business model

business model

Copyright (c) 2009 Michael A Jones

The eBay business model can leave you aghast! It rates as one of the greatest business success stories of all time. The concept is quite simple but brilliant. eBay is a worlwide marketplace which has brought about a person-to-person online trading community. eBay brings buyers and sellers together. Successful? Consider this – it started out as AuctionWeb in 1995 in California. It went public in 1998 and the founders of the company became instant billionares.

These facts about the eBay business model make fascinating reading:

This year over 2 billions items will be listed for sale.

Daily thousands join the already registered 200 million users.

Transactions to the value of $400 billion have been made since eBay started.

$50 billion dollars are now spent each year which averages out to $100,000 per minute.

Half of all persons who use the internet visit the eBay site at least once in a month.

eBay has over 2 million visitors a day.

and lastly, many people from all walks of life, from different cultures and backgrounds, have taken hold of the eBay business model and transformed their financial situation, allowing them to live in ways they could only dream about. Having achieved financial freedom, men and women can now work from home and pursue other goals in life which are meaningful and worthwhile to them.

Is it any wonder then that there continues to be huge interest in the eBay business model? Could it be for you? Have you ever wondered about starting an eBay business? As stated before, the concept is simple. Buyer meets seller. A price is agreed upon and the transaction carried out. To make a profit simply get products at a lower price and then sell them at a higher price. That’s it.

However, although the concept is simple, creating a successful eBay business model for yourself is not so straightforward. There are pitfalls and dangers to avoid. There are certain methods and principles you need to employ. All of this requires time and effort to learn and practice. There are numerous resources on the net that can give you a good education. (See resource box)

Here is one eBay strategy that is overlooked and very few are actually doing this. It revolves around the misspelling of item descriptions. From the millions of items that are put up for sale, there are always a number of mistakes made in the listings. Perhaps the seller just rushed to put the item up and didn’t check the spelling. Or English may not be the first language of the seller and they have not realized there is a wrong spelling in the item’s title or description.

How can this factor be utilized? If the item is not spelled accurately, it is unlikely it is being found by many people. This means few bids, and generally low bids. By searching out and identifying these items, a low bid can be made and the item acquired for a lower than normal price. It can then be resold at a higher price, with of course, the accurate spelling in the title and description.

There are even free services available that will check out misspellings for you. Particularly prone to misspellings are unusual sounding brand names. Even the common mobile phone manufacturer Ericsson can be often misspelled and these may come up in eBay listings under Ericson, or Ercsson, etc. Just type ‘ebay misspellings’ in your search engine to locate these free services for research.

Using this lesser known method, you can find quite large differences in price with the same items selling on eBay. If you are a bargain hunter, look out for misspellings and incorporate this untapped goldmine into your eBay business model.

The history of the eBay business model makes fascinating reading. Beyond satisfying your curiosity however, you may want to examine it further with a view to establishing a second income stream for yourself. In these times of economic uncertainty, it is wise to think ahead and get additional strategies in place for earning income. The eBay business model may just be the opportunity you are looking for.

About the Author:

eBay is providing the vehicle for huge sums of money to be made by just ordinary people every day. You can read some amazing success stories here and see the business plan they followed:
eBay Business Plan

Article Source: ArticlesBase.comThe eBay Business Model and a Largely Unused Strategy

The new business model

eBay Logo  

Securities Valuation: Applications Of Financial Modeling , Thomas S.Y. Ho, Sang


Securities Valuation: Applications Of Financial Modeling , Thomas S.Y. Ho, Sang


£36.03


Vintage Faux Fur Coat (Marno Mink) by Glenn Models, size Medium/12?


Vintage Faux Fur Coat (Marno Mink) by Glenn Models, size Medium/12?


£30.00


Modelling the Composition of Government Expenditure Creedy, John/ Moslehi, Solma


Modelling the Composition of Government Expenditure Creedy, John/ Moslehi, Solma


£87.88


A Business Model for Entrepreneurship Verstraete, Thierry/ Jouison-laffitte, Est


A Business Model for Entrepreneurship Verstraete, Thierry/ Jouison-laffitte, Est


£81.02


Advanced Project Management: A Complete Guide to the Key Processes, Models and T


Advanced Project Management: A Complete Guide to the Key Processes, Models and T


£28.63


Linear Factor Models in Finance (Quantitative Finance) Knight, John L./ Satchell


Linear Factor Models in Finance (Quantitative Finance) Knight, John L./ Satchell


£69.98


Value Creation from E-Business Models Wendy Currie


Value Creation from E-Business Models Wendy Currie


£48.25


Financial Modelling for Business Decisions (CIMA Financial Skills), Bryan Keffor


Financial Modelling for Business Decisions (CIMA Financial Skills), Bryan Keffor


£2.62


Managerial Decision Modeling with S.., Balakrishnan,  9780132969444 NEW Book


Managerial Decision Modeling with S.., Balakrishnan, 9780132969444 NEW Book


£56.86


Business Model Renewal: How to Grow and Prosper by Defying Best Practices and Re


Business Model Renewal: How to Grow and Prosper by Defying Best Practices and Re


£20.80



Business Model Generation (Paperback)


Business Model Generation (Paperback)


$20.01


Offers tools and techniques to systematically understand, design, and implement new business models and renovate and rework old models.

