Wired For The Bottom Line

Of course, there's a limit to the number of things people will buy at auction, a system that's entertaining but not necessarily efficient or thrifty for buyers (after all, the "winner" is the one who pays the most). So Whitman won't rule out some alternate models for eBay, including some fixed-pricing items.

In short, says Whitman, "we are enabling a kind of commerce that didn't exist to any extent before, and that's person-to-person commerce." A lesson she brings home every Saturday morning, when she spends a couple of hours online, bidding for Pokemon cards with her 11-year old son. "Last weekend," she reports, "we got a Blastoise foil card for $49."

In contrast to eBay's Silicon Valley-standard cubicles, decorated with knickknacks purchased on the site, the shelves in the Stamford, Conn., offices of Jay Walker are lined with leatherette Franklin Mint special editions and bound copies of patent applications. On the wall is a billionaire's bounty of rare items from the space race and a one-of-kind collectible: Richard Nixon's letter to Kissinger resigning his presidency.