Analysis between eBay and Amazon.com Research Proposal

Analysis between eBay and Amazon.com - Research Proposal Example at these goods not only include books, clothes, electronics, machinery, tickets or vehicles but also the daily groceries almost completely erasing the need to go to a superstore (Borade, 2008). The massive development of the ecommerce sector owes full credit to the two giants, eBay Inc. and Amazon.com; two of the first Internet shopping companies. These websites sell all kinds of products including vehicles, equipment, machinery, clothing, toys, gadgets, computers, and books. They not only sell products directly to customers but also act as intermediates for companies such as IBM or Bed Bath & Beyond, and third parties who sell their products through these websites. Moreover, they are also affiliated with other companies; for instance, eBay is affiliated with PayPal, a global money transfer organization (History of Ecommerce, 2004). Although both eBay and Amazon are online shopping companies, their business models are quite different from each other. This is due to the fact that they were based on entirely different concepts. At the time Amazon was created, it was simply an online bookstore. Precisely speaking, the company used to sell books owned by itself. And with the passage of time, Amazon increased the variety of products sold on the website, which initially included CDs, mp3 players, and other electronic gadgets. On the other hand, eBay was initiated as an online auction company as well as a shopping website for all kinds of goods, ranging from clothes to electronics. EBay did not auction or sell products owned by itself but rather acted as an intermediary for various companies or random sellers to sell their products through the eBay website (Online Auction, 2005). However, due to the current financial crisis both companies have changed their course of action in order to survive in the Internet shopping industry. Amazon has started inviting small-scale sellers to list their products in the website, just like eBay. Meanwhile, eBay has started fixed price