Introduction of eBay
eBay was created in September 1995, by Pierre Omidyar, who was living in San Jose. He wanted his site, the then called as AuctionWeb to be an online marketplace and wrote the first code for it in one weekend. It was one of the first websites of its kind in the world. The name eBay comes from the domain Omidyar used for his site. His company’s name was Echo Bay, and the eBay AuctionWeb was originally just one part of Echo Bay’s website at ebay.com. The first thing ever sold on the site was Omidyar’s broken laser pointer, which he got $14 for.
The site quickly became massively popular, as sellers came to list all sorts of odd things and buyers actually bought them. Relying on trust seemed to work remarkably well, and meant that the site could almost be left alone to run itself. The site had been designed from the start to collect a small fee on each sale, and it was this money that Omidyar used to pay for AuctionWeb’s expansion. The fees quickly added up to more than his current salary, and so he decided to quit his day job and work on the site full-time. It was at this point, in 1996, that he added the feedback facilities, to let buyers and sellers rate each other and make buying and selling safer.
In 1997, Omidyar changed AuctionWeb’s and his company’s name to eBay, which is what people had been calling the site for a long time. He began to spend a lot of money on advertising and had the eBay logo designed. It was in this year that the one-millionth item was sold.
Popularity: 20% [?]
Withdraw Funds From Paypal Account
I have accumulated some funds in Paypal account, from selling stuff in eBay and Yahoo Auction sites.
For us in Singapore, it is quite easy to transfer funds through one of the local bank, namely DBS, POSB, UOB or OCBC.
I have not tried foreign banks in Singapore, I think should be OK.
Before you initiating the transfer, do take note of the following:
1. Minimum withdrawal amount for Singapore Dollars is SG$15.
2. There is no withdrawals fee for SGD$200.00 but withdrawals fee for $199.99 or less is charge $1.00
3. The funds will be available in your local bank account between 5 to 7 business days, if there is not problem.
OK, I will show you the step by step to withdraw funds from Paypal account
First Step, you need to add a bank account information. Your local bank account must be a Singapore Dollars account. Enter your name exactly as it appears on your bank account statement.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Online Sales Lose Steam
An article in New York Times, that online sales has dropped dramatically in diverse categories especially health and beauty products, computer peripherals and pet supplies. Other segments includes “appliances, sporting goods, auto parts, computer peripherals, and even music and videos” also slowing down.
Some example; eBay reported that revenue from Web site sales increased by just 1 percent in the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year.
Travel bookings from Expedia’s North American Web sites rose by only 1 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Dell revenue in the Americas (United States, Canada and Latin America) for the three months ended May 4 was $8.9 billion, or nearly unchanged from the same period last year.
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The slowdown is a result of several reasons:
1) Consumers are changing their shopping habits and some customers like a more interactive experience and pleasurable.
2) Retailers have livened up their stores to be more alluring.
3) Sometimes, online shopping could be tedious, for example ensure websites has security features, follow-up on delivery, return policy, and so on.
If you’re doing online business, what need to be done to improve the situation?
Change Your Strategies
Some online shops, such as Borders, Best Buy, Sears and others, allow customers to reserve books online and pick them up in the store.
Barnes & Noble upgraded its website to include online book clubs, reader forums and interviews with authors.
However, an economics professor from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, John Morgan said :”He is expecting online commerce to continue to increase, partly because it remains less than 1 percent of the overall economy. There’s still a lot of head room for people to grow”
So, what do you think?
Read the full article here.
Popularity: 9% [?]
40 Philosophy of 40 Successful Entrepreneurs
I just finished reading How I Made It
Many entrepreneurs do not want others to how they got rich or the secret of their success, much less telling people about their failures.
How I Made It reveals the successes as well as failures of 40 successful entrepreneurs as they are making more money and continue improve life of others.
In this book, 40 successful entrepreneurs telling how they see challenges and turn their dream into reality. They will shares what to do, how they got started, how they get funded and how they went about it.
Also, you will find how they wins business as well as lost their business.
I hope, this will inspire all of us and learn from them.
Lizzie Vann – Founder of Organix brands – create food for babies children
Personal philosophy: Live life in the present. And never forget that information is power. The power of information can change the world
Darren Richards – Founder of DatingDirect.com Britain’s largest dating services
Personal philosophy: You only get one crack at a big opportunity so make sure you recognize it and grab it with both hands.
Maria Kempinska – Founder of Jongleurs Comedy Clubs – Stand up comedy, Comedy clips, Comedy tickets
Walk regularly in your customer’s shoes
Mark Mills – Founder of Cardpoint, independent cash machine deployer
Personal philosophy: Give 100 percent to everything you do and never give up
Penny Streeter – Founder of Ambition 24 Hours
Personal philosophy: Take life one day at a time because everyday is a different day with new challenges
Derek Beevor – Founder of Road Tech Computer Systems
Personal philosophy: Nothing is impossible
Rosemary Conley
Inventor of Hip and Thigh Diet
Personal philosophy: Always have something to look forward to, someone to share it with and always try to make a difference
Raymond Gubbay
Founder of Raymond Gubbay Ltd – UK’s leading classical music promoter
Personal philosophy: I never forget that there are many more important things in the world than show business.
Trisha Mason
Founder of VEF
Personal philosophy: Life is about giving other people inspiration to do whatever they want to well. I like inspiring people to achieve things
John Mudd
Founder of Real Crisps Company – Hand Cooked Crisps
Personal philosophy: You have to be straight with people and your world has to be your bond
Mark Roy
Founder of Read Group
Personal philosophy: If you don’t ask the question, you don’t get
Popularity: 17% [?]
