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June 30, 2005

5:00 pm | 0 recommendations | 4 comments

It's an eBay World After All

| posted by Linda Tischler

If the volume of business on eBay is any indication, then the old saw "one man's trash is another man's treasure" seems to have global resonance. Among the many fascinating tidbits in last night's CNBC special on the company was this staggering statistic: with 135 million customers, eBay would qualify as the ninth most populous nation in the world. This year alone, all those sellers will list 1.8 billion items for auction, making it the mother of all yard sales. Last year, the company sold $40 billion worth of junk.

Among the stuff we learned last night: you can sell a grilled cheese sandwich with the likeness of the Virgin Mary on it, but don't try peddling breast milk. And while sales in the U.S. are leveling off, CEO Meg Whitman says the company's big growth will come from China. Every day, eBay adds 20,000 new customers in that country.

But all is not rosy in the world's largest swap-meet. Sellers are up in arms over the company's rising fees, others say eBay doesn't do enough to monitor trading fraud. The stock is down more than 28 percent this year. Still, several analysts have recently upgraded their recommendation on the stock from hold or neutral to buy. We guess they're betting that the Chinese appetite for barter will soon be as insatiable as that of the Germans' and British and Americans'. Anyone for a fortune cookie with the image of Mao on it?

Tags: Management, globalization
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Recent Comments | 4 Total

July 1, 2005 at 10:10am

Zap
I can only guess that the previous postings confirm that eBay's growth in China will create a surge in the stock value and that the ubiquitous "made in China" will be overshadowed by a new phrase "trade in China." EBay is host to the grass-roots growth of the global economy. I sold some Matchbox cars to a collector in South America; I purchased art from a painter in Europe. EBay is one of many corporations that recognizes consumers worldwide; our shopping in "the perfect store" reflects our desire to unite the world through partipation in commerce or, on a smaller scale, get really cool stuff not available at Pier One.
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July 6, 2005 at 12:15am

Shital Mehta
What's great about eBay is that it really has opened up a door for folks -- a new way of auctioning and buying goods and services. But there are new companies that are really doing a better job like SwapThing, an under-the-radar company that is really redefining the age old practice of barter. Unlike eBay they are doing a great job of monitoring fraud , if you get ripped off (and I have personal experience here), no one at eBay gets back to you, if small business gets ripped of, don’t even get fees back just to list. SwapThing gohas fantastic service--if someone gets ripped off, SwapThing will reimburse them, will also work with law enforcement and give data, which eBay will not.
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July 6, 2005 at 5:31am

Jim Sprague Jr.
I am lovin' the Ebay wave, and I'll ride it until it crashes. As for the theft and fraud problem, don't worry! StealItBack.com will rise up to solve that problem. Police Auctions... comical. They are the auction company, and they are the law enforcement!
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April 19, 2006 at 6:16pm

David Neubert
Ebay, fantasy sports, democratization of information and online banking/trading are the three greatest value added uses to come out of the internet.
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