eBay Drop Off Stores: Cashing in on the Latest Trend
Keywords:
Trading Assistant Program, consignment, Entrepreneurship, case studyAbstract
In 1995, eBay was created over Labor Day weekend by Pierre Omidyar to help people sell and buy items over the internet. Over the coming years, millions of eBay members would buy and sell unused and unwanted items from their homes and budding entrepreneurs would use eBay to launch their web businesses. Ten years later, eBay has grown to an online auction site with 55 million items available worldwide at any given time and 157 million members registered worldwide. In early 2002, eBay established a "Trading Assistant Program". This created a formal directory on eBay for experienced eBay sellers to market their services to others interested in selling their items. The idea behind the Trading Assistant Program is that most people have unwanted items or unneeded items, but do not have the expertise or the time to sell them on eBay. In 2003, survey data suggested that 18% of the items sold on eBay are sold on consignment by Trading Assistants.
This case traces the startup of an eBay drop off site and the problems facing the entrepreneurs who started the site. It may be used in an Entrepreneurship or marketing class.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2005 Author retains copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).