eBay

eBay Inc.
Type Public (NASDAQEBAY)
Founded September 3, 1995
Headquarters San Jose, California
and
Salt Lake City, Utah (alternate headquarters)
, United States
Key people Pierre Omidyar, Founder and Chairman
John Donahoe, CEO
Lorrie Norrington, President of eBay Marketplaces
Meg Whitman, former CEO and board member
Industry Auctions
Products Online auction hosting, Electronic commerce, Shopping mall
PayPal, Skype, Gumtree, Kijiji,
Revenue $8.46 billion USD (2008)
Net income $348 million USD (2008)[1]
Employees 15,500 (Q1 2008)
Slogan What ever it is, you can get it on eBay., and Shop victoriously!
Website www.ebay.com
List of domain names
Type of site Online auction
Registration Required to buy and sell
Available in Multilingual
eBay headquarters in San Jose
eBay North First Street satellite office campus (home to PayPal)
Countries for which eBay is localized.

eBay Inc. is an American Internet company that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide. In addition to its original U.S. website, eBay has established localized websites in thirty other countries. eBay Inc. also owns PayPal, Skype,[2] StubHub, Kijiji,and other businesses.

Contents

Origins and early history

The online auction website was founded in San Jose, California, on September 3, 1995, by French-born Iranian computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb,[3] part of a larger personal site that included, among other things, Omidyar's own tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Ebola virus.[4] In 1997, the company received approximately $5 million in funding from the venture capital firm Benchmark Capital.[5]

The very first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83 (though in 2008, eBay banned the sale of laser pointers.[6]). Astonished, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood that the laser pointer was broken. In his responding email, the buyer explained: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers."[7] The frequently repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancée trade PEZ Candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media. This was revealed in Adam Cohen's 2002 book, The Perfect Store,[4] and confirmed by eBay.

Chris Agarpao was hired as eBay's first employee and Jeffrey Skoll was hired as the first president of the company in early 1996. In November 1996, eBay entered into its first third-party licensing deal, with a company called Electronic Travel Auction to use SmartMarket Technology to sell plane tickets and other travel products. The company officially changed the name of its service from AuctionWeb to eBay in September 1997. Originally, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. Omidyar had tried to register the domain name echobay.com (the domain has recently been put up for sale) but found it already taken by the Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so he shortened it to his second choice, eBay.com.[8]

eBay went public on September 21[9], 1998, and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires.[7] The company purchased PayPal on October 14, 2002.

International

In addition to its original U.S. website, eBay has established localized websites in many other countries:

