Local entrepreneurs take their chances and win- with online auction businesses

[mandy]

As eBay grew, the site expanded from having only individual auctions. It allowed people to create online stores where they could sell items by auction or through "buy it now" sales.

"Right now it's a niche market, in the sense that some people are looking at it especially for unusual items, not those typically bought or sold in typical retail outlets," said Prashant Palvia, a professor of information systems at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro who studies Internet commerce. "What the Internet does, and the eBay model does, is, it's a great equalizer. It reduces transaction costs significantly."

Unlike brick-and-mortar stores that require a large initial investment, people can set up businesses on eBay for a relatively small amount of money.

"It does allow the entrepreneur to focus on his or specialty, a particular type of merchandise or appealing to a particular class of customer," said Page West, an associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the Calloway School of Business at Wake Forest University.

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