eBay's Bid For Success

Internet Auction Site Racking Up Big Gains

(CBS) 
“We don’t do it to make a fortune,” Laurie says. “We do it just so we can stay home. I stay home with my son. It's like we all just work together. And it's like we have a good time.”

And it's a good family business. They've become so established on eBay that they no longer have to go looking for bargains. Now, the deals come to them.

“The day the manager tells the salesman, ‘Hey, this stuff is going to get marked down 50 percent tomorrow,’ our phone rings,” she says. “They call us, so we tell them to pull everything. They pull it all and just ship it to us.”

It doesn’t take long before it’s sold on eBay and shipped to the buyer. “I had a Prada shoe,” Liss says. “I got home with it, took a picture, listed it and, I think, 17 minutes later it was purchased. I had it going to Germany in less than an hour. It was already on it’s way.”

Why does she enjoy the work? “It’s almost like gambling in Vegas,” she says, “because you’ll buy something and you’ll think, ‘Oh, these are gonna be really hot.’”

And that's how eBay got really hot. About a year ago, eBay started something they call "Buy It Now." Sellers no longer had to set up an auction -- they could sell retail directly to the customer, just as Liss did with her Prada shoes. That’s when the heavy hitters arrived.

Now, IBM sells home computers on eBay and Disney offers vacations and all things Mickey and Minnie.

With all this action, eBay has hit the jackpot. Profits are up 71 percent in from this time last year, almost a quarter of that from these direct sales.

“Big companies do sell on eBay,” says Whitman. “And they find it to be a very cost-effective distribution channel. But they sell on the same terms as you, an individual, would sell.”