EBay, a video parody of the Backstreet Boys I Want It That Way, is a comical video by “Weird” Al Yankovic. Depicting all of the miscellaneous things he was able to purchase off of the electronic commerce website eBay, this video is a spot on portrayal of just how extensive the item list is on eBay (Lametrain). “eBay Inc. is an American multinational corporation and e-commerce company, providing consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales via the internet” (EBay Wikipedia). Essentially anyone from individuals to actual businesses can place an item on eBay to be sold then, consumers from around the world can either bid on the product or buy it outright and in the end eBay receives a portion of the sellers earnings. While comical, this music video is an accurate testament to the business structures that comprise this multinational corporation. On one hand there is eBay the company itself, and on the other there are the business entities or the sellers. Each function within separate but cohesive business structures. …show more content…
eBay, along with Amazon, and other similar sites like eBid are a few websites that dominate the consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer e-commerce market (Top). While they are not all identical to one another, for instance Amazon got rid of the bidding portion, the concept is still the same. One could argue that eBay’s business structure is more similar to a monopoly but that is to say that eBay exclusively dominates the market. It may be the more user friendly and more established bidding website but to say that no other e-commerce website can compete with eBay is simply untrue. Another argument could be made for eBay’s business structure being considered a monopolistic competition but often times sellers on eBay also sell on other similar sites, leaving little differentiation in