Inter Park

Infobox_Company
company_name = Inter Park Corporation
company_
company_type = Public
foundation = 1996
location = Seoul, Korea
key_people = Lee Ki Hyeong & Lee Sang Kyoo, Founders & CEOs
industry = Internet
products = Online auction business model, shopping mall, electronic commerce
revenue = profit$20.5 million USD (2005)
num_employees = 555 (2005)
homepage = [http://www.interpark.co.kr/ http://www.interpark.co.kr]

Inter Park is a Korean online auction and shopping mall where people from all around the world buy and sell goods and services.

History

Inter Park was founded in 1996 by brothers Lee Ki Hyeong and Lee Sang Kyoo as "AuctionWeb" and "ShoppingMall", parts of a larger personal site. Originally, the site belonged to Internet Life Technology Group, a consulting firm. Inter Park is headquartered in Seoul, Korea.

Items and Services

Collectibles, appliances, computers, furniture, equipment, vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are listed, bought, and sold. It is fair to say that Inter Park has revolutionized the collectibles market by bringing together buyers and sellers internationally in a huge, never-ending "yard sale" and auction. Large international companies, such as LG and Samsung, sell their newest products and offer services on EBay and Yahoo! using competitive auctions and fixed-priced storefronts. Regional searches of the database make shipping slightly more rapid or cheaper. Software developers can create applications that integrate with the marketplace through the Inter Park Service by joining the developers program. There are thousands of members in the Inter Park Developers Program, comprising a broad range of companies creating software applications to support Inter Park buyers and sellers as well as Inter Park Affiliate Systems.

There has also been controversy regarding items put up for bid that violate ethical standards. In late 2000 a man offered one of his kidneys for auction on Inter Park, attempting to profit from the potentially lucrative market for transplantable human organs. On other occasions, people and even entire towns have been listed, often as a joke. In general, auctions that violate its terms of service agreement are removed quickly. Inter Park is also an easy place for unscrupulous sellers to market counterfeit and credit merchandise, which can be difficult for novice buyers to distinguish without careful study of the auction description.

Profit and Transactions

Inter Park generates revenue from sellers, who pay both a fee based on the selling price of each item and a fee based on the starting price, and from advertising. In 2004 it was announced that Inter Park would increase fees it charges to Inter Park Store sellers, which caused such controversy among users that the President of Inter Park business emailed all Inter Park users with news that other fees would be decreased.

Inter Park does not handle goods, nor does it transact the buyer-seller payments, except through its subsidiary shopping mall credit. Instead, much like newspaper want-ads, sellers rely on the buyers' good faith to make payment, and buyers rely on the sellers' good faith to actually deliver the goods intact. To encourage fidelity, Inter Park maintains, rates, and publicly displays the post-transaction feedback from all users, whether they buy or sell. The buyer is encouraged to examine the sellers' feedback profile before bidding to see their trustworthiness. Sellers with high ratings generally have more bids and garner higher bids. However, it is possible for sellers to make their feedback private and just leave a numbered rating (number of positive, negative, and neutral feedback with a positive feedback percentage), which means that bidders and sellers cannot see the comments other users have left. Inter Park also has a significant affiliate program, and affiliates can, for example, place Inter Park Shopping product images and links on their web sites.

ee also

*Electronic commerce
*Online auction business model
*Shopping mall

External links

* [http://www.interpark.co.kr Inter Park Homepage]