New Opportunity: eBay as a Content Provider?
Transactions can become valuable content, as demonstrated by recent developments at eBay, which is now licensing access to completed auction transactions with fees for commercial use beginning at $10,000. Accurate pricing information has always been difficult to determine, particularly in some markets. Wholesale and recommended retail prices can be obtained, but actual selling prices, particularly in the used and gray markets have been much more difficult. Last quarter, there were a total of 235 million auctions on eBay, which translates to over 1 billion transactions per year, across an incredible array of tangible products, with real time market information about supply and demand. Now these transactions are being sliced and diced into pricing guides for niche markets: used golf clubs, computer equipment, consumer electronics, cell phones. eBay probably won't displace the venerable Kelley Blue Book for autos, but look for similar guides to develop in untapped specialty markets.