eBay 2000 Annual Report Download - page 12

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2001 acquisition of Internet Auction Company Ltd., South Korea. eBay believes that its user base already
includes users located in over 200 countries.
eBay can choose from several strategies to enter new international markets, including building a user
community solely through internal eÅorts, acquiring a company already in the local trading market or
partnering with strong local companies. eBay has employed each of these strategies where appropriate, as
follows:
‚ our presence in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Italy was built with local management
teams and a combination of grass roots and online marketing programs;
‚ our presence in Germany was built primarily through the June 1999 acquisition of alando.de.ag, an
existing German trading service;
‚ we entered into a joint venture with a subsidiary of one of the largest media companies in Australia to
penetrate this market;
‚ in February 2000, we announced a relationship with NEC to jointly address the market in Japan. As
part of that agreement, NEC agreed to purchase a 30% equity interest in eBay Japan;
‚ in February 2001, we acquired a majority ownership interest in Internet Auction Co. Ltd., South
Korea's largest online trading service; and
‚ in February 2001, we announced an agreement to acquire 100% of iBazar S.A., Europe's largest online
trading platform. iBazar has a leading presence in 7 of its 8 markets, which include France, Italy,
Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil and Sweden.
The eBay Dynamic Pricing Format
The eBay dynamic pricing trading platform is a robust, Internet-based, centralized trading environment
that facilitates buying and selling of a wide variety of items.
Registration. While any visitor to eBay can browse through the eBay service and view the items listed for
sale, in order to bid for an item or to list an item for sale, buyers and sellers must Ñrst register with eBay. Users
register by completing a short online form and thereafter can immediately bid for an item or list an item for
sale. Users in Canada, Germany, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Austria may instead
register through country-speciÑc home pages.
Buying on eBay. Buyers typically enter eBay through its home page, which contains a listing of product
categories that allows for easy exploration of current items for sale. Bidders can search for speciÑc items by
browsing through a list of items within a category or subcategory and then ""clicking through'' to a detailed
description for a particular item. Bidders also can search speciÑc categories, interest pages or the entire
database of item listings using keywords to describe the types of products in which they are interested. eBay's
search engine will then generate a list of relevant items with links to the detailed descriptions. Each item is
assigned a unique identiÑer so that users can easily search for and track speciÑc items. Users also can search
for a particular bidder or seller by name in order to review his or her item for sale and feedback history as well
as search for products by speciÑc region or search in the ""Gallery'' mode. Once a bidder has found an item of
interest and registered with eBay, the bidder enters the maximum amount he or she is willing to pay at that
time. In the event of competitive bids, the eBay service automatically increases bidding in increments based
upon the then current highest bid for the item, up to the bidder's maximum price. As eBay encourages direct
interaction between buyers and sellers, bidders wishing additional information about a listed item can contact
the seller through email functionality. eBay believes that this interaction between bidders and sellers enhances
the personal, one-on-one nature of trading on the Web and is an important element of the eBay experience.
Once each bid is made, eBay sends a conÑrmation to the bidder via email, an outbid notice to the next highest
bidder and automatically updates the item's auction status. During the course of the sale, eBay notiÑes bidders
immediately via email if they are outbid. Bidders are not charged for making bids or purchases through eBay.
In addition, buyers can also specify items of interest on a service called ""Favorite Searches'' (previously called
""Personal Shopper'') and receive automated email messages when these particular items are available for sale
7