Growth Continues at eBay Australia and India
Some 2000 full-time eBay Australia traders sign on for work every day with the numbers continuing to rise. They make a full time living by selling everything from collectables to iPods on eBay – not just within their own country, but for export on a global basis.
eBay auctions were worth around $600 million last year in Australia. However it’s ordinary people who are getting the rewards not global multinationals.
There are over 135 million users across the world, making eBay a global economic force processing around $A12 billion in the period September to December 2004. Even assuming no further growth, this will be almost equivalent to the oil-rich state of Kuwait’s Gross Domestic Product.
The Internet has enabled massive change in the world’s supply chain mechanisms with individuals now able to compete with global corporations. eBay in particular represents a channel to consumers on a global basis - an opportunity which some countries with low cost production facilities are now starting to aggressively adopt
BaaZee is India’s equivalent of eBay with over 1m users. eBay acquired BaaZee in August 2004 and the name changed to eBay.in on 22 Mar 2005. So what? - you’re thinking. Well, if you already use eBay to find bargains in your own country you should look at what you can get in India for really really low prices. Cost of living there is about one tenth USA and Western Europe so even allowing for postage there are some incredible bargains to be had.
But here’s the catch. Unless you do an eBay international search for specific descriptions, items on eBay.in don’t show up. So if like me a lot of your eBay shopping is done browsing through categories you won’t necessarily find the bargains from India.
If you do decide to look at eBay.in their main auction categories are Apparels & Accessories, Bollywood Costumes, Books & Magazines, Cameras & Optics, Cars & Bikes, Computers & Peripherals, Consumer Electronics, Fitness and Sports, Health & Beauty, Home, Tools & Appliances, Jewellery & Watches, Mobiles & Accessories, Movies & Videos, Music & Instruments, Services & Real Estate, Stamps, Coins & Hobbies, Toys & Games, Travel, Tickets & Vouchers and Video Games.
But eBay.in doesn’t yet seem to have portals like eBay Motors, eBay Collectibles (or eBay Collectables if you’re in the UK) so maybe that’s coming by June 2005 when eBay say the global integration will be complete.What a number of smart India based sellers have done to get their items easily visible across the world is register directly on eBay.com, eBay.uk etc. and are not just making a bit of money but (in relative terms for India) an absolute fortune selling their stuff globally.
So will eBay and similar online aution portals facilitate massive export growth in consumer items on a global basis – especially for the low cost production countries? Probably the answer is yes, and that will have a dramatic effect on the major distribution corporates and on the entire global economy.
eBay auctions were worth around $600 million last year in Australia. However it’s ordinary people who are getting the rewards not global multinationals.
There are over 135 million users across the world, making eBay a global economic force processing around $A12 billion in the period September to December 2004. Even assuming no further growth, this will be almost equivalent to the oil-rich state of Kuwait’s Gross Domestic Product.
The Internet has enabled massive change in the world’s supply chain mechanisms with individuals now able to compete with global corporations. eBay in particular represents a channel to consumers on a global basis - an opportunity which some countries with low cost production facilities are now starting to aggressively adopt
BaaZee is India’s equivalent of eBay with over 1m users. eBay acquired BaaZee in August 2004 and the name changed to eBay.in on 22 Mar 2005. So what? - you’re thinking. Well, if you already use eBay to find bargains in your own country you should look at what you can get in India for really really low prices. Cost of living there is about one tenth USA and Western Europe so even allowing for postage there are some incredible bargains to be had.
But here’s the catch. Unless you do an eBay international search for specific descriptions, items on eBay.in don’t show up. So if like me a lot of your eBay shopping is done browsing through categories you won’t necessarily find the bargains from India.
If you do decide to look at eBay.in their main auction categories are Apparels & Accessories, Bollywood Costumes, Books & Magazines, Cameras & Optics, Cars & Bikes, Computers & Peripherals, Consumer Electronics, Fitness and Sports, Health & Beauty, Home, Tools & Appliances, Jewellery & Watches, Mobiles & Accessories, Movies & Videos, Music & Instruments, Services & Real Estate, Stamps, Coins & Hobbies, Toys & Games, Travel, Tickets & Vouchers and Video Games.
But eBay.in doesn’t yet seem to have portals like eBay Motors, eBay Collectibles (or eBay Collectables if you’re in the UK) so maybe that’s coming by June 2005 when eBay say the global integration will be complete.What a number of smart India based sellers have done to get their items easily visible across the world is register directly on eBay.com, eBay.uk etc. and are not just making a bit of money but (in relative terms for India) an absolute fortune selling their stuff globally.
So will eBay and similar online aution portals facilitate massive export growth in consumer items on a global basis – especially for the low cost production countries? Probably the answer is yes, and that will have a dramatic effect on the major distribution corporates and on the entire global economy.
