LevyCasesTeachingNotes Feb28 1 
CASE Teaching Notes for
RETAILING MANAGEMENT
Second Canadian Edition
CASE 1 – eBay
Synopsis: eBay pioneered online person-to-person trading by developing a web-based community in which buyers and sellers are brought together in an efficient and entertaining auction format to buy and sell personal items such as antiques, coins, collectibles, memorabilia, stamps, and toys.
Discussion Questions
1. What are the advantages and disadvantages from the buyer's and seller's perspectives of buying merchandise through Internet auctions like eBay? Buyers' Perspectives
There are many advantages and disadvantages from the consumers’ perspective of buying merchandise through Internet auctions like eBay. eBay, the electronic auction marketplace that has been dubbed by some as “the new American Pastime” remains true to its origins of serving a worldwide community of collectors. eBay has cultivated one of the most loyal customer bases on the web. eBayers buy and sell virtually everything, including the now infamous PEZ dispensers, sports memorabilia, computers, fine art, etc.
The primary advantage of Internet auctions that time poor consumers value is the convenience of having a global virtual marketplace at their fingertips. In the past, it could have taken years to find certain items that can now be found in a matter of seconds. Internet auction houses also offer consumers the ability to compare the price and quality of merchandise that may not be available in any traditional and even online retailers of which they are aware. And, collectors can meet one another online and establish business and even social relationships outside of the Internet with likeminded individuals who they would probably have never met.
Internet auctions have many of the same disadvantages for consumers that all online retailers have and some that they do not have. Consumers may not be able to accurately view or touch the merchandise. This can be a significant problem in the case of apparel
RETAILING MANAGEMENT
Second Canadian Edition
CASE 1 – eBay
Synopsis: eBay pioneered online person-to-person trading by developing a web-based community in which buyers and sellers are brought together in an efficient and entertaining auction format to buy and sell personal items such as antiques, coins, collectibles, memorabilia, stamps, and toys.
Discussion Questions
1. What are the advantages and disadvantages from the buyer's and seller's perspectives of buying merchandise through Internet auctions like eBay? Buyers' Perspectives
There are many advantages and disadvantages from the consumers’ perspective of buying merchandise through Internet auctions like eBay. eBay, the electronic auction marketplace that has been dubbed by some as “the new American Pastime” remains true to its origins of serving a worldwide community of collectors. eBay has cultivated one of the most loyal customer bases on the web. eBayers buy and sell virtually everything, including the now infamous PEZ dispensers, sports memorabilia, computers, fine art, etc.
The primary advantage of Internet auctions that time poor consumers value is the convenience of having a global virtual marketplace at their fingertips. In the past, it could have taken years to find certain items that can now be found in a matter of seconds. Internet auction houses also offer consumers the ability to compare the price and quality of merchandise that may not be available in any traditional and even online retailers of which they are aware. And, collectors can meet one another online and establish business and even social relationships outside of the Internet with likeminded individuals who they would probably have never met.
Internet auctions have many of the same disadvantages for consumers that all online retailers have and some that they do not have. Consumers may not be able to accurately view or touch the merchandise. This can be a significant problem in the case of apparel