Mumbai, December 28, 2010: While everyone is amidst preparations for bidding the year good bye, eBay India (www.eBay.in), has an interesting way to wish this eventful year a good farewell. Brace yourself for an exciting recap of all activities organized by India’s largest online marketplace in 2010, be it celebrity charity auctions, Bollywood popularity ratings, exciting deals and offers across product categories to interesting online shopping behaviour trends and insights amongst others.

Tempting deals, offers and products:

• Valentine’s Day: eBay India’s (www.eBay.in) Valentine’s Day campaign showered shoppers, regardless of their relationship status or gender, with an array of exciting and appealing deals. The clutter-breaking campaign broke away from the stereotypical ‘gift by the loved one’ theme and encouraged shoppers to go ahead and purchase gifts for themselves.
• Women’s Day: On the occasion of International Women’s Day, eBay India (www.eBay.in) hosted a special celebration for five successful women entrepreneurs from across the country. Representing a testament to eBay India’s entrepreneurship advantage of an easy, secure, time flexible and cost effective way to conduct business and reach out to new customers, the five women were acknowledged for their enterprising spirit and zeal for self-empowerment.
• Scorching Hot Deals on eBay: The eBay India (www.eBay.in) Scorching Hot Deals campaign highlighted the portal as the destination for the best deals through a series of unique, summer themed television commercials. The campaign not only threw light on the hottest deals and steals, but also encouraged consumers to log onto eBay India for great offers, Daily Deals, Super Sales & Deals Of The Week at attractive prices.

Pop Culture, Bollywood Buzz & Sports Mania:

• eBay Bollywood Barometer: The eBay Bollywood Barometer chose the Top 10 actors & actresses from the celebrity related merchandise of around 50 Bollywood stars. Shahrukh Khan topped the list amongst the actors while Kareena Kapoor ruled the popularity charts amongst the actresses.
• IPL: eBay India (www.eBay.in), the official IPL online merchandising partner enticed IPL fans with team branded merchandise of all 8 teams — Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers, Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils. The “eBay Battle of the Fans” served as a barometer to measure the popularity of an IPL team by the quantity of team merchandise bought by fans on eBay. Apart from making the merchandise available for sale, eBay India also made it possible for eager cricket enthusiasts to bid for these products online. The proceeds from the auction of Sachin Tendulkar’s autographed Mumbai Indian jersey and an autographed bat by the Delhi Daredevils team were donated to an NGO ‘A lot of Dreams’. Also, a bid for Chennai Super Kings’ jersey autographed by captain of the team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni had the proceeds going to the ‘Mahela Jayawardena Foundation’.
• FIFA World Cup merchandise on eBay India: eBay India (www.eBay.in) was the one stop destination to shop for FIFA merchandise from teams like — Germany, England, Argentina and Brazil.

For a Good Cause

• Charities: ‘Make-A-Wish Foundation’ & eBay India (www.eBay.in) auctioned an autographed cricket bat by Master-Blaster Sachin Tendulkar and an autographed mug by Tollywood superstar, Mahesh Babu. The proceeds from both these auctions benefited The Make-A-Wish Foundation of India’s cause of granting the most cherished wish of children between the ages of 3 and 18 years who live with life-threatening illnesses, irrespective of their socio-economic status, caste, race or religion.
  
  eBay India (www.eBay.in) also launched a Meta category in June 2010 to increase visibility for NGO products. The new Meta category aimed at offering Indian NGOs a platform to raise funds by retailing their products to a national and global audience of savvy, online shoppers.
• Joy of Giving Week: The Joy of Giving Week had Amitabh Bachchan come forward to offer his fans an opportunity to meet with him over lunch with all proceeds benefiting an NGO of his choice. eBay India (www.eBay.in) also announced a special charity auction where one could bid for a private gym training session with Salman Khan and a breakfast session with Akshay Kumar. The proceeds for these charity auctions were donated to The Research Society, which is a charitable organization working with children and individuals with a mental handicap and associated disabilities.
• Lunch with Rakesh Jhunjhunwala: eBay India (www.eBay.in) organized an exclusive charity auction for Indian investors for a Lunch session with Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. All proceeds of the auction were donated to Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) - a national citizenship program that nurtures democratic values and citizenship skills in children.

Events

• eBay DreamHouse: eBay India (www.eBay.in), in association with Genelia D’souza, unveiled the eBay DreamHouse which is a concept that challenged Genelia to recreate a three bedroom apartment in different colorful themes and products of her choice, bought on eBay India within a given budget and a time span of two weeks. Genelia chose a host of products ranging from Wooden Furniture, Decorative Accessories & DVDs from Mumbai, colorful linen, fitness equipments, Silk Fabric products from Rajasthan, Macbook Pro, Sony Playstation Portable, Astro Lava Lamp, The Beatles John Paul Ringo George drink coasters and more. The items were purchased from eBay Charities — Save the Children, Rara Foundation, CRY, Aseema & Women’s India Trust within a given budget. Genelia D’souza later auctioned a few items from her DreamHouse in benefit NGO Aseema which aims to provide education to underprivileged children.
• eBay India Census 2010: The eBay India Census, an annual eBay India’s (www.eBay.in) property succeeded in throwing light on the online shopping patterns on buyers and sellers across India. The cities that bagged the top five positions were Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chennai and Bangalore. The Census guide highlighted the fact that the number of rural towns buying products online has risen to 1054 towns. The guide also revealed that Global Trade is well established with India having about 545 Export Hubs where Indian entrepreneurs sell a variety of products to millions of eBayers in 189 countries around the globe. Indian exports include stamps, screwdrivers, herbal skin care, designer sarees and ethnic jewellery. India has 1259 import hubs from which Indian consumers import from 114 countries worldwide. It was also revealed that India’s imports include WWII Photographs, Movie DVDs, Postcards and Collectibles.

Reinforcing Trust & Safety

• eBay Guarantee: eBay India (www.eBay.in) introduced the ‘eBay Guarantee’ that offers all eBay buyers a replacement or refund on all transactions in case they are not 100% satisfied with the product they purchased, to instill consumer confidence in online shopping and to promise a completely secure & satisfaction-guaranteed shopping experience.

So, if this list has managed to get you excited, then we suggest you gear up for some more interesting events coming your way in the New Year!

About eBay India

eBay India ( www.eBay.in ), India 's leading online marketplace, is India 's biggest online trading community where anyone can sell or buy almost anything. eBay India is a trading platform offering auctions, fixed price and classifieds modes of person-to-person trading. There is a wide range of products listed on eBay India in an array of categories including Technology, Lifestyle, Collectibles and Media. eBay India is a 100% subsidiary of eBay Inc.

For further information, please contact:
Perfect Relations
Aditi Palav l apalav@perfectrelations.com l 99308 80 096
Niharika Wandrekar l nwandrekar@perfectrelations.com l 98200 66 662
Takshila Chheda l tchheda@perfectrelations.com l 99200 95 751

For further information, please contact:
Deepa Thomas
eBay India
Tel: + 91-22-6669000
Email:dthomas@ebay.com
eBay.in/mediacentre
twitter.com/ebayindia