Alec Saunders SquawkBox

David Gibbons, who writes a blog called Poductivity, left a short comment here this afternoon inviting comment on this post.  Well worth reading, especially for the use cases:

Instead of just buying your ipod on eBay, you will now also browse ebay for cheap support for your ipod when it breaks. If you find a service provider you like, you’ll chat with them live, instantly, simply by clicking on their ebay profile. When you’ve been helped and your call is complete, your ebay/skype account will be debited a service fee which will be divided up between skype for the communications piece, ebay for the marketplace piece and the ebay seller / consultant.

David believes that this acquisition is the beginning of a giant services business opportunity for EBay.  He concludes his posting with:

Try simply asking yourself these 2 questions:

Q1 - What is the consumer spending category that is primarily fulfilled via the voice channel?
A - Professional Services.

Q2 - What is the largest consumer spending category not / poorly represented on eBay today?
A - Professional Services.

It’s not just professional services, though.  It’s all solution oriented selling that is enabled by this model, whether that be travel, a new car, or fixing your PC. Great insights!