eBay behind "a tad" in the "land of opportunity"

Two interesting posts on Seeking Alpha's China section. Last Thursday, the site published a piece on eBay in which Meg Whitman, although overall bullish on China, admits that they are "behind a tad". In this case, we assume the Alibaba/Taobao gang might unkindly suggest that, in eBay speak, 1 tad = 2 country miles.

Today, the site quotes Wayne Mulligan of the Tycoon Report saying "Up until a few years ago, eBay/EachNet was the dominant auction player in China – but as of this year, Alibaba’s TaoBao soared past them taking 57.74% of the market and leaving EachNet with roughly 35%. This town isn’t big enough …". He starts his piece describing China, along with the US, as "the land of opportunity" and provides some interesting data on the growth in online auctions.

What is this all doing on a B2B site you may ask? I am personally convinced that the auction model will be a very powerful one for small business in China and that the B2C/B2B barriers there may blur even more at the bottom of the pyramid than they have in other places.