Corporations without inspiration: eBay

eBay, one of the oldest internet goliath’s, has faced many challenges over their 21 years of existence. Security breaches, mergers, being acquired and so on. But this time they face a very real threat. Internet auctioning having reached a certain level of maturity is now ready for the next phase. This next phase is not run by one or a few other big players and especially not by eBay (you could have guessed). It is run by dozens maybe even hundreds of smaller niche players that are rapidly capturing the online auction market. How do they do it? They specialize. Where eBay has everything on just about any product category, online auction platforms like CataWiki and OfferUp choose a different approach. CataWiki is eating away eBay’s collectible auction lots. This Dutch start-up just raised $82 million in Series C in order to grow at an even faster pace to absorb the entire collectible online marketplace. Collectibles like a Porsche 356 spider, vintage Rolex’s or a piece of hair from Napoleon Bonaparte are lots that belonged to eBay just a year ago, now the sell at Cata. OfferUp, another auctioning start-up, raised a whopping $119m and focuses on local transaction rather than intercontinental shipping of products. This local approach appeals greatly to younger generations, hence the monstrous capital injection OfferUp secured. To prevent eBay from becoming the next Yahoo, it should quickly move into a more innovative space. One obvious choice would be to create a Platform-as-a-Service kind of deal where eBay would be the facilitator of this trend. It is a shame that corporates like eBay lose their agility and therefore their stake in the future. P.S. If you check out Techcrunch or any other tech news website you’ll get a grasp of the magnitude of this online auctioneers “revolution” that is starting to flourish right now.