Costco cash also do not require a membership. Meg is credited with building the company to what it is today. Purchases made at Costco's website do not require a membership, however a 5% surcharge is added to purchases made by non-members.

She joined eBay when the company had 30 employees and operated solely in the United States; eBay is now a global organization with over 9,000 employees. Memberships must be purchased in advance; the cheapest membership costs $45 for one year. Margaret (Meg) Whitman joined the company in March 1998. The food court where one can purchase fast food items such as hot dogs and pizza is open to both members and non-members. Omidyar had tried to register the domain name EchoBay.com but found it already taken by the Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so he shortened it to his second choice, eBay.com. As a warehouse club, Costco is open to only members and their guests, except for purchases of liquor, gasoline and prescription drugs in some US states due to state law and liquor license restrictions. Originally, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. These goods are usually bulk-packaged and sold primarily to large families, small businesses and small business owners' families.

It officially changed its name to eBay in September 1997. Costco's success is a result of its focus on selling products at low prices, often at very high volume. This was revealed in Adam Cohen's 2002 book and confirmed by eBay.). As of 2005, Sinegal and Brotman act as Chief Executive Officer and President and Chairman, respectively. Astonished, he contacted the winning bidder and asked, "did he not understand the laser pointer was broken?" Omidyar received the following email in reply: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers." (The frequently repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancee trade PEZ Candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media. Costco's closest competitor, Wal-Mart-owned Sam's Club, has two hundred more stores than Costco, yet routinely earns more than $1 billion less in revenues each year. The first item sold was Omidyar's broken laser pointer for $14.83. Costco employs about 103,000 full- and part-time employees, and for fiscal year 2004, ended in August, the company's store sales rose 13% to $47.1 billion.

Founded in San Jose, California on September 4, 1995 by Pierre Omidyar and Jeff Skoll as Auctionweb, part of a larger personal site that included, among other things, Omidyar's own tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Ebola virus. As of July 2005 Costco has 456 locations:. . Costco has also changed the site of its corporate headquarters from the city of Kirkland, Washington, to Issaquah, Washington. eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) manages an online auction and shopping website, where people buy and sell goods and services worldwide. In 1997, PriceCostco changed its name back to Costco, under which the company currently operates. Another concern with "fee avoidance" is that most sellers will not refund shipping so if a $1 item with a $50 shipping fee turns up faulty, the buyer is only eligible to a refund for the $1. Costco's web site was first introduced in 1995, and it started conducting e-commerce in 1998 at Costco.com.

This is called "fee avoidance" and is not allowed by eBay; such auctions are cancelled when they are reported. In 1993, Costco and Price Club merged, forming "PriceCostco." The combined company had 206 locations generating $16 billion in annual sales and created the company's current structure. Since eBay charges their fees based on final sales price and not shipping, this allows sellers to reduce the amount they pay eBay in fees and for buyers to avoid importing fees and taxes into their country. This new venture proved very successful; Costco became the first company ever to grow from zero to $3 billion in sales in less than six years. Some users sell items for extremely low prices (usually using the Buy It Now feature) and then make up for it by overcharging on shipping. Its unique model of serving primarily small-business owners proved very successful, prompting James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman to open the first Costco warehouse location in Seattle. Conversely, sometimes very cheap items, like envelopes, are sold for high prices because they come with free airline vouchers or concert tickets, in order not to violate the terms on these items. Costco's first location, opened in 1976 under the "Price Club" name, was housed in a Quonset hut in San Diego.

This is not allowed by eBay. . Some users try to sell something which, on first glance, appears to be an expensive item for cheap (game console boxes are quite popular), and state clearly in the description that they are paying for an item which is not the one implied. Costco Wholesale Corporation NASDAQ: COST is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the world, and headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, United States, with its flagship warehouse #1 in nearby Seattle. [21] Sabbouha is a verb to describe shill bidding which originated from an old Lebanese Legend. 4 in Taiwan. [20] Furthermore, shill bidding is a crime in many jurisdictions, and can be prosecuted under United States wire fraud laws. 5 in Japan, and.

(This is also known as "bid padding".) Shill bidding is not allowed on eBay. 5 in South Korea,. Shill bidding is the deliberate use of secondary registrations, aliases, family members, friends, or associates to artificially drive up the bid price of an item. 16 in the United Kingdom (1 additional store opening soon),. [19]. 25 in Mexico,. eBay's "proxy bidding" feature allows the buyer to specify the maximum they are willing to pay for an item regardless of "snipes". 65 in Canada,.

