2001: An auction odyssey
By Dennis Thornton

Online auction industry insiders are looking forward to expansion, some new business models and a rebuilding of the trust on which auctions are dependent as 2001 gets off to a start.

Strong growth is projected by many of the executives as the online auction business continues to expand into new markets, both in the U.S. and internationally.

SuperSeller's staff asked some of the executives involved in the auction industry for their views on what 2001 might hold. Here are some of their comments:

Munjal Shah, CEO of Andale: "I believe the large numbers of new buyers and sellers has strained the very foundation of our marketplace: trust. Building trust between a few thousand online buyers and sellers was possible using just the discussion boards. Building trust between a few million buyers and sellers was possible using the feedback rating system. Trust between 18 million (last count of the number of registered users on eBay) is straining even the feedback system... We have to build even stronger relationships with our buyers. We can't rely on the auction site to keep bringing in more buyers and novelty to keep them coming back. We need to build a loyal base of customers by getting to know them... 2001 will be a time of change. I believe those of us who build relationships, automate successfully and sell our products in many new channels will continue to succeed."

Catherine Ettinger, CEO of Mindpepper, parent company of BargainandHaggle.com: "The traditional Internet auction model has proven to be a success, but now consumers are looking for a more flexible method of one-to-one selling. We see new pricing models, such as one-to-one negotiated pricing, as the next evolution for online auctions."

Doug Augustine, CEO, Bidland.com: "Bidland Systems is projecting growth among small and medium sized businesses who want to add auction content to their existing sites in order to attract and keep users as well as to gain revenue. Non-profit organizations are also adding this kind of content to their sites in order to raise funds. Additionally we think there will be significant growth in the use of dynamic pricing options by catalogers and retailers to liquidate surplus inventory. We believe as more and more businesses realize the potential of offering merchandise for sale at auction, use of technology such as Bidland Systems step-by-step AuctionSite Builder to create auctions, will become an integral part of e-commerce Web site development."

Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay (from Announcements pages): "Looking forward, we remain committed to aggressively growing our U.S. business and building on our new initiatives. We plan to continue enabling new categories of products that can be traded successfully on eBay. We remain focused on attracting an even broader range of buyers and sellers to the site, including individual entrepreneurs, small and large businesses, such as Disney and Sun Microsystems. We will continue to expand geographically by building out both local and international markets that will ultimately enable seamless local, national and international trading. And we are committed to continuous improvement of our technology infrastructure."