Ebay
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With 69 million users and an average of $59 million spent daily by users worldwide, eBay is today's largest online marketplace. According to "60 Minutes II" (aired in October 2003), people spend more time on eBay than any other site on the Internet. Founded in September 1995 by Pierre Omidyar, the online auction site is today's most popular shopping destination; eBay took the idea of traditional classified sections and created an Internet version of it so that they can reach people worldwide. Since eBay is a marketplace community that sells goods and services offered by others, the company's main "product" is its connections, not inventory: its business model is to connect buyers and sellers together. From the beginning, eBay has been a success; eBay started out as a hobby of Omidyar's and has now become a multinational company with billions of dollars in revenues. Surviving the dot.com bust was only the beginning for eBay; its aggressive position to identify new partners, competitors and market opportunities has made the company the most successful online business today.
When thinking of online auction sites, the name that automatically comes to mind is eBay. Though other internet websites such as Yahoo and MSN have tried to copy eBay's success and host auction sites themselves, none have even come close to achieving the level of success that eBay has met with since the site was first launched in 1995. Its sustained competitive advantage comes from its popularity with the public: sellers realize that eBay attracts many more buyers than its competitors and return to the site time and again to obtain the highest prices for their products, while buyers know that they will be able to find the largest selection on eBay...