WEB LEVELS FIELD BETWEEN BUYERS, SELLERS

By: Charles Bowen Site Reports Market Values On 1 Million Products


I knew the world was changing several years ago when my wife and
I sat on The Delta Queen, a glorious 75-year-old steamboat, in
the middle of the Mississippi River and overheard one
septuagenarian telling another, "Yes, I got it on eBay." eBay may
well be the Internet's first true "killer app" since electronic
mail. In other words, like e-mail, online auction services --
eBay and all the me-too sites elsewhere on the Web -- have
provided a fresh incentive for the previously unconnected to hook
up to the Internet.

But more than that, eBay also has changed how we think of
commerce. It's interesting to reflect on the early discussions of
"e-commerce" in the mid-1990s. Back then, we thought e-commerce
would simply be the commercialization of the Web by the giants,
like JCPenney and Lands End, General Motors and General Foods.

All that has happened, of course, but who could have foreseen the
role that auctions also would play in the evolution of e-
commerce? eBay and its imitators have enabled the Web to do again
what it always does best: to blur the old-fashioned distinction
between people.

This time what is being blurred are the lines between "buyers"
and "sellers." With eBay, you sell as easily as you buy. You are
a new animal on the beach: a merchant consumer.

It's also telling, I think, that our society survived for so long
with only Kelly's Blue Book and Consumer Reports to
guide us on the true value of The Stuff we buy and sell. But no
more. This rapidly expanding interest in auctions demonstrates
the need for much more fluid sources of information on what
things are worth.

One of the most important of these new resources is Strong
Numbers, an electronic guide to "pricing intelligence and
insight." Online, prices can vary greatly on the exact same
items, so Strong Numbers steps forward to provide current market
values for specific goods. What makes this a valuable tool for
journalists is that Strong Numbers does the legwork. It scours
hundreds of auction sites, looking for price histories on
everything from collectibles and electronic goods to cars,
cameras and campers. The categories even offer detailed charts,
showing high, low and average prices for the past three months.

To use the tool, visit the site at http://strongnumbers.com
and click the link at the top of the page to reach the "Strong
Numbers Blue Book Price Guide." A subsequent screen lists links
to categories, including arts and antiques, automobiles, coins
and stamps, collectibles, computers and software, electronics,
entertainment, home and garden, jewelry and gems, photography,
pottery and glass, sports and recreation, toys and games, and
trading cards. Subsections enable you to zero in on specific
items delimited by age, condition, and model.

The site has built the Net's largest price reference database,
with more than 215 million transaction records, growing every day
from data retrieved from 250 auction sites and 2,000 retailers.
The raw data is processed with the site's "Intelligent Indexing"
technology, using a proprietary statistical methodology to
calculate a market value based on actual transactions. Strong
Numbers Guides reports market values for more than a million
different products in 230 categories, based on past real-world
sales in online auctions. The site adds more than 20 categories
each month.

Other considerations for using the site for your work:

The site also operates a Retail Guide, which, similar to the
auction blue book, tracks retail prices from more than 2,000
online retailers, offering market pricing information on goods.
E-commerce sites and retailers use this data as a benchmark to
compare their own prices with those of competitors.

Occasionally, a search results in a message that says "Strong
Number Not Available." This means not enough transactions have
occurred online to establish a market calculation.

Currently, the site is testing a custom information feed for
retailers called Strong Numbers Marketview to assist them in
price settings. It will provide daily on-demand updates of what
customers are actually willing to pay for specific products.

---

Bowen writes columns, articles and books from West Virginia, and is host of the daily Internet News syndicated radio show (http://www.netnewstoday.com).
charlesbowen@compuserve.com


Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher