In less than ten years, it has risen from a small-time Internet site to an internationally recognised name and a byword for e-commerce. Buisness Correspondnet Paul Willis takes a look at eBay.

AT any one time, there are more than 25 million items for sale on eBay and a search through the vast range of goods and products on offer reveals a stark, if unsurprising, truth.

In today's world, there is a market for anything.

Britney Spears' wedding bra is one thing - it was reportedly sold on the site following the singer's recent nuptials - but any takers for a kangaroo scrotum?

Or what about a year's friendship with a 16-year-old rock fiend - another item available to buy on the UK version of eBay, which has sites in 18 countries.

As well as an unofficial showcase for the weird and wonderful, eBay has become a no-holds barred outlet for natural enterprise.

When a UK university student auctioned her virginity on the site, it seemed that romance was finally dead.

Public opinion was torn between an over-the-top, but perhaps understandable, moral panic that 'this was what our youth had come to', and a grudging appreciation of the girl's ingenuity.

The site has turned up all kinds of unlikely entrepreneurs. Ease of access and the absence of overheads - all that is needed are a computer and an Internet connection - have allowed anyone and everyone to become traders.

Aside from the oddities and one-offs (a seller claimed to have the ball which England captain David Beckham sent soaring into the crowd during his penalty miss in the recent European Championships), eBay is home to a growing community of businesses.

In the UK, there are reported to be about 10,000 individuals or businesses making a living from eBay.

Add to that the many thousands who regularly trade on the site as a hobby, albeit sometimes a very lucrative one, and it is easy to see how eBay has become a buyers' and sellers' paradise.

According to Doug McCallum, the managing director of eBay.co.uk, the auction house's UK popularity is a natural extension of our heritage as a nation of shopkeepers.

Emma Collinson is one such shopkeeper. The 24-year-old mother-of-three set up her business on the site earlier this year selling clothes online.

From her home in Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, she has found customers in Sweden, Denmark, Australia and the US.

She operates her e-business, called Designed For Mums, from a four-bedroomed house on the site of a former chemist's shop.

Peter Troy, chair of the North-East branch of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said eBay had helped democratise the business world.

Mr Troy said: "eBay, and the Internet in general, have allowed small businesses to compete on a level playing field with big business. It has meant that anyone can open a business. Disabled people, who might find it difficult otherwise, have been able to switch on their computers and start trading.

"There are still some regulatory concerns about eBay but, by and large, it has been a godsend for small business."

But while eBay has given entrepreneurs the chance to realise their business ambitions, it has also exposed them to legal risks.

Tax experts say that many of the people trading on eBay could be taking a risk if they did not declare their earnings.

Graeme Surtees, a tax specialist with Hartlepool accountants Horwath Clark Whitehill, said: "The problem is that the lines between what constitutes a business and what is just auctioning-off items privately can be quite blurred.

"The basic rule of thumb is that if you are trading regularly on the site and your intention is to make profit then you could be classed as a business and liable for tax."

Individuals can register as businesses on the site and although eBay asks users to comply with the appropriate tax laws when they sign up, it does not take any responsibility for ensuring users are paying the correct amount of tax. Mr Surtees said that meant the onus was very much on the individual, and that users were taking a big risk if they thought they could avoid tax.

"Anyone using eBay needs to be aware that the Inland Revenue are very likely monitoring the site. It is very easy for them to check on trade carried out there because all they need to do is log on.

"The best advice for anyone who thinks they might be liable for tax is to inform the Inland Revenue before they catch up with them."

But while e-traders try to make a living on the site, the big money is being made by its owners.

eBay was launched in 1995 in the US following a conversation between Pierre Omidyar and his fianc, who collected sweet dispensers.

The story goes that his fianc told him she would like to be able to expand her collection of Pez dispensers using the Internet and talk to other collectors.

Omidyar decided to create a site that would act as a central point for buying and selling items and the eBay community was born.

Nine years down the line, eBay has become a hugely successful business.

The site makes money by taking a small percentage of every winning bid. With the most expensive item sold on the site, a Gulf Stream Jet, fetching $4.9m, this has led to big earnings.

It is estimated that $2bn worth of merchandise was traded on the site last year alone.

In the same time, eBay revenues rose 79 per cent to $2.17bn.

Advertising itself as "The World's Online Marketplace", it has sites throughout the world and has a presence in Latin America and China through investments in websites there.

The UK version of the site, eBay.co.uk, marked its fifth anniversary earlier this month with the launch of its first television advertising campaign.

There is certainly no denying its popularity - eBay sells a CD every 11 seconds, a piece of women's clothing every 20 seconds and a vehicle every two minutes.

And despite the constant threat of greater Internet regulation and the ever vigilant Inland Revenue, it looks like the wonderful world of eBay is here to stay.

Published: 02/11/2004