There was more evidence today that eBay is changing rapidly from one online auction site to an online retailer. It makes you wonder if the day does not is fast approaching and eBay does not accept either secondhand or auction items for sale.

Two interesting facts have emerged in recent weeks. First, for the first time Amazon has attracted more visitors to your site eBay. Secondly eBay have just announced that for the first time worldwide sales of "buy now" articles have exceeded those of auction items. Fifty-six percent of goods sold on the site are immediate purchases and that number is expected to grow.

This could be an indication that the public are falling out of love with the concept of the auction. In today's society people are not ready for instant gratification to wait five or more days for an auction to end. I think another factor is that often people wait with anticipation to the highest bidder until the second before the end of the auction when the software generates the offers come flooding in and get lost. This can be frustrating and annoying.

In recent years there has been a certain amount of advertising negatively on the quality and in some cases the origin of some of the products sold on the site. Several major manufacturers have taken eBay to court because they had allowed counterfeit copies of its products to be offered on the site.

Not only that buyers are abandoning the auctions, the sellers also have been in mass annoyed by eBay price increases and changes in the rules seem to favor the buyer for the seller.

In recent times eBay has gone its way to attract major retailers to offer their products as instant purchases at the site. These names such as Tesco, Argos and Debenhams are already using eBay as a tool marketing and the biggest names are expected to continue. This is seen by many as boosting the small and home-based retailers in the image.

In October eBay had more than 243 million unique visitors including 20 million in the UK, which is about 1/3rd of the population. Therefore eBay as a site can not be losing its appeal, but obviously not online auctions do not attract the public as they did before and may be in the output.

A small problem has appeared on eBay, some manufacturers have a lock on companies and individuals to sell their products through the eBay site. They apparently do this by cutting the supply to others' bricks and mortar "businesses and those who offer their products at discounted prices online. It will be interesting to see what one works.

Wherever you are in the world to learn how eBay is changing and how you can build a profitable Online Auction Business visit http://ww.ukauctionline.co.uk

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