• EBay is the most popular e-commerce destination on the Internet, with over 100,000,000 items for sale or auction at any given time. The online company is dedicated to eliminating the need for a middleman in trade, but also strives to provide a safe and secure Internet experience. Users from all corners of the globe are connected in a continually broadening marketplace through the membership of eBay.
  
  

Types

• As a matter of course, eBay allows "almost anything on earth" to be traded, bought or sold through its channels. The various categories of items you can shop for on eBay include art, antiques, computers, jewelry, clothing, housewares, exercise equipment, cars, concert tickets, electronics and much more. Over 6.4 million items are listed on eBay every day.
  
  

Trends

• EBay allows its members and visitors to search for the items they most desire before ever committing to a transaction. The most popular items being searched and sold on eBay are mostly tech products, such as the number one item, Nintendo's Wii game console, with over 2 million units sold. Microsoft's XBox 360 was the second most popular item sold on eBay with almost 1.3 million units sold. Rounding out the top five were NIntendo's Wii Fit interactive game console, the iPod Touch by Apple and Sony's Playstation Portable, also known as the PSP. Games for the Playstation, Wii and XBox also made the top 10 items sold, the most popular of which is the latest version of Guitar Hero, a video game that comes with a controller in the shape of a Gibson guitar. Three advanced pocket personal computers made the list, two by Blackberry--the Pearl and the Curve--and one by Apple, the iPhone 3G, each selling an average of 200,000 units.
  
  

Warning

• Buyers beware. There is a concern as to whether buying a quality product as advertised is the safest form of commerce with so much traffic on eBay's website, According to a 2007 Consumer Reports article, "eBay has over 2000 staff members policing its site around the clock" to ensure their members' safety and privacy. "Buyers must take precautions," says Tod Marks, senior editor for Consumer Reports, "and learn as much as possible about who they are dealing with" in order to avoid buying lemons.