Country/region Website Language Launch date
Flag of Australia.svg Australia http://www.ebay.com.au/ English 01999-10 October 1999[10]
Flag of Austria.svg Austria http://www.ebay.at/ German 02000-12-18 December 18, 2000[11]
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium http://www.ebay.be/ Dutch, French ?
Flag of Canada.svg Canada http://www.ebay.ca/ English, French 02000-04 April 2000[12]
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China (now defunct) http://www.ebay.com.cn (site now redirects to eachnet.com) Simplified Chinese 02003-07-11 July 11, 2003
Flag of France.svg France http://www.ebay.fr/ French 02000-10-05 October 5, 2000[13][14]
Flag of Germany.svg Germany http://www.ebay.de/ German 01999-06 June 1999
Flag of Hong Kong.svg Hong Kong http://www.ebay.com.hk/ English, Traditional Chinese 02003-12-21 December 21, 2003[15]
Flag of India.svg India http://www.ebay.in/ English 02005-03-25 March 25, 2005
Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland http://www.ebay.ie/ English 02001-03-29 March 29, 2001[16]
Flag of Israel.svg Israel http://www.ebay.co.il/ English ?
Flag of Italy.svg Italy http://www.ebay.it/ Italian 02001-01-15 January 15, 2001[17]
Flag of Japan.svg Japan http://www.sekaimon.com/ (Joint venture with Yahoo! Japan) Japanese 02007-12-04 December 4, 2007
Flag of Malaysia.svg Malaysia http://www.ebay.com.my/ English 02004-12-01 December 1, 2004[18]
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands http://www.ebay.nl/ Dutch ?
Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand http://www.ebay.co.nz English 02001-03-29 March 29, 2001[16]
Flag of the Philippines.svg Philippines http://www.ebay.ph/ English 02004-11-16 November 16, 2004[19]
Flag of Poland.svg Poland http://www.ebay.pl/ Polish 02005-04-22 April 22, 2005[20]
Flag of Singapore.svg Singapore http://www.ebay.com.sg/ English 02001-10-24 October 24, 2001[21]
Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa http://www.ebay.co.za/ English ?
Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea http://www.auction.co.kr/ Korean 02001-02-15 February 15, 2001[22]
Flag of Spain.svg Spain http://www.ebay.es/ Spanish 02002-01-08 January 8, 2002[23]
Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden http://www.tradera.com/ Swedish ?
Flag of Switzerland.svg Switzerland http://www.ebay.ch/ German 02001-03-29 March 29, 2001[16]
Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan http://ruten.com.tw (joint venture with PCHome) [24] Traditional Chinese ?
Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand http://www.ebay.co.th Thai ?
Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey http://www.gittigidiyor.com/ Turkish 02007-05-03 May 3, 2007
Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg United Arab Emirates http://www.ebay.ae/ English ?
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom http://www.ebay.co.uk/ English 01999-10 October 1999[25]
Flag of the United States.svg United States http://www.ebay.com/ English 01995-09-03 September 3, 1995
Flag of Vietnam.svg Vietnam http://www.ebay.vn/ Vietnamese, English 02007-06-27 June 27, 2007[26]

Items and services

Millions of collectibles, decor, appliances, computers, furnishings, equipment, vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are listed, bought, and sold daily. In 2005, eBay launched its Business & Industrial category, breaking into the industrial surplus business. 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. Anything may be offered for sale as long as it is not illegal and does not violate the eBay Prohibited and Restricted Items policy.[27] Services and intangibles can be sold, too. Large international companies, such as IBM, sell their newest products and offer services on eBay using competitive auctions and fixed-priced storefronts. Separate eBay sites such as eBay US and eBay UK allow the users to trade using the local currency. Software developers can create applications that integrate with eBay through the eBay API by joining the eBay Developers Program.[28] In June 2005, there were more than 15,000 members in the eBay Developers Program, comprising a broad range of companies creating software applications to support eBay buyers and sellers as well as eBay Affiliates.

Controversy has arisen over certain items put up for bid. For instance, 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. On other occasions, people and even entire towns have been listed, often as a joke or to garner free publicity. In general, the company removes auctions that violate its terms of service agreement after hearing of the auction from an outsider; the company's policy is to not pre-approve transactions. 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.

PayPal-only categories

Beginning in August 2007, eBay required listings in "Video Games" and "Health & Beauty" to accept its payment system PayPal and sellers could only accept PayPal for payments in the category "Video Games: Consoles".[29] Starting January 10, 2007, eBay says sellers can only accept PayPal as payment for the categories "Computing > Software", "Consumer Electronics > MP3 Players", "Wholesale & Job Lots > Mobile & Home Phones", and "Business, Office & Industrial > Industrial Supply / MRO".[30] eBay announced that starting in March 2008, eBay had added to this requirement that all sellers with fewer than 100 feedbacks must offer PayPal and no merchant account may be used as an alternative.[31][32] This is in addition to the requirement that all sellers from the United Kingdom have to offer PayPal.[33]

Further, and as noted below, it is a requirement to offer Paypal on all listings in Australia and the UK.

