May 05, 2010 09:40 AM
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The amalgamation of internet and commerce has changed the way people buy products and services during the last few years. Consumers/customers around the world now have the liberty to order the products they need without leaving the comforts of their homes. The advent of e-commerce has made shopping on the internet quite easy and efficient.
ebay.com is an online shopping and auction website where members can buy/sell products and services to other members across the world. It was established in 1995 with its headquarters in San Jose, California, USA.
ebay.com has revolutionized online shopping and has given opportunities to small vendors to showcase and sell their products and services to a large no. of prospective consumers/customers across the globe.
Items: You name an item and there is a good chance of finding it on ebay.com. They have broad categories of products ranging from electronic appliances, computers and computer accessories, clothes, furniture, gadgets, automobiles, decoratives etc. With a wide range of product, it is definitely one of the best websites to consider for online shopping.
Auction system: ebay offers a auction/bidding system that allows members to bid on their desired product in order to obtain/purchase the product for a reasonable amount of money. The person who bids the last within the given time frame wins the auction. I personally have availed benefits of the bidding system and thereby was able to purchase various products at a reasonably low price.
Payment system: ebay's online payment system is one of the secure payment systems I have come across on the internet. Most sellers on ebay prefers to use paypal as a payment system for secure and fool proof transactions. Paypal is a secure payment gateway for transferring money between the buyers and the sellers across the world. Its buyers' protection policies protect ebay buyers from potential fraud sellers since it acts as a mediator between the buyers and the sellers thereby disallowing direct contact between them. It also helps in resolving disputes between the buyers and the sellers if ever a dispute occurs over shipping,delay, loss and quality of product.
Shipping and handling: Many ebay sellers offer products with free shipping and handling cost owing to the immense competition with other sellers. Many sellers even provide the option of insuring the product to cover the cost of product in case of loss or damage while in transit to destination.
Seller rating: Every seller on ebay is given a rating based on the feedback given by the buyers who purchased products and services from them. The rating of sellers significantly help the buyers in choosing the seller based on experience and positive feedback. I always prefer to purchase product from highly rated sellers also known as power sellers. It gives a sense of security and assurance with respect to the quality and delivery time of product.
Power to the buyers: At ebay.com, customer is really the king! ebay has special customer services for resolving disputes between the sellers and the buyers. The most powerful feature that buyers can use effectively is the seller feedback feature. After the delivery of product, ebay requests the buyer to provide a feedback for the seller. Based on this feedback the sellers rating is affected. Thus a seller will think twice before trying to commit a fraud.
My experience with ebay:
I have been a regular buyer of products, mostly computer parts, from ebay.com. I have never faced any problems related to quality of the product. There have been instances of delayed delivery of products and that is when I have used the feedback feature effectively. Once I did not receive the driver software cd for my wireless USB WLAN. I gave a neutral feedback to the seller only because the product was good and it was shipped fast too. A few days later I received a call from the seller and he immediately refunded 10% of the cost of product for not providing the software cd. :-)
I always prefer to buy products from power sellers as it gives me a sense of security and guarantee of quality of service. Moreover, payments made through paypal are fool proof and trustworthy and its easy to use too. Overall, I am quite satisfied with the services offered by ebay. Please do share your ebay using experiences too. Dont forget to rate and comment on the review.
