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Opportunities for eBay Application Development
June 25, 2008
Page 2
Agenda
Agenda• About the Speaker• MerchantRun Company Background• MerchantRun GlobalLink• eBay Marketplace Overview• Turning Ideas Into Businesses• Identifying Problems, Creating Solutions• Lessons Learned
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About the Speaker
About the Speaker• President and founder of MerchantRun• Software product management & management consulting
experience• 5+ years experience selling on behalf of Bostonarea
retailers
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About the Speaker (Continued)
•First heard of eBay as student at MIT•Always enjoyed finding a good bargain•Began selling jeans on eBay, made money in college
•Lost first job after dotcom boom, used eBay to make ends meet
•Quit consulting when eBay revenues passed salary
•Heard about opportunity in Taiwan from college friend
1998 – Boston
2005 – Taiwan
Began selling clothing
$10 $15
$25
$56 $48
$65
$109 $100
$130
$155
$0
$40
$80
$120
$160 MerchantRun eBay GMV ($USD, 000s)
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MerchantRun Company Background
MerchantRun began operations as an online retailer and quickly became Taiwan’s top eBay seller after using our internal software to sell to global eBay sites…
Fall 2004: eBay CBT Retailer
• Largest eBay seller in Taiwan
• Increased revenues 15x in 10 months
• Peak annualized revenues of USD$1.9M
• Formed close relationship with eBay Taiwan
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MerchantRun Company Background (Continued)
After success with our retail operation and encouragement from eBay, we converted our internal listing tools into a commercial grade CBT solution…
Global eBay Market
• 180.6M Registered Users• 33 eBay Websites• $59.3B 2007 GMV• $10.7B 2007 CBT GMV
Now: CBT Solutions Provider
• Thorough understanding of customer requirements
• Extensive software development experience
• Huge untapped opportunity in Asia
• Cost advantage running out of China
Worldwide eBay Sellers
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MerchantRun GlobalLink
MerchantRun GlobalLink simplifies the process of managing product sales across multiple eBay sites…
ONE product definition
ONE interface
• List On ALL eBay Sites
• Listing Automation Rules
• Bulk Edit Listings Across Sites
• Integrated Translation Tools
• English / Chinese Interface
Several Listings on Multiple Websites…
Current eBay Scenario MerchantRun GlobalLink
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MerchantRun GlobalLink (Continued)
Schedule listings for free and automatically relist unsold items
Sample screenshot from MerchantRun GlobalLink…
eBay Marketplace Overview
eBay Marketplace Overview• 84 million active users• 70,000 worldwide developers• 20,000 new members in past year• 12,000 applications written for eBay• 60% of all eBay listings generated via API, of which about
half come though 3rd parties• Over 5.7 billion API calls are made every month
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Software Drives eBay Sales
eBay relies heavily on third party application developers to drive buyer traffic…
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Online Auctions in Asia
33 39 45 51 58
11299
87
2219
0
40
80
120
160
200
2003 2004 2005E 2006E 2007ETotal Paying Auction Users Total Auction Users
Total Auction Users (millions)CAGR 35%
Asia Pacific* Online Auction Users
There is great potential to monetize on the Asia online auction user base!
**2006 and 2007 projections based upon 2005 14% paying online auction users and 41% online auction users out of total Internet user base
Sources: IDC and MR Estimates
Asia produces a significant number of online auction users…
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eBay Development Opportunities in Asia
Asian sellers have a sourcing advantage and sell in higher volume than sellers from other markets…
eBay Hong Kong GMV Breakdown eBay Hong Kong GMV Breakdown
GMV/Seller is 3.3x higher in HK than US
Export sales account for 95% of eBay HK GMV
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Turning Ideas Into Businesses
Turning Ideas Into Businesses• What are you passionate about? (i.e., bargain hunting,
online shopping, product design)• Can I afford to pursue my idea? (i.e., how to make ends
meet during initial phase)• Are you willing to sacrifice time and money to achieve your
goals?
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Identifying Problems, Creating Solutions
Identifying Problems, Creating Solutions• What problem are you trying to solve? (i.e., listing to
multiple sites, professional looking templates)• Is there anything already on the market that solves my
problems?• What are the pain points? (i.e., language differences,
inventory management, maintaining sales multiple sites)• How big is your market? (i.e., large powersellers in China
vs. all eBay sellers)• Is anyone willing to pay?• How to market your solution?
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MerchantRun – Lessons Learned
MerchantRun – Lessons Learned• Not everyone thinks like an engineer• Don’t reinvent the wheel, combine known pieces together
(i.e., add CBT factor to existing listing tools)• Don’t put everything into the first release• Avoid feature creep• Maintain constant communication between product
management and engineering• Keep documentation uptodate• Estimate timeframes, then double• Test, test, test… and then test some more!
eBay Applications – Ideation to Monetisation
June 25, 2008
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Agenda
Agenda• Examples of eBay Applications• Cost Effective “Guerrilla” Marketing• Monetization Models• Other Considerations• Q & A Session
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Examples of eBay Applications
Examples of eBay ApplicationsSeller Tools Buyer Tools
Type Examples Type Examples
eBay Market Research Terapeak, Hammertap Sniping Tools Auction Sniper
Listing Widgets Auctiva Scrolling Gallery, Andale Counters
Mobile Solutions iRibbit
Listing Management Solutions
MerchantRun, ChannelAdvisor, Kyozou
Purchasing eBay Desktop, Wii Seeker
Sales Analysis Vendio Sales Analyzer Buyer Search Fat Fingers
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Cost Effective “Guerrilla” Marketing
Cost Effective “Guerrilla” Marketing• Customer referrals (i.e., GlobalLink referral codes)• Include marketing slogans (i.e., “Sell to International Sites”)• Upload downloadable tools to high traffic sites (i.e., sourceforge,
CNET, etc.)• Provide free copies to professional reviewers• Partnerships with complementary companies (i.e., Terapeak and
MerchantRun)• Chat boards (i.e., eBay)• Email (targeted, careful not to spam)• Free trials (i.e., GlobalLink 100 free listings)• Cross promote related products
Will this marketing campaign turn prospects into customers?
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Cost Effective “Guerrilla” Marketing
MerchantRun offers free listing rewards for customer referrals…
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Cost Effective “Guerrilla” Marketing
MerchantRun inserts a link to its corporate website at the bottom of each eBay listing generated via GlobalLink…
MerchantRun promotional graphic
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Cost Effective “Guerrilla” Marketing
MerchantRun offers a free trial (100 listings) of its GlobalLink application to new customers…
Free Trial for new customers
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Cost Effective “Guerrilla” Marketing
eBay listings generated from GlobalLink have a dedicated area for cross promotion of related products…
Cross promote related products
Monetization Models
Monetization ModelsCompany Description Monetization
Wii Seeker Find Wii’s located near user Affiliate (eBay Partner Program)
iRibbit Use iPhone to bid, search and view items on eBay
Affiliate (eBay Partner Program)
Terapeak eBay market research Monthly subscription
MerchantRun Listing management for international eBay sites
Pay per use
Doba Sourcing products and drop shipping from China
Annual subscription
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Other Considerations
Other Considerations• Will customers upgrade to “premium” services? (i.e., free widget vs.
subscription package)• Is signup convenient?• High learning curve vs. mass adoption• Tracking marketing performance (i.e., signup date, any listings
created?)• What is my customer acquisition cost? (i.e., $1000 campaign yielding
10 customers is $100)• Are my customers sticky?