Many other auction sites, such as Yahoo! Auctions, offer an option which extends the auction by some minutes when a last-minute bid is placed, in order to prevent sniping. 336 in the United States and Puerto Rico,. This practice is allowed on eBay. Bid sniping is placing a high bid during the last few seconds of an auction such that no time remains for other users to counterbid. Human parts and remains [17].

There was a demand for this kind of garment amongst sexual fetishists, and these garments would often fetch hundreds of dollars. Sellers would post descriptions specifically emphasising that they had worn these undergarments for days, a week or more, especially during exercise. Dirty used clothing [16] This policy arose because a thriving market in used jock-straps and underwear had emerged on ebay. Firearms and ammunition [15].

Bootleg recordings [14]. Nazi paraphernalia [13]. Alcohol (alcohol-related collectibles, including sealed containers, as well as wine sales by licensed sellers are allowed) [12]. Tobacco (tobacco-related items and collectibles are allowed) [11].

[10]. a European buyer sold a Vauxhall VX220 that was said to have been baptized. [9]. The item failed to sell.

For $100, a man said that he would take a pair of jean his girlfriend made, and shoot them, and drag them behind his tractor, with a fee per shot/starting up the tractor. [8]. A Coventry University student got £1.20p for a single cornflake. [7].

The few tablespoons came from a plastic cup Presley sipped at a concert in North Carolina in 1977. Water that was said to have been left in a cup Elvis Presley once drank from was sold for $455. An incomplete package of diapers, bought and opened in the 1980s, raised more than $700US for the Children and Families Ministry at a United Church in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). The owner of Cockeyed.com sold advertising space comprising a single pixel on its homepage for 21 days for $100 [6].

A bargain considering he was one of the five best and most complete mammoth skeletons in the world, consisting of 90% of his original bone material. Max was put up for sale in 2004 by his Dutch owner due to lack of space and sold for £61,000. With a minimum bid set at US $250,000. A 50,000-year-old mammoth.

A Sydney man pocketed AUS$1,035 after auctioning a piece of Nutri-Grain resembling ET, in Dec 2004. She promptly sealed it in a plastic bag where it remained, free of mold, for over 10 years until its sale on eBay. The seller claimed to see the Virgin Mary toasted into the bread when she made the sandwich in 1994. On November 23, 2004, a grilled cheese sandwich with a likeness of the Virgin Mary on it sold for $28,000 to the online casino GoldenPalace.com.

[5]. The winning bid was $1691.66, and the winner rode in the front seat. There was at one point an auction for the first ride on Kingda Ka, the tallest roller coaster on Earth. [4].

In September 2004, the owner of MagicGoat.com sold the contents of his trash can to a middle school language arts teacher, who had her students write essays about the trash. While he initially admitted he was selling the dress to earn some money for Mariners tickets, the bidding got into the thousands of dollars, and the seller actually had received a number of marriage proposals from viewers. In more than one way, the seller received much more than he expected. In 2004, a Seattle man posted pictures of himself wearing his ex-wife's wedding dress.

[3]. The winning bid was made by the GoldenPalace.com online casino, known for their outrageous eBay purchases. In May 2005, a Volkswagen Golf that had previously been registered to Cardinal Josef Ratzinger (who had been elected Pope Benedict XVI the previous month) was sold on eBay's German site for €188,938.88. In June 2005, Karolyne Smith sold the right to permanently tattoo an ad on her forehead to GoldenPalace.com for $10,000.

[2]. In January 2006, the last 100 pixels of the milliondollarhomepage were sold for $38,100. That sold for approximately $100,000 and one of the contestant podiums sold for nearly $10,000 (proceeds of the set's sale went to charity). Actual portions of the 1996-2001 Jeopardy! set, including the 9-foot-high Jeopardy! logo that was etched in glass as the backdrop.

Round of golf with Tiger Woods ($425,000). Shoeless Joe Jackson's "Black Betsy" baseball bat ($577,610). Ferrari Enzo ($975,000, October 2004)[1]. Diamond Lake Resort, western Kentucky ($1.2 million).

