The rise of eBay and online auction sites

The internet is changing the way business is done in lots of ways, not least for very small scale buyers and sellers of goods.

Items that we used to sell through classified advertisements in a local newspaper or car boot sale now find their way to auction sites like eBay.

Almost 90 million people around the world have bought or sold something on eBay, and some have become rich.

Technology correspondent Mark Gregory looks at the eBay phenomenon - and why it is that eBay itself faces little competition from rival online sites.

First broadcast on Business Daily