Gmarket

Collectibles, appliances, computers, furniture, equipment, vehicles, and other miscellaneous items can be listed, bought and sold on the website.

Counterfeit merchandise has sometimes been listed on the website, which can be difficult to distinguish from genuine items.

History and Incidents

The predecessor of Gmarket was founded in 1999 by Young Bae Ku. At the time, it was part of the online auction company Interpark. In 2000, it spun off as its own website, known as Goodsdaq. In 2003, the website was renamed Gmarket and adopted a customer to customer e-commerce business model.

In 2006, Gmarket became the first South Korean online company to be listed on the NASDAQ. That same year, it launched its global website with product listings in English.

In 2009, eBay acquired Gmarket for approximately 1.2 billion USD after buying Gmarket shares from Interpark and Yahoo. Following the acquisition, Gmarket was delisted from the NASDAQ.

After the acquisition, G-Market received an on-site investigation by the Fair Trade Commission for allegations of unfair trade due to 11street's report of abuse of market dominant status, and was charged with a corrective order and fine from the Fair Trade Commission as well as being charged with prosecution.

However, the following year, the 6th Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office concluded that the case was not suspicious. An official at the prosecution said, "The number of sellers who actually stopped trading with '11street' was so small that the effect of restricting competition was not reached, and it was acknowledged that the eBay Market side performed its usual management and supervision duties to prevent unfair trade, so it was disposed of without charge."