And these numbers are even better than they sound. But the fact that there were any net margins left at all encouraged many analysts. Their strong results indicated that they will lead the company forward, as expected. The big news was that the average value of the local auctions on eBay's 53 regional sites was one and a half times the average value of eBay's general auctions. That's why local auctions have the biggest potential to improve eBay's numbers.
Local auctions lend themselves best to bulkier and often more valuable items.
But if the category catches on, eBay could begin taking a percentage of the sale price, called a transaction fee, the way it does with most of the other items sold on its site. Autos should be a key growth engine. If it wasn't already clear that eBay is shifting its strategy to focus on the more expensive items which yield higher transaction fees, it became quite evident when executives revealed plans to remove the running tally of the millions of items for sale on the site from its home page.