1909 Honus Wagner baseball card ($1.65 million). Grumman Gulfstream II jet ($4.9 million). A 340-year-old copy of Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre, which survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 (£5million). In 2005, the Australian NRL tried unsuccessfully to persuade eBay to prevent scalpers from selling grand final tickets online.

Normally, selling of charity tickets is legal under UK law. Following a statement from Bob Geldof that declared eBay a "cyber pimp", many of these auctions were bombarded with fake bids. On 14 June 2005 eBay removed auction listings for originally free tickets to the Live 8 charity auction amid hundreds of complaints about such auctions. eBay strongly supported Baazee.

The Indian government attempted to make the case that Bajaj broke a law under India's IT Act, that forbids "publishing, transmitting or causing to publish" obscene material, even though the actual material was never published on Baazee's servers. The company denied knowing the content of what they were selling (because it is a venue, not a retailer) and removed the offensive material as soon as they became aware of it. On 17 December 2004 Avnish Bajaj, CEO of eBay's Indian subsidiary Baazee.com, was arrested after a video clip showing oral sex between two Indian students was sold online. These offenses occurred prior to eBay's purchase of PayPal.

PayPal was also forced out of this market, which accounted for some 6% of its volume. According to the settlement, PayPal between mid-2000 and November 2002 transmitted money in violation of various US federal and state online gambling laws. On 28 July 2003 eBay and its subsidiary PayPal agreed to pay a $10 million fine to settle allegations that they aided illegal offshore and online gambling. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case in 2006.

As of Nov 2005, eBay has appealed to the US Supreme Court to effectively block injunctive relief to patent holder MercExchange. The decision was appealed to the US Federal Court of Appeals and was upheld in part and rejected on others. The jury found for plaintiff MercExchange, which had accused eBay in 2001 of infringing on three patents (two of which are used in eBay's "Buy It Now" feature for fixed-price sales) held by MercExchange founder Tom Woolston. On 28 May 2003 a US District Court federal jury found eBay guilty of patent infringement and ordered the company to pay US$35 million in damages.

Returning items other than received. Receiving merchandise and claiming otherwise. Credit card fraud. Buyer than has free goods and has income equal to the amount he spent on the item.).

Filing a shipping claim for damaged merchandise and collecting the money from the shipping company, then filing a chargeback on paypal for damaged merchandise, then refusing to return goods. PayPal fraud (e.g. Inflating total bid amounts by bidding against their own auction with a "shill" account. Selling stolen goods.

Counterfeit merchandise. Shipping faulty merchandise. Shipping items other than those described. Receiving payment and not shipping merchandise.

A user may be reluctant to leaving honest feedback out of fear of negative retaliatory feedback (including negative in retaliation for neutral). Small and large transactions carry the same weight in the feedback summary. In August 2005, eBay bought Skype, a VoIP company, for $2.6 billion in stock and cash. In June 2005, eBay acquired Shopping.com, a online comparison site for $635 Million USD.

In May 2005, eBay acquired Gumtree, a network of UK local city classifieds sites. On December 16, 2004, eBay acquired rent.com for $30 million in cash and $385 million in ebay stock. This was a Dutch competitor which had a 80% market share in the Netherlands, by concentrating more on small ads than actual auctions. In November 2004, eBay acquired Marktplaats.nl for €225 million.

(IAC), buying nearly 3 million shares of the Korean online trading company for 125,000 Korean won (about US$109) per share. In September 2004, eBay moved forward on its acquisition of Korean rival Internet Auction Co. On August 13, 2004, eBay took a 25% stake in craigslist.org by buying out an existing shareholder who was once a craigslist employee. On June 22, 2004, eBay acquired all outstanding shares of Baazee.com, an Indian auction site for approximately US $50 million in cash, plus acquisition costs.

acquired EachNet, a leading ecommerce company in China, paying approximately $150 million in cash. On July 11, 2003 eBay Inc. In July, 2002, eBay acquired PayPal, for $1.5 billion in stock. In August, 2001, eBay acquired Mercado Libre, Lokau and iBazar, Latin Americas auction sites.

In June, 2000, eBay acquired Half.com, which was later integrated with the eBay Marketplace. In 1999, eBay acquired the auction house Alando for $43 million, which changed then to eBay Germany. In 1999, eBay acquired the auction house Butterfield & Butterfield, which it sold in 2002 to Bonhams. In May, 1999, eBay acquired the online payment service Billpoint, which it shut down after acquiring Paypal.