eBay Express

Ebay express.png

In April 2006, eBay opened its new eBay Express site, which is designed to work like a standard Internet shopping site for consumers with United States addresses (eBay Express). It closed in 2008. Selected eBay items were mirrored on eBay Express, where buyers shop using a shopping cart to purchase from multiple sellers. The UK version was launched to eBay members in mid-October 2006 but on January 29, 2008 eBay announced its intention to close the site[34]. The German version was also opened in 2006 and closed in 2008 (eBay Express Germany).

eBay Specialty Sites

In June 2006, eBay added an eBay Community Wiki and eBay Blogs to its Community Content which also includes the Discussion Boards, Groups, Answer Center, Chat Rooms, and Reviews & Guides. eBay has a robust mobile offering, including SMS alerts, a WAP site, and J2ME clients, available in certain markets.

Best of eBay is a new specialty site for finding the most-unusual items on the eBay site. Users can also vote on and nominate listings that they find.

eBay Pulse provides information about popular search terms, trends, and most-watched items.

Auction types

eBay offers several types of auctions.

Bidding

Auction-style Listings

Bidding on eBay's auction-style listings is called proxy bidding and is essentially equivalent to a Vickrey Auction, with the following exceptions.

Example of bidding on an auction-style listing

Suppose bidding for an item starts at $1.00 and that the bid increment amount in this price range is $.25. Emily bids $3.00 for the item, and since no one else has bid yet, eBay displays that the current winner is Emily, with a bid of $1.00, and that the minimum allowable bid is $1.25, which is equal to one bidding increment above the winning bid. Suppose then that Tom bids $2.00 for the item. Since Emily has already bid more than Tom, eBay will display that the current winner is Emily, with a bid of $2.25, which equals the second-highest bid ($2.00) plus the bid increment amount ($.25). Again, eBay will also display that the minimum allowable bid is $2.50, one bid increment above the winning bid. Suppose that Tom bids again, this time at $2.75. Again, since Emily's bid is higher than Tom's, eBay will display that the current winning bidder is Emily, with a bid of $3.00, which is equal to the second-highest bid ($2.75) plus the bid increment ($.25). eBay will also display that the minimum allowable bid is $3.25, one bidding increment above the current winning bid. Suppose Tom bids one more time, at $10.00. Since Tom's bid is now higher than Emily's, eBay will display that the current winning bidder is Tom, with a bid of $3.25, which is equal to the second-highest bid ($3.00) plus the bid increment ($.25). If Tom were to win the auction, he would have to pay the amount equal to the winning bid ($3.25), even though his previous bid was much larger than that.

Dutch Auctions

For Dutch Auctions, which are auctions of two or more identical items sold in one auction, each bidder enters both a bid and the number of items desired. Until the total number of items desired by all bidders equals the total number of items offered, bidders can bid any amount greater than or equal to the minimum bid. Once the total numbers of items desired by all bidders is greater than or equal to the total number offered, each bidder is required to bid one full bidding increment above the currently displayed winning bid. All winning bidders pay the same lowest winning bid.

Seller Ratings

In 2007, eBay began using detailed seller ratings with four different categories. When leaving feedback, buyers are asked to rate the seller in each of these categories with a score of one to five stars, with five being the highest rating and one the lowest. Unlike the overall feedback rating, these ratings are anonymous; neither sellers nor other users learn how individual buyers rated the seller. The listings of sellers with a rating of 4.3 or below in any of the four rating categories appear lower in search results. Power Sellers are required to have scores in each category above 4.5. [35][36][37][38][39]

Profit and transactions

eBay generates revenue from a number of fees. The eBay fee system is quite complex; there are fees to list a product and fees when the product sells, plus several optional fees, all based on various factors and scales. The U.S.-based eBay.com takes $0.20 to $80 per listing and 5.25 percent or less of the final price (as of 2007). The UK based ebay.co.uk (ebay.co.uk offices) takes from GBP £0.15 to a maximum rate of GBP £3 per £100 for an ordinary listing and from 0.75 percent to 5.25 percent of the final price. In addition, eBay now owns the PayPal payment system which has fees of its own.

Under current U.S. law, a state cannot require sellers located outside the state to collect a sales tax, making deals more attractive to buyers. Although some state laws require purchasers to pay sales tax to their own states on out-of-state purchases, it is not a common practice. However, most sellers that operate as a full time business do follow state tax regulations on their eBay transactions. However for the tax called Value added tax (VAT), eBay requires sellers to include the VAT fees in their listing price and not as an add-on and thus eBay profits by collecting fees based on what governments tax for VAT.[40]

The company's current business strategy includes increasing international trade. eBay has already expanded to over two dozen countries including China and India. The only places where expansion failed were Taiwan and Japan, where Yahoo! had a head start, and New Zealand where TradeMe, owned by the Fairfax media group is the dominant online auction website.

A more recent strategy involves the company increasingly leveraging the relationship between the eBay auction site and Paypal: The impact of driving buyers and sellers to use Paypal means not only does eBay turn buyers into clients (as a pure auction venue its clients used to be predominantly sellers) but for each new Paypal registration it achieves via the eBay auction site it also earns offsite revenue when the resulting Paypal account is used in non-eBay transactions. In its Q1 2008 results, total payment volume via Paypal increased 17 percent, but off the eBay auction site it was up 61 percent.[41]

Acquisitions

Main article: List of acquisitions by eBay

Controversy and criticism

Main article: Criticism of eBay

eBay has its share of controversy, including cases of fraud (eBay claims that their data show that fewer than .01% of all transactions result in a confirmed case of fraud.[42]), its policy of requiring sellers to use PayPal, and concerns over forgeries and intellectual property violations in auction items.

Prohibited or restricted Items

In its earliest days, eBay was essentially unregulated. However, as the site grew, it became necessary to restrict or forbid auctions for various items. Note that some of the restrictions relate to eBay.com (the US site), while other restrictions apply to specific European sites (such as Nazi paraphernalia). Regional laws and regulations may apply to the seller or the buyer. Among the hundred or so banned or restricted categories:

Unusual sale items

Charity auctions

Using MissionFish as an arbiter, eBay allows sellers to donate a portion of their auction proceeds to a charity of the seller's choice. The program is called eBay Giving Works [2]in the US, and eBay for Charity [3]in the UK.

Some high-profile charity auctions have been advertised on the eBay home page, and have raised large amounts of money in a short time. For example, a furniture manufacturer raised over $35,000 for Ronald McDonald House by auctioning off beds that had been signed by celebrities.

To date the highest successful bid on a single item for charity was for a letter[92] sent to Mark P. Mays, CEO of Clear Channel (parent company of Premiere Radio Networks the production company that produces The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Glenn Beck Program) by United States Senator Harry Reid and forty other Democratic senators, complaining about comments made by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. The winning bid was $2,100,100, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, benefiting the education of children of men and women who have died serving in the armed forces. The winning bid was matched by Limbaugh in his largest charity donation to date.[93]

Customer support

eBay offers various online help features, including a library of self-help resources, e-mail contact forms and "Live Help," which lets users chat with customer service representatives via instant messaging. Although this is not available to users on international sites such as eBay.co.uk, members of international eBay websites are welcome to utilize eBay.com's Live Help service. eBay does offer some phone support to its customers although this is limited to sellers of the rank "Bronze PowerSeller" and above, the company's term for members who sell at least an average of $1,000 worth of goods per month on the site, as well as to eBay Store owners.

