eBay’s Meg Whitman on Small Businesses

June 20, 2006 | Anita Campbell

eBay CEO Meg Whitman addresses NFIB Summit Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay, addressed the NFIB Small Business Summit yesterday.

Thanks to Rex Hammock, who has been blogging the NFIB Summit, for pointing to her remarks about small businesses.

Whitman’s remarks were eye-opening. Here are some of the highlights of her comments:

eBay has identified 724,000 small business sellers that make their primary or secondary incomes from selling on eBay.

According to Whitman, one of the surprises of the Internet revolution is that “individuals and small business have benefited disproportionately,” she said. “Proving once again, everyday people are always a few steps ahead of the experts.”

eBay is forging a new type of eCommerce platform after its acquisition of Skype, called “click to call.” “Click to call” will “help small businesses that aren’t served by eBay’s core services,” she said, including landscaping firms, travel agencies or real estate brokers. “The eBay model doesn’t work very well for them because they rely on lead generation rather than routine transactions to build their businesses. Each job is different. And both sides need a direct connection. A lot of information needs to be shared before (they) can close a deal. So we think Skype can take the friction out of this process. Instead of bidding for an hour of a gardener’s time, you can simple click and call a landscaper for a customized quote. This will allow a whole new segment of small businesses to take advantage of the internet.”

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