Building this sense of community online is important because is expensive to drive people to a site. Once users are at the site, all effort must be focused on keeping them there. CEO Meg Whitman has said that the secret of success is word of mouth and an accumulative effective. Buyers attract sellers, who attract buyers, who attract sellers. There is a heavy reliance on a community of buyers and sellers.
Users submit comments about their experiences buying and selling.
Those with too many negative comments are soon shutout of eBay. However, eBay is currently taking steps to make the process even more secure. In addition, eBay recently signed a joint marketing and development deal with America Online and its audience of over 16 million users. The two companies will jointly develop auction sites for AOL's main service and its other online brands.