|
The online auction tycoon Ebay began on September 3rd, 1995 in San Jose, California by Pierre Omidyar. The computer programmer launched the website under the name AuctionWeb, a personal website belonging to Omidyar containing various other topics of interest, such as his sarcastic tribute to the ebola virus. In 1996, eBay hired its' first employee, Chris Agapao, and their first president, Jeffrey Skoll. Less than a year later, the company officially changed their name to eBay, disassociating itself with AuctionWeb. Originating from Echo Bay Technologies, Omidyar's consulting firm, Pierre found the domain name http://www.echobay.com was unavailable, shortening it to http://www.ebay.com
by GearMonkey
The online auction tycoon Ebay began on September 3rd, 1995 in San Jose, California by Pierre Omidyar. The computer programmer launched the website under the name AuctionWeb, a personal website belonging to Omidyar containing various other topics of interest, such as his sarcastic tribute to the ebola virus. In 1996, eBay hired its' first employee, Chris Agapao, and their first president, Jeffrey Skoll. Less than a year later, the company officially changed their name to eBay, disassociating itself with AuctionWeb. Originating from Echo Bay Technologies, Omidyar's consulting firm, Pierre found the domain name http://www.echobay.com was unavailable, shortening it to http://www.ebay.com
Ending at $14.83 USD, a non functioning laser pointer was the first ever sale on eBay. When Mr. Omidyar realized the product was not in working order, he contacted the buyer to inform him. "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers," is what the buyer told him, and from there, the company began to grow. Initially, it was alleged that eBay was founded to help his wife trade her PEX candy dispensers. However, when Adam Cohen's The Perfect Store was released in 2002, it became known to the public that the story was simply a spin set forth by a 1997 public relations manager in order to gain notoriety for the website.
eBay plays host to myriad music gear on its' website. Form guitar strings to bass drums, clarinets to kazoos, there is seemingly an endless possibility of what might be found on the website. Vintage gear is constantly being listed, with buyers willing to pay outrageous sums of money to purchase their much sought after gear. However, the auction website may not be the best forum to purchase such equipment at, as its' fees seemingly cost an arm and a leg.
At the time of this article, there were 161, 814 musical products on the online auction block. If the prices were to average to roughly $500 USD, the cumulative transaction amount would fall at $80,907,000 USD. Should the purchaser choose to check out with PayPal, the seller is charged another three percent each time they list a product on the site, adding up to $2,427,210 USD in PayPal fees. This number may be higher or lower, depending on if the sale takes place in the United States, or internationally.
eBay charges its' vendors an insertion fee of $3.00 USD for listings which start between $200 and $500 USD. The final value will be 8.75% of the initial $25 USD, which works out to $2.19 USD, with an additional 3.50% taken from the closing value balance on auctions ending between $25.01 and $1,000 USD. Ergo, their net take amounts to $54, 722,549.48, and breaks down as follows. 161,814 musical products multiplied by $2.19 USD for the initial insertion fee works out to $354,372.66 USD. The remainder of the $475.00 USD multiplied by 3.50% for the closing value balance equals $16.63 USD, multiplied by 161,814 listings amounts to $2,690,966.82. Add that to the insertion fee total, this figure boils down to $3,045,399.48 USD. On top of this, PayPal's fees amount to $2,427,210, arriving at our net of $54,722,549.48 USD.
For vendors, to list your music gear on the website may not be the best idea after all. The company takes upwards of ten percent of your final value sales price, on top of charging you a flat fee of three dollars to list the product itself. Not to mention that if your consumer should choose to checkout with PayPal, you may find yourself out another three percent. Accumulating all these costs now takes roughly fifteen percent from the buyer.
As a buyer, to purchase your instrument on eBay might be a poor decision. For one, you lose the intimacy and connection one feels when they pick up a piece of equipment that they fall in love with. Many instruments differ in timbre, color, and feel, even from products manufactured in the same day from the same materials. In addition to this, there is the worry that your instrument may be damaged in shipping. And on top of this, shipping cost is set by the vendor, which may be inflated to cover the extra costs incurred on him by eBay.
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.
 Add as favourites (0) |  Quote this article on your site | Views: 83
Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved |
