Various sources we have visited (such as Time Magazine, Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine, computerworld.com) show a trend in reports concerning future growth potential of online auctions. The number of bidders is growing as quickly as the revenues they produce for the hosts. Sites are springing up around the world.

 There has been remarkable success for online auctioning in Europe. What was once condemned by Y-life as "useless...they make no sense" is now one of the leading drivers of e-commerce and the current growth rates are expected to continue.

Here are some excerpts from Time Magazine:

Industrial players are also getting in on the online-auction craze, driving down the cost of equipment by bidding to buy it directly from suppliers. There are business-to-business sites for construction equipment (ironmall.com) and for farm machinery like cotton pickers (farmbid.com). Bulk quantities of latex paint are up for auction at paintandcoatings.com, and pulpandpaperonline.com has basket centrifuges.\

But online auctions are shaking up the way America does business. People are quitting their day jobs and finding they can support themselves entirely by selling on eBay and other auction sites. Traditional retailers are significantly augmenting their revenue by selling on eBay, and some are shutting down their stores entirely. Businesses that piggyback onto online auctions--insurers, shippers, escrow services--are booming. Offline businesses that compete with eBay--from antiques stores to classified-ad sections--are bracing for trouble.

Some of the impact will be more profound. Online auctions may destabilize the notion of a fixed price, leading buyers and sellers in all kinds of transactions to negotiate more over what items should cost. And they are likely to further erode the economic barriers between nations, speeding the way to a single world market. The full effects of eBay's hyperefficient, banish-the-middleman revolution haven't yet been felt, but one thing is clear: the pre-Internet model of buying and selling is going, going...

But not everyone is going to win in the new eBay economy. Hardest hit so far are antiques and collectibles shows, which aggregate items like eBay does, but less efficiently. Joe Spotts, president of L&S Management, owns two shows--one in Denver, the other in Kansas City, Mo.--and he says the number of vendors at both has slid 30% in the past 18 months. And eBay is the reason. "It has the potential of absolutely destroying the business," says Spotts. "I've seen several shows around the country that are near shutting down." Flea markets could be the next to suffer. When the National Flea Market Association held its annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., in October, 100 members jammed into a session on the Internet future to hear dire predictions of what the Net would do to their land-based businesses.

Classified ads--and the newspapers that heavily rely on them for revenue--are also vulnerable. An eBay listing is cheaper; there's no limit on length; you can include a photo; and it reaches far more people than any newspaper.

Flea-market aficionados insist that eBay is doing a more abstract kind of damage: it's destroying the pleasures of the offline collectibles world. Al Hoff, author of Thrift Score and collector of "everything but Levolor blinds," says eBay has changed the atmosphere in flea markets and thrift stores. She now comes across entrepreneurs who are trolling the aisles looking for items they can resell for a higher price online. "The code of ethics used to be that you bought things for yourself," she notes. And she objects that eBay's efficiency is making it harder for bargain hunters like herself. A friend recently tried to buy a Pink Floyd eight-track tape on eBay--and watched as it sold for $227. Time was, Hoff says, when you could find eight-track tapes selling for a quarter at thrift shops. "Now everything goes for the highest price anyone in the world is willing to pay for it," she says. Hoff is worried that online auctions may ultimately spell the end of flea markets and thrift shops, and that an important slice of Americana will be lost.

The global online marketplace will be here before we know it, and eBay's refrain "eBay everywhere" seems destined to become a reality. It's something the National Flea Market Association members are starting to accept. Several members of the association have begun moving online, working to put together virtual-flea-market sites like Fleamarket.com. And even diehard thrift-shop mavens are becoming reconciled to the fact that the future belongs to eBay. "You can't stop the wheels from turning," sighs Hoff. "In fact, I have to confess: I just bought something on eBay this morning."