Ebay Progress Report

May 6, 2014


Kanchan Kusmude
Steven Chua
Mritunjay Kumar
Sakshi Balla
Silin Huang
MSIS 604 Prof. Mank




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Ebay Capabilities:














C
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r
r
e
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t

I
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u
sed by ebay:
A. User Registration:
Ebay being one of the higher customer based websites it owns a system that manages the
details of every customer or user associated with it.
B. Listing:
To list an item on EBay customers must use the Sell Your Item Form. This form
(the user interface of the Listing System) will take all the information provided
by the customer, collate this and create the listing in their database to be
displayed on their website when found by the Searching system.
C. Searching: The way through which a user can find an item which is listed on
EBay is to use the Searching System. Ebay uses a high end refined search system
that helps customer to search for items proficiently.
D. Bidding: Once a user has found an item they are interested in they can place a
bid through the Bidding system, or Buy It Now depending on the type of

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listing. For auctions this system will record each bid made on the item and the
user who placed the bid, once the listing has ended the bidding system will alert
the seller who has one and the bidder that they have one so both parties can
arrange payment and transfer of the goods.


E. Purchasing
Once the bid has been finalized both the parties access the Purchasing
system. This entails EBay acting as an intermediary for communications
between the parties (to ensure Email addresses and personal information
remains private) to arrange payment and shipping. The purchase system then
has an interface with the PayPal system.
F. Feedback
The Feedback system is how sellers build a reputation on EBay. After each
purchase the buyer is asked to submit feedback on the seller and how the
purchase was handled. This is then translated by the system into a Feedback
rating, the higher the rating the better the seller is, and buyer confidence is
increased.

G. Notification:
This system keeps an eye on different auctions the users have flagged as one they
are Watching and lets them know what is happening so they can lodge a bid if
they want. Also this system will let users know when they have been outbid on
an auction, they have won and various other messages such as advise on updates
to the EBay website.

H. Seller Payment (EBay Fees)
EBay charges sellers a flat rate listing fee and a percentage of the sale, to accept
this payment form sellers they have a system which will generate an invoice to
the seller and accept the payment through various different payment methods,
such as Credit Cards.

I. Dispute Resolution Console
This system enables EBay to assist disputes between buyers and sellers be settled
quickly and, hopefully, to the satisfaction of both sides. Disputes are entered
through this system for Unpaid items by the Buyer and Items not being sent by
the Seller. These are the only disputes handled through the console, as these are
covered expressly by EBay policy.



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Ebays Technology Stack
Exchange Platform is a unique set of integrated omni channel-enabling capabilities, services
and infrastructure. The platform provides tight orchestration across the entire technology value
chain, spanning several key areas: distributed order management, omnichannel inventory
management, payments processing, fraud management, and reporting. Whether delivered as
part of an integrated eBay Enterprise solution, or standalone integrated to third party storefronts,
Exchange Platform provides a powerful foundation for omnichannel success.


Distributed Order Management
Exchange Platform actively manages orders received from multiple brands, sites and retail
interfaces, and optimizes their distribution.


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Omnichannel Inventory Management
Serving as the single source of truth for your merchandise, Exchange Platform's real-time
inventory management capabilities enable you to optimize inventory levels, calculate inventory
turnover, integrate with drop-shippers and more.

Payment Processing and Fraud Management
Payment Processing - Our simplified and highly secure capabilities use a high-volume processing
engine to accept payments from the top global payment instruments.

Fraud Management - Screen transactions to detect and prevent fraud before a shipment is
made. The built-in fraud management system uses best-in-class analysis and data services to
drive down fraud rates without impacting consumer experience. Suspicious orders are flagged
and automatically routed to eBay Enterprise's order review team for investigation.

Reporting
Exchange Platform comes with an integrated, robust reporting suite that enables you to run core
reports, build new reports in ad-hoc, what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) mode, preview
them to ensure accuracy, and modify existing reports with little to no training. You can use
dashboards to view order quantities, items and revenue as it occurs, and measure success of
you promotions by revenue, fulfillment, and cost.

Integration Framework
Exchange Platform is designed with a framework that streamlines data transmission and allows
for fast track integration to: eBay Enterprise's Omnichannel Operations and Marketing Solutions
suite; eBay Inc. capabilities such as Magento, eBay Marketplaces and PayPal; and the third-party
commerce ecosystem of other selling channels, demand generation channels and supply chain
systems and services.

Platform-as-a-Service
Exchange Platform is delivered by a reliable, fast, and highly scalable on-demand infrastructure
with 24/7 maintenance, support and proactive performance monitoring leveraging eBay Inc.
infrastructure.

