[pic] Background
[pic]
[pic]
eBay - The World's Online Marketplace
eBay is The World's Online Marketplace® with a global customer base of 233 million. Founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995, eBay has created a powerful marketplace for the sale of goods and services by a passionate community of individuals and small businesses. eBay now has a global presence in 37 markets, including the United States.
As an early Internet enthusiast, Pierre knew that people needed a central location to buy and sell all kinds of items on a level playing field and to meet other users with similar interests. He started eBay to fulfil this need. At the time, Pierre's fiancée (now wife) was an avid Pez™ (sweet dispenser) collector. She was having trouble finding people to trade with, and Pierre thought eBay might be the answer to her problems.
On any given day, there are millions of items listed on eBay across thousands of diverse categories, including antiques, toys, books, computers, sports, photography and electronics, amongst many others.
eBay UK Facts and Figures
[pic]
[pic]
[pic]
• Launched in the UK in October 1999, eBay.co.uk is the UK's largest online marketplace
• eBay.co.uk has over 14 million active users
• eBay.co.uk has achieved the 10 million live listings landmark, meaning there are more than 10 million items for sale on the site at any one time
• 40.62% of active internet users visit eBay.co.uk at least once a month (Nielsen / Netratings, February 2008)
• eBay.co.uk has over 13,000 categories
• eBay.co.uk's unique audience reached 13.2 million in February 2008 (Nielsen / Netratings, February 2008)
• eBay visitors average 1 hour 46 minutes on the site and view 225 pages per month (Nielsen / Netratings, February 2008)
• eBay has emerged as the most popular online retailer over the Christmas period, according to figures from Nielsen Online. The site was visited by an average of 15 million Britons in both November and