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Introduction The number of eBay members online today is incredible. EBay has succeeded in redefining the way the general public buys and sells just about anything, as well as how the world communicates with one another. The reasons for the success and popularity of eBay really come down to a few things: membership, choice, value, and communication. This paper will discuss the success of the eBay phenomenon, emphasizing how its innovative method of global communication filled a much-needed void in the consumer marketplace In 1995, Pierre Omidyar, a Silicon Valley software engineer, created website so his girlfriend could find other collectors of Pez dispensers (Avis, 2002). To his surprise, droves of people came to the site wanting to trade various types of collectibles. He slowly expanded the Web site, eventually quitting his job to accommodate the overwhelming pressures of his new and successful site, which was generating thousands of dollars in fees per day. Today, eBay is one of the highest traffic sites on the Internet, with 41 million members around the world (Avis, 2002). The site generates about 1.5 billion page views per month. EBay provides a source of worldwide communication to buyers and sellers from all markets. A