Revenue model for Google,Amazon.com,and eBay.

An e-commerce model is the most well-known revenue stream where the website sells products and services online. However, there are billions of websites on the internet and about 30 million domain names are registered. Among these surviving players on the internet, how many of the websites do make real money and have real profits? Recent years, Google, Amazon.com, and eBay have been viewed as big e-commerce merchants and took over the lead of e-market. Then, another question may be aroused…How do people derived their revenue through these websites?

Now, let’s me explain the different revenue model that adopted by Google, Amazon.com, and eBay.

Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, web-based e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking, and video sharing as well as selling advertising-free versions of the same technologies. The principal services offered by Google include Google AdWords and Google AdSense.

AdWords is Google's flagship advertising product and main source of revenue.Google AdWords allows Web advertisers to display advertisements in Google's search results and the Google Content Network, through either a cost-per-click or cost-per-view scheme. An advertiser has to pay every time his ad receives a click. The Advertisers decide the keywords relevant to their offer that should display their ad and the maximum amount they are willing to pay per click for that keyword.

• Google AdSense is an ad serving program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and, more recently, video advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-impressions basis. AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on a website because the ads are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the ads is often relevant to the website. Google is currently testing a new advertising program which called Cost-Per-Action. This program pays site owners based on a Cost-Per-Click model.

Amazon was one of the first major companies to sell goods by Internet.Amazon.com started as an on-line bookstore, but soon diversified to product lines of VHS, DVD, music CDs, MP3 format, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, etc. Amazon.com successfully earned distributed transaction fees which are fixed at price through creating virtual marketplace. However, Amazon is also a pioneer in affiliate partnership marketing. An Amazon partner website can display Amazon books directly on their website, and sends customers to the Amazon's website when the visitor is ready to buy it. So far, Amazon has been the crown prince of consumer E-commerce, favored to rule over an expanding E-empire.

eBay popularized the auction format listing. Like most auction companies, eBay does not actually sell goods that it owns itself. It merely facilitates the process of listing and displaying goods, bidding on items, and paying for them. It acts as a marketplace for individuals and businesses that use the site to auction off goods and services.

eBay offers several types of auctions such as below:

1.Auction-style listings allow the seller to offer one or more items for sale for a specified number of days. The seller can establish a reserve price. 2.Fixed Price format allows the seller to offer one or more items for sale at a Buy It Now price. Buyers who agree to pay that price win the auction immediately without submitting a bid.
3.Dutch Auctions allow the seller to offer two or more identical items in the same auction. Bidders can bid for any number from one item up to the total number offered.

In other words, eBay generated its revenue through transaction fees by using online auction business model.