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•138 The 100 Greatest Business Ideas of All Time

So, how does it work? Suppose you want to buy an antique Victorian pump
organ, with bevelled mirrors, candelabra holders and Victorian stool. First of all you
must be a registered user – a free process. This allows you to browse through all the
antique Victorian pump organs with those attributes on sale (only kidding, the day
I looked there was only one). You get to it through the category Antiques: Musical
instruments.

Clicking on that item will give you the starting price or reserve and tell you
whether or not it has been met. You are also told when the auction started and when
it will end, the number of bids to date and where the article is. You can get a lot
more information on the item and sometimes pictures, all of which have been en-
tered by the seller.

Noting the bid increment, normally $10, you enter your bid. You are advised to
enter the maximum you would pay for the item. This maximum amount is kept
secret and eBay will bid on your behalf by increasing your bid by the increment
number as necessary until your maximum is reached. You can, of course, review
your bid along the way if your desire for the said organ reaches a higher pitch.

In common with the other Internet successes noted before, eBay spends a lot
on advertising and promotion. There seems no way of short-cutting this expendi-
ture. Indeed, it will be interesting to see if eBay can keep up its leadership as bigger
companies get on to the bandwagon with much bigger resources, both financial and
marketing.

So much for the past; analysts have predicted a bright future for eBay, forecast-
ing $1.186 billion for 2002 and $1.83 billion for 2003. This is one company in the
bubble that seems to be staying the pace.

One of the greatest business ideas proposed in this book, courtesy of Dale
Carnegie, is the importance of listening. This includes listening to your partner
when they want to expand the number of sweetie containers in their collection.