eBay

eBay

[原文]

Meg Whitman: It is incredibly unique, I mean, before eBay there was no way to connect businesses and individuals on a 24-7 basis in an efficient market to trade goods and services.

Interviewer: Did you have any idea going into this thing that it would be as successful as it has been?

Whitman: No, I mean, I thought that this was largely going to be a collectables web site. I thought the 1)homerun was if this was someday a 100 hundred million dollars in 2)revenue company, so obviously it has grown way beyond what I think any of us had anticipated.

Interviewer: "Way beyond" is an 3)understatement. Last year eBay has $748 million in revenue, up 74% from the year before, $90 million in profit and nearly 90% gain. And collectables were just the beginning, today eBay is the largest online seller of goods ranging from automobiles 1 to computers to sporting goods, a total of 18 thousand categories in all.

Whitman: We followed the users everyday, now 6 million users come to the site and they're 4)entrepreneurs from around the globe who figure out how to best use the site. And if we watch what they do very carefully and help make them more successful then we, by definition, are successful.

Interviewer: Explain the role of the customer who uses eBay, how important that customer is and what they do for eBay.

Whitman: Well, the customer has really built eBay because we don't hold any of the 5)inventory 2. They pick the inventory, they merchandise it, they pick, pack and ship it, they handle their own customer support and they actually list all of the items on eBay. So, we are the market place manager but it is the customer that really has built the company.

And the customers keep building and coming. Right now, eBay has more than 42 million registered users, according to Whitman, that's about 25% of Americans online and they're leading eBay into new markets. Fixed 3 price sales now 6)account for nearly 20% of eBay's business, up from zero just a year and a half ago and big business, including Home Depot 4, IBM and Disney, are now selling products there, but Whitman says the core of eBay will always be small and medium size businesses.

eBay网络奇谈

 [译文]

梅格·惠特曼：eBay实在独一无二，我是说，在它之前，没有哪家公司能24小时不停地运作，让商家和个人得以在一个高效率的市场里完成交易与服务。

记者：当时你有没有想过它会创造出这样大的成功？

惠特曼：没有，当时以为这只是个收藏家的天地。我想如果哪天公司的收入达一亿就算是大获丰收了，所以说它现在的发展显然略高出了我们所有人的预想。

记者：“略高”是保守的说法，去年eBay创收7.48亿美元，比前年上升了74%，利润达9千万美元，增幅将近90%。eBay起初只是个收藏家的网站，今天则成为最大的网上集市，销售范围由汽车到电脑到体育用品，全部货种有1.8万类之多。

惠特曼：我们每天都关注着用户，现在登陆网站的用户有6百万，他们是来自全球的企业家，懂得很好地利用我们的网站。如果我们密切关注他们的做法，帮助他们成功，那么从定义上来说，我们也就成功了。

记者：请说说eBay用户的角色，用户有多重要以及他们对eBay的贡献是什么？

惠特曼：实际上eBay是用户建立起来的，因为我们并不拥有任何货品。他们亲自挑选货品，他们交易、选货、包装并运输，负责自己的客户服务，实际上eBay所有的货种全是他们列出来的。我们只要管理市场，而公司则由用户来建立。

用户在不断建立eBay的同时，用户数量也在增加。eBay现在有超过4200万名注册用户，惠特曼说，这大约相当于25%的美国人是eBay的用户，而且他们正成为eBay开拓着新的市场。一年半前，eBay还没有正价货品销售，如今上升到公司20%的业务份额。像Home Depot、IBM还有迪斯尼这样的大公司现在都在eBay上销售商品，但惠特曼说，ebay的核心业务将永远围绕中小型企业。

注释：

1) homerun [5hEJm-rQn] n. [棒球]本垒打

2) revenue [5revinju:] n. 收入，税收

3) understatement [QndE5steItmEnt] n. 保守或简略的陈述

4) entrepreneur [7CntrEprE5nE:] n. 企业家

5) inventory [5invEntri] n. 详细目录，存货

6) account for （在数量、比例方面）占