Overview:
eBay is an online auction and shopping website where people and businesses sell a wide array of goods and services throughout the world. Since its inception in 1995, eBay services have expanded to include shopping by UPC, ISBN and SKU; classified advertisements; online ticket trading; and online money transfers.
Price:
Sellers on eBay are charged fees to list their item on the site. At the most basic level, sellers are initially charged an Insertion Fee (based on the category of the listing) and once the item is sold, they are charged a Final Value fee (based on the total amount of the sale).
Advantages:
Sellers on eBay can showcase their products to tens of millions of potential shoppers around the world with a payment system that is secure and trusted. While there are some restrictions on what can be listed on eBay, for the most part, you can sell just about anything that can be sold legally. Another advantage is that ebay is simple to use and gives multiple options for how you may wish to sell your item.
Disadvantages:
In the US, eBay requires sellers to make transactions through the PayPal payment service, which is owned by eBay. This means sellers are in essence double charged, since they pay eBay fees in addition to the percentage they pay to PayPal. eBay also suffers from an image problem due to infrequent but high-profile cases of fraud, leading some not to trust products offered through the site.