In 2000, the eBay community transacted over $5 billion in annualized gross merchandise sales People come to eBay to buy and sell everything from the practical, unique, and interesting - such as automobiles, jewelry, musical instruments, photographic equipment, computers, furniture, and sporting goods.
Priceline.com takes consumer offers and then presents them to sellers who can fill as much of that guaranteed demand as they wish at price points determined by buyers. This "virtual" business model allows for rapid scalingusing the Internet. Because the Company electronically collects consumer demand, it can fill this demand directly with sellers or by using proprietary databases. They do not maintain or warehouse inventories in any of its product lines. Priceline.com's business system currently sells multiple services to customers across three product categories:
The company claims an advantage over national rivals by focussing on the Perth market and offering a business to consumer section, where new or reconditioned goods are sold by auction or fixed price. They believe that "Dealing locally means you can physically receive cash from the buyer, rather than hoping someone from the other side of the country sends you a cheque." "Buying locally also eliminates delivery, handling and insurance charges which can be a huge addition to the cost, especially for bulky items."
Nedkelly.com.au takes a maximum commission of 3.5 percent from the seller. The fixed-price store allowed small retailers the oppurtunity of selling goods. Popular items at online auctions included computers, antiques,sporting memorabilia and collectables.
The Nedkelly.com.au site also sells new books at up to 33 per cent discount. The company is looking to expand into CDs and other items lending themselves to sale over the Internet.
They say that for many folk, the horoscopes and cartoons are the most important part of the morning paper so they provide links to a number of astrology sites and to a huge range of cartoons from around the world.
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Disclaimer: This page has been prepared by Glenn Campbell as part of an assignment for MGSM Post Graduate Certificate in E-Commerce. Please email any enquiries to Sue Halmagyi: sueh@ics.mq.edu.au