At the epicentre of the auction revolution is the trailblazing Ebay , started in 1995 by e-commerce entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar, now 32. By the time the company was listed in 1998, Omidyar and his colleagues had made a fortune. Today, Ebay boasts a staggering 7.7 million registered users, and offers almost 4 million items for sale in 3000 categories. Auctions has cornered a sizeable chunk of the market by offering a totally free service to both buyers and sellers. Although South Africa has been slow to catch on to the auction craze, the last few months have seen some frantic scrambling as a handful of wannabes and few major players, including Ananzi Auctions , bid or buy and TheLot , have tried to grab the biggest slice of the local auction pie.
Online auctions bring together a wide variety of buyers.
You can buy or sell from anyone, anywhere. No matter how bizarre or outlandish your collecting habits, you re virtually guaranteed that someone out there shares your interests. Take Charles Ray, for example. Collecting stone-age relics is not your average hobby, but for Charles it borders on an addiction. A US Army officer stationed in Italy, Charles spends his free time scouring old river beds south of Rome for stone-age material.