Environmental record

On May 8, 2008, eBay announced the opening of its newest building on the company's North Campus in San Jose, which is the first structure in the city to be built from the ground up to LEED Gold Standards.[94] The building, the first the company has built new in its 13-year existence, uses an array of 3,248 solar panels, spanning 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2), and providing 650 kilowatts of power to eBay's campus.[95][96] All told the array can supply the company with 15-18 percent of its total energy requirements, reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that would be produced to create that energy by other means.[95] SolarCity, the company responsible for designing the array, estimates that the solar panels installed on eBay's campus will prevent 37 million pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the environment as a result of replaced power production over the next three decades.[96] Creating an equivalent impact to remove the same amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere would require planting 322 acres (1.30 km2) of trees.[96] The design of the building also incorporates other elements to reduce its impact on the environment. The building is equipped with a lighting system that detects natural ambient light sources and automatically dims artificial lighting to save 39 percent of the power usually required to light an office building.[94] eBay's newest building also reduces demand on local water supplies by incorporating an eco-friendly irrigation system, low-flow shower heads, and low-flow faucets.[94] Even during construction, more than 75 percent of the waste from construction was recycled.[94] eBay also runs buses between San Francisco and the San Jose campus to reduce the number of commuting employees.[94]

See also

Notes and references

  1. "Company Profile for eBay Inc (EBAY)". Retrieved on 2008-10-21.
  2. Suciu, Peter (2008-04-18). "Skype and PayPal – A Different Set of Rules". All Business. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
  3. misc.forsale.non-computer post about Auctionweb
  4. 4.0 4.1 Cohen, Adam. The Perfect Store. ISBN 0-316-16493-3. 
  5. Stross, Randall (2001-05-29). eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work. Ballantine Books (May 29, 2001). pp. 28-29. ISBN 978-0345428899. http://www.amazon.com/eBoys-Inside-Account-Venture-Capitalists/dp/0345428897/. 
  6. ***Policy changes – ivory trading, laser pointers and novelty banknotes *** 21 October, 2008 | 10:00AM BST
  7. 7.0 7.1 How did eBay start?, About.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-26.
  8. The history of ebay
  9. eBay Inc. - MSN Fact Sheet
  10. "eBay Fact Sheet" (PDF). eBay. eBay Inc. (2006-03-31). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  11. "eBay Launches Service for Austria". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2000-12-18). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  12. "Gary Briggs Appointed Vice President and Country Manager of eBay Canada". eBay Canada. eBay Inc. (2004-04-28). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  13. WORLD'S LARGEST ONLINE TRADING COMMUNITY LAUNCHES NEW WEB SITE IN FRANCE
  14. (French) eBay France, lancement officiel du site d'enchères
  15. "eBay Launches Service For Hong Kong". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2003-12-21). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 "eBay Launches Service For Ireland, New Zealand And Switzerland". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2001-03-29). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  17. "eBay Launches in Italy". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2001-01-15). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  18. "eBay Launches Service for Malaysia". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2004-12-01). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  19. "eBay Launches Service for the Philippines". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2004-11-16). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  20. "eBay Launches Service for Poland". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2005-04-22). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  21. "eBay Launches Service for Singapore". eBay Inc. - Investor Relations. eBay Inc. (2001-10-24). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  22. "[Internet Auction] Auction "eBay will start Korean service next month"". Hangyore News (Yonhab News). (2001-01-08). Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
  23. "eBay.es Dossier de Prensa" (PDF). eBay.es. eBay Inc. (January 2001). Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  24. According to Ruten.com.tw's website Ruten.com.tw is a joint venture between PCHome and eBay
  25. "eBay Worldwide". eBay.co.uk. eBay Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
  26. "Nhịp sống số".
  27. "Prohibited and Restricted Items - Overview". eBay. Retrieved on 2006-06-28.
