posted on December 2, 2000 01:24:34 PM
In a meeting of e-commerce execs and Business School Profs, it was suggested that eBay may get some stiff competition from P2P file sharing software, where sellers and buyers find each other for free on a Napater/Gnutella file sharing utility.
posted on December 2, 2000 06:36:03 PM
Get real - Yahoo is already FREE - and most people I encounter are just computer literate enough to get on line - they need an organized system -
I see above you think eBay will be put out of business by some odd ball computer system and in another string you are crying the sky is falling because PayPal isn't insured by the FDIC.
posted on December 2, 2000 07:00:23 PM
I think eBay's worst fear is that people will start using all-auction search tools like AW's rather than eBay's own. The thing eBay now has that others don't and covet is the traffic (eyeballs). The old market-share/first-mover advantage concept.
The search aggregators nullify most of that, putting sites like Yahoo on a much better footing. They also allow new entrants into the game -- which is critical if the moves toward more regulations/fees are to be held in check.
Remember how eBay put up such a fight and tried to block AW at first? They're definitely afraid of the scenario should one of the universal searches catch on.
eBay also might allow opportunities for niche sites in banned or restricted categories, or in areas where foreign law is more lax than U.S. law. An arms-marketplace site hosted in Colombia? Bootleg CD site based in the Cook Islands? Adult auction marketplace where you have to declare you're at least 15 to view, from Denmark? The mind boggles.
