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***mandy*** · 10-21-2005, 09:05 AM,

Quote:From a Fort Collins husband-and- wife team of cheesemakers to a stamp and coin collector in Shanghai, the Internet and eBay have leveled the playing field and empowered everyday people to become successful entrepreneurs, said Meg Whitman, president and chief executive of eBay.

full article: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_3137170?rss

**amy** · 10-22-2005, 02:29 AM,

leveled the playing field Happy001

stardust · 10-22-2005, 07:55 AM,

Quote:leveled the playing field

leveled -- as in razed ?? or maybe demolished ?? ???

**amy** · 10-22-2005, 11:23 PM,

[quote author=stardust link=topic=914.msg3612#msg3612 date=1129967741]

Quote:leveled the playing field

leveled -- as in razed ?? or maybe demolished ?? ???
[/quote]

Sign13

exactly. :twistedevil:

bargainbloodhound · (This post was last modified: 10-23-2005, 05:33 AM by bargainbloodhound.)

Quote:the Internet and eBay have leveled the playing field and empowered everyday people to become successful entrepreneurs

. Many everyday people became successful entrepreneurs before the Internet. Smile

The Internet has created a new way for many to earn a second income, but if you measure successful Internet entrepreneurs by the same income/revenue standards that "successful entrepreneurs" with B&M businesses are measured by...the success rates really aren't much better online than in the offline small business world (and the business failure rates--i.e. closings, are about the same).

If judged by offline small business standards of who qualifies as "successful entrepreneurs", only a small percentage of the 724,000 sellers who [allegedly :twistedevil: ] earn most of their income from eBay are actually making enough on eBay to qualify for that title.

Quote:"The Internet has created opportunities for people and small businesses that didn't exist 10 years ago,"

Internet ecommerce has also become a destructive competitive threat that threatens the survival of many small B&M businesses who are unable to match the bargain basement prices that many of their online competitors are able to offer..

OK, I'm bored with debating Meg... Smileytongueout

OK, maybe I'm not that bored. :twistedevil:

Quote:"Back in the late 1990s, almost everybody thought commerce on the Internet would be dominated by the big players,"

...and they were right!

The playing field on the Internet has never been level: eBay, Amazon, Yahoo, and Google didn't get where they are as a result of a level playing field...their success was largely enabled by huge injections of venture capital...not to mention having the right connections...just like in the offline world. Money (i.e. having the means to raise huge sums of it from investors) has always been king on the Internet.

rose · 10-23-2005, 05:32 PM,

Quote:The playing field on the Internet has never been level:

Any chance of level ended when the V.C.'s realized the commercial potential the WWW held and starting throwing around dollars. Happy001

misteroriginal · 10-24-2005, 06:36 AM,

Maybe "leveled the playing field" is just a "feel-good" blurb, but it's true that technology & eBay lowered the barrier of entry into retail business. Per the "Zero Sum Economy" idea, the grand majority will always fail. Tech & eBay have just made it so more people can start.

So, Meg exaggerated, but she has a point.