Let the Bidding Begin An eBay business could be your entry to the online marketplace. Find out how to get started today.

In 1995, when Pierre Omidyar introduced an online business venuethat was essentially a virtual garage sale with auction pricing, noone knew a retailing revolution was about to occur.

That site became known as eBay, and it's hard to findsomeone today who hasn't at least heard of the popular onlineauction company. On any given day on the site, an estimated 12million new and used items are available, 1.7 million new listingsare posted, and sales totaling some $40 million take place. And allit takes to get your share of that market, which is worth nearly$15 billion annually, is a computer, a modem, a digital camera orscanner, and something to sell.

What's important to understand from the start is that eBayis a sales channel that you can use exclusively or in addition toselling through a retail operation, mail order catalog, independentWeb site or network of direct salespeople. You decide the type ofbusiness you want to have, what type of merchandise you'regoing to sell and how you're going to operate.