The Perfect Store: Inside Ebay - Couverture souple

Ebay (www.ebay.com) is the single most visited commercial site on the internet - and one of the most successful. The Perfect Store tells the story of eBay's humble beginnings, launched from a spare bedroom in Pierre Omidyar's house, to its current status today - with 1,664,000 visitors a day, 20 million registered users and 75,000 people relying on eBay for their income. eBay started as a way to help Omidyar's fiancee trade with other collectors. It turned a profit in its first month and went on to change the face of business, creating the 'perfect market'. Reveals details of the company's rapid rise and the fascinating impact it has had on its users through the virtual marketplace. Examines the range of customers, from the woman who wakes at 3.00am to bid on a toaster, to the woman who had to rent a warehouse for her thriving business selling bubble-wrap.· Reveals why eBay has succeeded when so many dot-coms have failed. Provides essential reading for those trying to understand how the Web is changing business, and for those trying to anticipate the next big thing.

In this engaging chronicle of one of the most stunning success stories in American business history, Cohen takes readers inside eBay the corporation, revealing the many surprising ways in which eBay's "virtual marketplace" has changed the face of American business and the American cultural landscape.