The Perfect Store: Inside eBay at Dominant Systems Book Store

In the short but wild history of the Internet, few companies have developed such an ideal approach to utilizing the uniqueness of the medium for business as eBay--hence the title of Adam Cohen's colorful and insightful corporate biography The Perfect Store. Cohen, chief technology writer for Time magazine before joining The New York Times' editorial board, is the only journalist to receive complete cooperation from the company for such a project, and the combination of access and experience leads to a well-researched and well-written tale capturing the essence of this online auction-house phenomenon. In the process, Cohen reveals how the pioneering site first developed into a vibrant virtual community, then a cultural icon and a model for Web-based commerce that reported revenue of $749 million in 2001.

From its beginnings as a hobby site on a Silicon Valley PC, to its maturation as a real company under the burgeoning fiscal pressures of cyberspace, to its present status as one of the few original e-business practitioners to survive the dot.com implosion, eBay has always been part of the crowd while managing to stand out from it. Cohen helps us understand why by taking us inside the heads of major players like Pierre Omidyar, the cofounder who imbued his site with a Libertarian philosophy responsible for its heart and soul, and Meg Whitman, the seasoned manager who brought business savvy and a Harvard MBA to its roller-coaster world. What helps make the book so readable and informative, though, are Cohen's accompanying observations of the many other people and events that also helped eBay develop its trademark direction and characteristic personality: the company that formulated its distinctive logo, the Kansas City clothing-iron collectors whose pastime was transformed by the upstart Web site, the quirky listings that generated controversy (and publicity) like the one in 1999 for a "fully functional kidney," even detractors who decry its big-business underpinnings. Fans of the site, along with students of the online world in general, will find Cohen's account both instructive and enjoyable. --Howard Rothman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews & Comments
Not a seller or buyer on Ebay, I wanted to learn something about this e-commerce phenomenon. I hoped to get some behind-the-scene information but Adam Cohen gives us much more--an insider's look at how a tiny free website called Auctionweb, hosted by Pierre Omidyar on his personal website, grew into the multi-billion dollar company where 100,000 people now make their living. This engrossing story takes us from the first days of Auction web--where Omidyar, as a lark, successfully auctioned a broken laser pointer to the evolution of a bare bones company where employees worked in cubicles and had to assemble their own desks from kits and finally to a very profitable and thriving business. The most intriguing aspect of the story is the development of the Ebaysian philosophy--Omidyar's vision of a perfect market, an online auction, where the seller would get the market price for the item on that particular day. Part of this philsophy was involvement of the community in key aspects of Ebay operations. The community embraced this concept and, on a volunteer basis, staffed user bulletin boards giving advice to newcomers on how to get started, and sharing marketing and other business operations advice. After Ebay's IPO and the need to generate increasing profits for their stockholders, management ventured into some practices and ventures that violated this philosophy such as commercial ventures including a Disney site that competed with Ebay's own sellers. The Ebay community protested some of these ideas and management did listen and made changes. Just as fascinating as the story of the evolution of the company is the story of the people behind the company. One fascinating character was Pongo, a message board regular who gave tips on adding digital photos to auction sites. This began one of the many Ebay spinoff companies, Pongo.com, which specialized in an image hosting business. The real person behind Pongo was Jane Dee of Sitka, Alaska, an isolated fishing village of five thousand on Alaska's Baranof Island, accessible only by ferry or plane from the mainland. Jane Dee's history was remarkable in that she was a former amnesiac who literally found a new life for herself through a business and social life on Ebay. Other interesting stories include a housewife looking for cheaper shipping supplies, who started a shipping supply company on Ebay and a man looking to have the winning bid in auctions who wrote sniping software and sold it commercially on Ebay. (To snipe is to enter a bid at the last few seconds and win the auction) Ebay also reflects what is happening in our culture and current events. Ebay listings that made the news were the proposed auction of a kidney, a death row inmate trying to sell tickets this execution and collectibles that appeared after a news event such as the purported raft used by Elian Gonzales to enter the U.S. Ebay jokes are also now a staple of Leno and Letterman While Cohen was given unique access to Ebay management and people, he also covers their mistakes and critics. One almost fatal flaw was a major system failure that brought down Ebay's system for several days and resulted in losses (money and confidance) for sellers. It was a real surprise to me how many people count on Ebay for their living, often selling their bricks and mortar stores and hiring people to do listings, close out auctions and ship products from their Ebay sales. I don't read many non-fiction books but I highly recommend this book both as an engrossing story and a preview of what ecommerce and the internet may have in store for us in the future.

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