I like paypal & use it wherever possible for buying on other online sites. It saves me from having to give out credit card details.

If things go wrong, with paypal I have a back up to claim for item not received, which actually saved me about $80 once when one of the companies went into liquidation.

Back in about 1999 when ebay started here, it was about the only online player in town (there was also a site called SOLD for a while, but that closed down).

I don't know that Amazon will blow it out of the water. I just think the retail world is changing. It's changing a lot. Just about every retail srore or chain sells online too now. Service/delivery has ramped up.

The main change I am seeing compared to say, 4 or 5 years back, is delivery. Some of the big online sellers then (not thinking ebay here) worked on the premise 3 weeks from order to delivery was okay. In most cases, that won't be tolerated now. They are generally much quicker off the mark. Even things that need to be personalised/printed are generally making it within the week.

So ebay has had to change with the times-hence their attempt to make expected delivery dates clearer to buyers.

I think they have a good chance of staying in business-as long as they don't make it too hard for sellers of second hand items.

That's a huge point of difference between ebay and others. others usually sell new, ebay is one of the few doing second hand/vintage, and at present it is more secure than facebook, with postage available etc