Business Model You (Paperback)


Business Model You (Paperback)


$17.34


A one-page tool to reinvent yourself and your careerThe global bestseller Business Model Generation introduced a unique visual way to summarize and creatively brainstorm any business or product idea on a single sheet of paper. Busin…

Business Models in European Banking (Paperback)


Business Models in European Banking (Paperback)


$26.78


The next few years will be critical for Europe`s banking industry. It faces a number of financial sector reforms that will have a decisive impact on the dominant practices and business models followed across the European Union. This timely volume pr…

Business Modeling and Software Design (Paperback)


Business Modeling and Software Design (Paperback)


$56.89


This book contains the extended and revised versions of eight of the ten full papers (out of 58 submissions) presented at the First International Symposium on Business Modeling and Software Design (BMSD 2011), held in Sofia, Bulgaria.The theme of BMSD …

Open Business Models


Open Business Models


$22.87


First described by the author in a 2003 book of the same name, “Open Innovation” is a business paradigm in which firms import external ideas for use in their own businesses and also allow their un-utilized ideas to be used by others. In this text, Ches…

Business Model Renewal (Hardcover)


Business Model Renewal (Hardcover)


$19.8


Forget ?business as usual.?Don`t believe everything you read about ?best practices.? There is no ?magic bullet.?When your market changes, you have to change your strategy and take control of your own success. You have to renew y…

Redefining Business Models (Hardcover)


Redefining Business Models (Hardcover)


$129.55


Description not available.

Guide to Business Modeling (Hardcover)


Guide to Business Modeling (Hardcover)


$26.48


All organizations face more and more complex decision-making while the risks dependent on their decisions require increasingly explicit understanding of potential outcomes. The new edition of this widely acclaimed guide is full of practical help on how…

The Business Model Innovation Factory (Hardcover)


The Business Model Innovation Factory (Hardcover)


$19.19


Blockbuster`s executives saw Netflix coming.  Yet in the face of the growing threat of a disruptive competitor they stuck with th…

Business Models for Life Science Firms (Hardcover)


Business Models for Life Science Firms (Hardcover)


$111.41


Description not available.

Business Models for Renewable Energy in the Built Environment (Hardcover)


Business Models for Renewable Energy in the Built Environment (Hardcover)


$69.65


Description not available.

Seizing the White Space (Hardcover)


Seizing the White Space (Hardcover)


$19.57


Johnson, cofounder and chairman of a strategic innovation consulting company, focuses not so much on the development of new technologies and products as on the implementation of new business models. A successful business model depends on four aspects–…

Microsoft Office Excel 2007 (Mixed media product)


Microsoft Office Excel 2007 (Mixed media product)


$23.91


Description not available.

Getting to Plan B (Hardcover)


Getting to Plan B (Hardcover)


$19.37


Description not available.

The Executive`s Guide to Information Technology (Hardcover)


The Executive`s Guide to Information Technology (Hardcover)


$75.08


Description not available.

Managing Value in Organisations (Hardcover)


Managing Value in Organisations (Hardcover)


$118.14


Description not available.

Black Business Secrets (Paperback)


Black Business Secrets (Paperback)


$11.24


“Should I lower my price point? Give my new product away for free online? How do I compete when my goods, services, or business model might be duplicated?” In this c…

Holistic Game Development With Unity (Paperback)


Holistic Game Development With Unity (Paperback)


$29.56


The independent developer has ascended, and the new business model demands agility. You have to be able to work on all aspects of game creation, and your team`s game will publish directly to platforms like Android, iPhone, and Facebook. You`ll use U…

Network Architectures for Cloud Computing (Paperback)


Network Architectures for Cloud Computing (Paperback)


$31.76


As cloud computing emerges as the next architecture paradigm and business model for computing and IT service delivery, the underlining networking architecture needs to be reconsidered. Key technology trends such as virtualization, warehouse-scale compu…

Global Franchising Operations Management (Hardcover)


Global Franchising Operations Management (Hardcover)


$81.38


Franchising now represents more than 10% of the US economy and 50% of US retail sales, and this winning business model is now showing exceptional promise outside the US as well. Both franchisors and franchisees are beginning to d…


Share and Enjoy:
  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks

Tags: , , , ,

Leave A Reply (No comments So Far)

No comments yet