THE CHALLENGE: SCALE, INTEGRATION AND ANALYTICS TO DRIVE
PERFORMANCE
eBay, the worlds largest online marketplace, is also one of the largest and most
innovative advertisers on the Internet. eBay recognized that an increasing volume
of real-time biddable display inventory was becoming available via leading ad
exchanges and inventory aggregators, so the company made a strategic decision
to adopt emerging real-time buying technology in an effort to dramatically improve
its display advertising results. eBays vision was to apply to display advertising the
same measurement techniques and buying strategies it successfully relied on for

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search: an entirely performance-based approach where investment is driven by
response rates. Success in this area could lead to a more diversified advertising
and marketing strategy.
To accomplish this, eBay sought help to satisfy a number of key requirements:
A technology platform capable of scaling to support eBay's advertising business, and the
flexibility to integrate with eBays existing infrastructure and business relationships
Real-time buying and ad management capabilities
An analytics engine to deliver the data required to optimize for improved performance
Capability to develop offline integration to capture data models from the eBay analytics
team
Real-time data feeds
Support for eBay's custom attribution algorithms to differentiate various online marketing
channels
Compatibility with eBays search buying systems and methodologies
Single-point access to major inventory providers, including Google's DoubleClick and
Microsofts AdECN
APPNEXUS SOLUTION: DATA INTEGRATION, TECHNICAL INNOVATION,
AND BUSINESS EXPERTISE
The AppNexus solution to eBays challenges around building a performance-driven,
real-time display business demanded a complex integration of systems and data
all designed to enable intelligent buying decisions with measurable results. Along
with an innovative technical solution, the AppNexus teams deep expertise in online
advertising and exchanges was key to meeting the technology challenges and
delivering outstanding business results.
Leveraging the Amazing Depth of eBays Data
The first rule of effective advertising is "know your audience." The flexible
AppNexus platform allows server-side integration with eBays databases while
pulling in the complementary offline data models. All of this audience information is
then funneled into the AppNexus Cookie Store, where it is analyzed and
optimized to ensure each buying decision is smart and targeted.
Optimizing for Revenue
As important as knowing one's audience is the ability to tie a click or conversion to
the correct impression, and then measure the level of impact that impression had.
AppNexus teamed up with eBay to solve this problem by connecting the AppNexus
data warehouse to eBays sophisticated attribution engine, allowing eBay to count
and attribute revenue based on its models, not just a simple client-side conversion
pixel. The data from eBays attribution engine then feeds the AppNexus proprietary

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algorithmic optimization system so eBay can find the right pockets of inventory and
acquire them at the right price.
Bridging the Gap Between Creative and Buying
Knowing one's audience and correctly attributing response are critical, but what
about the role of the creative in generating response? AppNexus and eBay met this
challenge by integrating the AppNexus platform with eBays proprietary dynamic ad
engine. eBays ad engine allows the company to serve up a relevant ad based on a
users recent search on the site, or any third party or other proprietary data point.
The AppNexus optimization engine pulls data directly from eBays system, then
delivers the intelligence to tie creative results to future buying decisions. This data
about which creative was served is then streamed back into the AppNexus data
warehouse, providing an integrated view across buying and dynamic creative.
Working Smarter with a Single Point of Entry
AppNexuss APIs and other data integrations allow eBay to continue to use its
centralized trafficking system, but manage its entire display advertising business via
a single AppNexus-created user interface. Furthermore, eBay has simplified its
processes by consolidating all auction-based and direct buying in one place.
AppNexus also provides the ability to bid on inventory across the major ad
exchanges. This capability, along with access to vast amounts actionable
information on response and effectiveness, has transformed eBays display ad
business.
RESULTS: CONVERSION LIFT FOR EBAY
AppNexus delivered a real-time ad solution designed to meet eBays business
challenges. The result was a deep insight into the company's display ad investment
and conversion lift. eBay credits these strong results to its ability to assess the
value of the impression in real-time via the AppNexus platform, allowing them to
make a fully informed decision on whether to bid on an impression or pass on it.
This is in striking contrast to the traditional way of buying display, where the
publisher pre-determines the value of the impression in advance of a campaign.
With the help of AppNexuss real-time ad platform, eBay can use its own user data
together with third party data to make an intelligent decision on the value of an
impression. This efficient strategy allows eBay to show the right ad to the right
person at the right time for the right price. This has culminated in a significant lift in
eBays display ad performance with particularly outstanding results in auction-
based impressions. eBays innovative approach with AppNexus represents a
dramatic departure from the traditional way of buying and measuring display,
offering a compelling first look at a new age of online advertising.


