Customers are not even dealing with famous retailers like Wal Mart or Target, but rather they are dealing with unknown sellers sometimes half way across the globe. EBay is addressing this issue by developing measures to make transactions more secure. By implementing a "feedback rating system" and providing escrow services (Escrow.com) and safe payment systems like PayPal.com, customers are less afraid and sellers are more confident to offer more valuable items are for bidding on EBay.
Another weakness EBay suffers from its reliability on the internet is server down time. On June 10th, 1999, EBay.com was down for over 22 hours. Server failures like that do not only shake customer confidence, but it can also be deadly for a company like EBay. EBay is also addressing this problem by investing more on backup systems and emergency procedures in case of server failures.
Even though EBay is blessed by a huge volume of transactions processed daily, this can also be a burden. It is hard to provide excellent customer service to huge customer base like EBay's. Customers complain about the delayed email responses and lack of telephone support. .
Opportunities:.
Because EBay is an online business, the company also inherits the benefits of the internet as a distribution channel. EBay's website is accessible from any computer in the world. All it takes is a computer that is connected to the internet and anyone could setup his own EBay store and start selling his products to anyone in the world. This gives EBay an opportunity to expand to foreign markets easily. Regions such as China, South America, and Eastern Europe have large populations that can promise greater profits for EBay. EBay is already taking steps towards this Already by making alliances with major online auction companies in those regions (like it's alliance with MercadoLibre.com, the market leader in Latin America) and developing Mirror sites in different languages.