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eBay’s10-year Rise to world fame

易趣的10年上升到世界知名度

Ten years ago,a French-born software engineer living in California took time out from his Silicon Valley day-job to create a new kind of online trading system.Pierre Omidyar was just28when he sat down over a long

holiday weekend to write the

original computer cod for what eventually became an internet super-brand–the auction site eBay.十年前，一个住在加利福尼亚的法国出生的软件工程师，从硅谷的日常工作中抽出时间来创造一种新的在线交易系统。彼埃尔Omidyar只是28时，他坐在一个长周末假期，为最终成为互联网超级品牌–拍卖网站eBay写原始计算机鳕鱼。

That opening day was not exactly a roaring success.In fact,the site attracted no visitors at all in its first24hours.But within weeks,a few dozen items were already being offered for sale,including a warehouse in Idaho and a1937Rolls-Royce.By the end of1995,several thousand auctions,attracting more than10,000ids,had taken place.New eBay has 157million users in34countries,with annual profits expected to reach $1bn this year.“It’s certainly a poster-child of the dotcom boom,”says Charles Abrams,research director for technology analysts Gartner.那一天的开幕式并不是一个成功的成功。事实上，该网站吸引了所有的游客在其第一个24小时。但在几周内，已经有几十个项目出售，其中包括爱达荷州的一个仓库和一辆1937辆劳斯莱斯。到1995年底，几千个拍卖，吸引了10000多个入侵检测系统，已发生。新的eBay在34个国家拥有1亿5700万用户，年利润预计将达到10亿美元，今年。“这当然是一个互联网热潮的海报，说：”查尔斯艾布拉姆斯，Gartner研究总监技术分析师。

Founding Myths创始神话

Legends have grown up about the early days of Auction Web,which changed its name to the more familiar eBay in1997.关于拍卖网站的早期天，传说中的一个改变了它的名字更熟悉的易趣在1997。

According to one myth,the site came into being because MrOmidyar’s fiancée,Pam Wesley,wanted to contact other people who shared her hobby of trading Pez sweet dispensers.根据一个神话，网站应运而生，因为奥米迪亚的未婚夫éE，Pam卫斯理，想与其他人分享她的爱好交易PEZ甜蜜的分配器。

That story was a product of public relations–but it is true that the first item sold was Mr.Omidyar’s own broken laser pointer,which went for$14despite being essentially worthless.这个故事是一个公共关系–产品，但它是真实的，第一个项目出售的是mr.omidyar自己破碎的激光指针，这就为14美元，尽管基本上一文不值。

After that modest start,the milestones came thick and fast:在那适度的开始之后，这些里程碑来得又快又快：

◆Auction web start charging users a percentage of the sale fee in February1996,becoming a real business for the first time.The feedback system,allowing buyers and sellers to rate each other,is introduced.◆拍

卖网站开始收费，用户在二月1996比例的销售费用，第一次成为一个真正的商业。反馈系统，使买家和卖家之间的相互率，被引入。

◆Monthly revenues reach$10,000in June1996,prompting MrOmidyar to leave his job and run the site full-time.◆每月收入达到10000美元，六月的1996，促使奥米迪亚离开他的工作和运行现场专职。

◆Meg Whitman has been eBay CEO for the past seven years.◆Meg怀特曼过去七年一直eBay首席执行官。

◆eBay sets up local sites in the UK and Germany in1999and overcomes a serious crash that closes the site for22hours.◆eBay设立在英国和德国本地网站1999，克服了严重的车祸，关闭网站22小时。

◆Surviving the dotcom bust,in overtakes Amazon as most visited e-commerce site in2001an buys the PayPal online payment service in 2002–but suffers a setback in Japan,withdrawing from the market after losing out to Yahoo!◆幸存的互联网泡沫的破灭，在赶超亚马逊访问量最大的电子商务网站2001个收购PayPal在线支付服务的2002–但遭受日本的挫折，退出市场输给了雅虎后！

Empowerment授权

Of course,eBay’s rise to global prominence has not met with universal acclaim.当然，易趣的崛起对全球的突出并没有受到普遍的好评。

Some users object to its reliance on the feedback mechanism to root out dishonest traders and want the company to take more decisive anti-fraud action.一些用户反对其对反馈机制的依赖，以根除不诚实的交易者，并希望公司采取更果断的反欺诈行动。

But in the words of Charles Abrams,eBay’s achievement lies in “empowering the end user enabling consumers,and later businesses,to compete in a universal market in ways that they could not before”.但在查尔斯的话，eBay的成就在于“授权最终用户，使消费者，后来的企业，竞争的方式普遍的市场，他们不可能在“。

He told the BBC News website:”If wanted to sell a collector’s plate 15years ago,I would have to go to my local antique store and hope they would give me a fraction of the price.I would not have had a mass market open to me.”他告诉英国广播公司新闻网站说：“如果想在15年前卖掉一个收藏家的盘子，我就得去我当地的古董店，希望他们能给我一小部分的价格。我不会有一个大众市场对我开放。”

eBay’s Prospects易趣的前景

“sixty percent of eBay postings today are being done programmatically –that is,by machines,”he said.That means that small businesses,using the latest web services technology to automate listings,are playing a growing role in e-commerce.“今天的易趣的帖子百分之六十由机器自动完成–就是，”他说。这意味着，小企业，使用最新的网络服务技术，自动上市，在电子商务中扮演着越来越重要的角色。

The next step,he argues,is for eBay to become a