  28. "eBay Developers Program". eBay. Retrieved on 2006-06-28.
  29. August 10, 2007, 10:38AM BST post to eBay annoucement board by eBay's staff
  30. 21 December, 2007 12:10PM GMT General announcement by eBay
  31. Announcement posted in a section on ebay called Changes in 2008
  32. eBay February 2008 announcement board posted on 28 February, 2008 02:49PM GMT
  33. eBay announcement 24 March, 2008 09:00AM GMT
  34. January 2008
  35. February 2008
  36. January 2008
  37. Upcoming Changes to Feedback
  38. Fees 2008 Overview
  39. January 2008
  40. eBay January 2008 announcement board. Posted on 30 January, 2008 06:20PM GMT
  41. Q1 eBay earnings call April 16th 2008
  42. Chat with Rob Chesnut, Vice President of eBay's Trust & Safety Department
  43. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/tobacco.html
  44. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/alcohol.html
  45. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/drugs-drug-paraphernalia.html
  46. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/offensive.html
  47. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/bootlegs.html
  48. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/firearms-weapons-knives.html
  49. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/used-clothing.html
  50. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/teachersedition.html
  51. http://worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51702
  52. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/remains.html
  53. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/wildlife.html
  54. http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/programs-vero-ov.html
  55. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/downloadable.html
  56. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070130-8731.html
  57. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/ia/prohibited_and_restricted_items.html
  58. eBay announcement March 24, 2008 01:00PM PST/PT
  59. Fort Montgomery for sale on Ebay Plattsburgh Press Republican, Plattsburgh, New York, June 2006
  60. U.S. navy jet fighter F18 is for sale on eBay
  61. Charity sprout craze sweeps the nation as £1,550 bid on eBay
  62. The NIBS: Unwanted brussel sprout on sale for charity
  63. Chinese man buys fighter jet on eBay - Breaking - Technology - theage.com.au
  64. "£25,000 revenge of DJ's wife", This Is London (2005-06-21). 
  65. "Golf IV von Josef Kardinal Ratzinger". Golden Palace. Retrieved on 2006-06-28.
  66. "For internet sale: aircraft carrier, only three owners". Telegraph.co.uk (2004-01-10). Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  67. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4134407.stm
  68. http://news.bbc.co.uk./1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/4137877.stm
  69. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411365/712869
  70. "Nutri-Grain that looks like ET".
  71. "Eurotunnel drill bids reach £5m", BBC (2004-04-05). 
  72. Hearn, Louisa (2006-01-17). "Blokes pull in the bids on eBay".
  73. http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/CPMarkIV.html
  74. "10 Millionen Euro für die deutsche Sprache (German)".
  75. "Hollywood Sign Sold For $450K".
  76. "Buy a piece of HOLLYWOOD".
  77. "eBay offers Nick Leeson's trading jacket".
  78. "Britney Spears' Shaved Hair on Sale on Ebay!".
  79. http://www.operationsports.com/forums/football-other/95623-afls-indiana-firebirds-sale-ebay.html
  80. http://www.oursportscentral.com/boards/archive/index.php/t-897.html
  81. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4875206.stm
  82. "Matthew Sells The Middle".
  83. "ABC News: Hungry for Miracles?".
  84. "Snake's golf balls fetch $1400".
  85. "Jealous husband puts wife on eBay".
  86. "Bidding begins on 'entire life'".
  87. ""Man auctions life, but disappointed at bid price"". Associated Press (2008-06-30). Retrieved on 2008-06-30.
  88. ""Insect expert discovers new species on eBay"" (2008-08-19). Retrieved on 2008-08-19.
  89. "Iceland for sale on eBay, winner may collect in person", Reuters, CNN-IBN (October 10, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-10-10. 
  90. Matt Bachl (November 14, 2008). "Spider minus a leg sells for thousands". ninemsn. Retrieved on 2008-11-18.
  91. Ananova (November 23, 2008). "Man tried to pay bill with spider drawing". Ghana News. Retrieved on 2008-11-25.
  92. http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_101607/content/01125108.guest.html
  93. Critical Letter to Limbaugh Fetches $2 Million - New York Times
  94. 94.0 94.1 94.2 94.3 94.4 eBay Inc. Opens New "Green" Building and Unveils Largest Commercial Solar Installation in San Jose
  95. 95.0 95.1 http://origin.mercurynews.com/healthandscience/ci_9191170?nclick_check=1
  96. 96.0 96.1 96.2 SolarCity Helps eBay Campus, Employees Switch to Clean Power With Largest Commercial Solar Installation in San Jose

Further reading

External links