[BobC]

If I remember correctly, Ebay used to offer seller's the ability to run live, internet auctions through their site years ago. They ended up stopping the practice, kind of along the time they were slowly changing from their original auction oriented format to what appears to be their focus of becoming more like Amazon, and just be more of a big online retailer. I think it was called Ebay Live, or something like that. Maybe they are finally getting concerned of a potential drop in business as more auction houses rise up and other competitors try to chip away at their business.

I noticed a local (to me) auction house mentioned in an ad that they were going back to using them as one of their online sites for future auctions. (I think they already use something like three or four others, including one that the auction owner told me reaches to China.) This looks like a move by Ebay to go back to something they once did in a possible attempt to hold market share. The fact that this auction house is using multiple, online bidding companies shows there is growing competition. Interesting!

Bob C