It’s an eBay economy
When ACNielsen conducted a survey among small businesses, they asked the question on the planned growth. Turns out 70% of small businesses operating on eBay were planning to grow, while among the normal businesses only 58% responded positively. So it’s the economic climate, right? Well, while 7% of regular small businesses deemed overall economy as important factor in their own business development, only 2% of eBayers cared about the latest data on jobs, dollar/euro rates and what not.
CBS Marketwatch writes about a new class of businesses starting up because of eBay. Hartford Financial Services Group is selling surety bonds. For 1% of the sale amount the buyer and the seller can purchase assurances that no one will pull out of transaction. Also, Hartford Financial knows both the buyer and the seller, so if you’re selling some expensive items, at least there’s a guarantee that the person on the other end is not involved in some kind of scam.
Another interesting factoid from CBS Marketwatch article above: $78 mln worth of goods and services is sold on eBay daily.