Meg Whitman, the CEO of eBay, announced that approximately 37% of items on the site are purchased directly without going through the auction process. As a result, eBay is undergoing a transformation to become more of an electronic marketplace.
This shift is partly driven by participants who do not want to wait until the end of an auction to determine if they can afford an item, fearing they might miss out on their desired purchase. Whitman emphasized that the company is preparing to launch a new service called eBay Express, which will aggregate items sold at fixed prices.
The total value of goods sold on eBay over the past three quarters has reached $10 billion. Regarding counterfeit goods, Whitman expressed regret over the incidents that have occurred but assured that they represent “less than 1 in 10,000 items, and that phenomenon is on the decline.”
Speaking about Skype, Whitman believes that the decision to acquire the Internet phone company will enhance the value and reliability of transactions, as buyers and sellers will be able to communicate more easily, especially for high-value items that require detailed discussions, such as cars. Skype currently has 75 million customers and is attracting an additional 200,000 new users.
Whitman asserts that 2006 is a year for “integration and systematization” of the companies they have acquired. She predicts that eBay and its online payment system, PayPal, will face strong competitive threats from Google.
