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There's always been one sure way to make executives at the online marketplace eBay (EBAY) cringe: ask them about China. In 2003, eBay paid $150 million to buy EachNet, at the time China's top e-commerce site. Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman invested $100 million more in the operation, but a combination of management mistakes—not giving enough power to local executives, for example—and tough competition from local rival Taobao crippled the business. By 2006, eBay gave up and folded eBay EachNet into a joint venture with Tom Online. Taobao, which unlike eBay doesn't charge commissions, has never lost the lead. "It's very hard to compete with free," says Jay Lee, eBay's senior vice-president and managing director for Asia Pacific.
While eBay doesn't aim to challenge Taobao anymore, it does have a Plan B for China: linking Chinese entrepreneurs and exporters to eBay consumers elsewhere.
Taobao is dominant in China but has little consumer reach outside the country. Alibaba.com, a site connecting small and midsize importers and exporters worldwide, doesn't cater much to consumers. EBay saw an opening and now has 150 service agents catering to Chinese sellers. Last year it launched a service, together with China Post and the U.S. Postal Service, to provide a way for foreign buyers to track their China purchases and allow sellers on the mainland to offer free shipping. The cross-border model "is an opportunity that plays to our strength, which is the export business," says Lee, eBay's senior vice-president and managing director for Asia Pacific.
简而言之，尽管面临淘宝和阿里巴巴两大竞争平台，Ebay现在在中国找到了一个机会：将中国出口商和全世界消费者联系起来。
备注：以上文字摘自Bloomber, by Bruce Einhorn, 2011/4/15。转载请注明，谢谢。
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