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Strategy
eBay community values are incredibly amazing since it focuses on trading
millions of dollars on
mere faith and trust among the community members. Its values can be sited
as below,
We believe people are basically good
We believe everyone has something to contribute
We believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in
people.
We recognize and respect everyone as an individual.
We encourage you to treat others the way you want to be treated.
These community values mean that the entire strategy lies in trust to
build e-loyalty, for longterm
profitable relationships, these set of core values encourages open and
honest communication
between its members.
Corporate strategy

The whole foundation of eBay, lies on the idea that practically anything
that can be bought and
sold can be facilitated through this Internet retailer, and this auction
platform provider was
implementing the concept of e-commerce even more forcefully.
We help people trade practically anything on earth and conduct commerce
through the Internet
on a global basis is certainly eBays business model .This model was so
effective and efficient in
conducting transactions that more and more people preferred to trade
online, so that they can
enjoy the comfort at home or work-places and still buy things online just by
the click of the
mouse.
Today eBay users can bid anything from office equipments to real estate to
cars. It is surprisingly
true but perplexing that Why has eBay prevailed, but others have failed?
Though many of its successes resulted from its adaptive approach, eBays
accomplishments can
also be explained by the companys consistent focus on two long-term
goals that is becoming

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the worlds largest consumer to consumer online auction house and
building out each of the five
core strategies. An analysis into these strategies reveal that eBay has
applied sound strategic
management as adopted from Porter and other Management experts .Its
whole business revolves
around creating an environment where everyone can come and transact
without any second
thought of being cheated or misguided in any form.
The first strategy is creating an insurmountable customer base, that is

(1) Establishing a larger user base
To attract new users, eBay established relationships with more than 60
websites, including
America online which gave eBay the largest access to the largest user base
on the internet and
prevented AOL from entering the auction arena, bay also added dealer to
person trading and
addresses the fast growing and fragmented small business market by
creating a feature called
business exchange, where businesses could buy or sell new, used or
refurbished business
merchandise and professional tools in their local market.
The second strategy is:

(2) eBay concentrated on local and international trading
EBay has local sites in 53 U.S markets they deliver distinct regional flavors
and give users the
convenience of shopping locally for difficult to ship items such as
automobiles or antique
furniture. The company also built a truly global presence with users in more
than 150 nations.
The third strategy is:
(3) Creating a strong brand
For eBays first few years it did not spend a single penny on marketing,
relying instead on viral
marketing and its ability to piggyback on competitors ceaseless (and
expensive) efforts to retain
IIMK IIML

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Conference on Global Competition & Competitiveness of Indian Corporate
545
market recognition. The companys brand building shifted though with the
arrival of new top
professionals.
The fourth strategy is:
(4) Broadening the trading platform
By 1999, eBays fourth year, a host of competitors had entered the online
auction market, while
eBay had the first entry advantage, not all of its competitors were small
start ups, some including
yahoo and Amazon were internet significant players with extensive,
established user bases.
Ebays response was to extend its core business into other attractive niches,
the company
introduced higher priced product categories, a move that would increase its
profit margin
dramatically while requiring minimal infrastructure and operating
expenditures. The only caveat
was that the company needed to develop a new skill set-to overcome this
obstacle eBay made
several acquisitions, starting with auction house Butterfield and Butterfield,
the marriage of
offline and online auction houses revolutionized the way that fine antiques
and collectibles were
bought and sold, allowing users to place real-time bids for items on offline
auction house floors.
The fifth strategy is:
(5) Maintaining a strong community affinity
The company believes that fostering direct interaction between buyers and
sellers with similar
interest had enabled it to create loyal, active community of users,
As noted earlier this emphasis on community building has been present
since eBays founding.
(6) Continually enhancing site features and functionality
Because eBays strategy is to be as hands-off as possible when it comes to
transactions, the
company has to provide a reliable and straight forward way for users to
manage the process on

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their own, buying and selling on eBay are made easy for users to manage
the process on their
own. Sellers need do little more than write a compelling description of the
item up for auction,
provide a suitable photograph, and decide how many days the auction will
last.
To enhance the payment component of the customer experience, an
admitted difficulty for mast
buyers and sellers, bay acquired a company called Billpoint, whose online
bill payment service
facilitates credit card payment between buyers and sellers.
Ebays Competitors:
Ebays main competitors are
A) Amazon
B) Craigslist
C) Overstock