1. It is odd in some ways to be comparing Amazon and eBay. To most people, Amazon is a retailer selling products to consumers and eBay is an auction house where consumers congregate to sell to one another. However, a keen analysis reveals that these two companies are direct competitors. It is now well known that Amazon considers eBay to be its biggest competitor.

2. amazon.com ebay.com Type Public Public Traded as NASDAQ: AMZN, NASDQ- 100 Component,,S&P 500 Component NASDAQ: EBAY NASDAQ-100 Component S&P 500 Component Founded 1994 Launched 1995 1995 Area Served Worldwide Worldwide Founder(s) Jeff Bezos Pierre Omidyar Industry Internet, online retailing Internet, Online retailing Available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese Multilingual Revenue US$ 48.07 billion (2011) US$ 11.651 billion (2011) Employees 69,100 (2012) 27,770 (2011) Slogan(s) "World's Online Marketplace." "Connecting buyers and sellers globally." "What ever it is, you can get it on eBay." "Buy it, sell it, love it" "Buy it New, Buy it Now" "When it's on your mind, it's on eBay" Website Amazon.com (original US site) eBay.com 3. What is most striking to us in the infographic ahead is not just the sheer size of the site and its revenues and reach, but how valuable each unique visitor is compared to eBay. Amazon users spend nearly five times per user than eBay. Infographic with nine key points about Amazon.com which is helpful for small businesses to know, as the site continues expanding its offering. 4. 9 5. I cant think of a single person I know who hasnt heard of eBay even my old granny knows what it is and has asked me to look for a few old books on it for her to bid on. We all know the name, the site and what its all about but I bet theres a few facts and figures on this infography that you might not know 6. EBay Searching on eBay is very easy. You can enter the product you are searching for on the main page, hit enter, and it takes you to where you can filter the search results by price, category, etc. Amazon Searching for products on Amazon is one of my favourite things to do! It is very easy and intuitive. Additionally, one of my favourite features of Amazon is the way that it brings up related products that I have never ever heard of before that really suit my interests well. It does this by analyzing your searches/search history, your buying history, and current item you are viewing to find related products. It's almost like the Pandora.com music DNA matching project expanded to the realm of shopping online! To continue with the Avatar DVD (one of my favourite movies right now) example I have been using, the following page appears as a search result when you query Avatar DVD on Amazon - Amazon.com - Avatar DVD. If you click on the page and scroll down, it lists several other movies such as Iron Man, The Blind Side, and Sherlock Holmes. Wow! All of these are products that I like! I am inclined to buy more. See how that works? 7. EBay Items are priced in either an auction listing format or a fixed/Buy It Now listing format. There is also a feature that allows you to filter by these listing formats. Personally, I only buy items on eBay that are in the Buy it Now format because I don't want to wait around for the 7 day auction term to end to know if I won the item. Amazon All products sold on Amazon.com are fixed price listings. However, you have the choice on the main search screen to immediately select whether you want to a) purchase the product new from Amazon, b) purchase the product new from an independent seller, or c) purchase the product used from an independent seller. For each situation, the lowest price listing is shown on the main search page, allowing you to immediately screen based on lowest price! Very nice! 8. EBay For all practical purposes, payment is only accepted on eBay through Paypal.com. PayPal is a payment processing/services company, that is owned by eBay. It is a very secure way to link bank accounts and credit cards to make online payments. Payments are also guaranteed to be refunded if you get ripped off by a seller that doesn't deliver their product. Amazon Amazon.com has made paying extremely easy. And, in fact, maybe even too easy! Your credit card information is stored on Amazon along with your address, so that you can order items in less than 30 sec with maybe 3 clicks total. They have also added a 1 click ordering system, making things even faster. Payments are made directly to Amazon.com, who then remits payment to independent sellers if needed 9. Ebay Personally, I have found that the shipment of items I have bought on eBay have been very reliable. I have never not received an item that I bought on eBay. Amazon Amazon.com has your best interests in mind, as a buyer, when it comes to shipping. Amazon restricts the amount that sellers can charge for shipping/handling for a specific item or type of item. As a seller, I can say that often, this results in your seller losing money. Bad for the seller, good for you as a buyer! Amazon even requires that sellers enter the shipping tracking number before they are paid, thus allowing you to receive your item quicker by providing more encouragement for the seller to get rid of the item quickly! 10. EBay You pay no fees when buying an item on eBay or paying for it using PayPal (provided that you don't pay for any of the extra features that are offered during checkout). They are all paid by the seller. Lucky you! Amazon You pay no fees when purchasing something on Amazon.com. They are all paid by the seller