eBay just turned 30 – who still remembers their very first purchase?
🎙️ Full interview with Deutschlandfunk Kultur – The Feuilleton on Radio and Me
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Mine was a bag for my wonderful wife. Back then, the brand Mandarina Duck was still a thing – and “last-season” pieces were going for a bargain on eBay.
Is it a bit quieter these days? Yes – eBay has become more of a niche player for the very long, long tail – those one-of-a-kind finds you rarely see elsewhere. Still, it remains a strong, healthy platform – even if it’s no longer front of mind for younger generations or the mainstream.
Yet eBay helped shape a big part of our digital future. It was one of the first platforms to truly enable peer-to-peer commerce – building trust between everyday people. That kind of trust is still missing on today’s newcomers like Temuor social shopping on TikTok.
Sure, these platforms promise completely new shopping experiences – but Amazon remains the dominant force, holding nearly 50% of the market. At the same time, new retail concepts are emerging offline too.
More and more neighbourhood high streets – yes, the very ones that once fell victim to big inner-city malls – are now being revitalised. People are recognising how important they are for social cohesion, a sense of safety, and well-being. Because when our neighbourhoods go quiet, we tend to shut down too. We lose our openness – and our trust.
What I miss in online shopping right now is a clear idea beyond “cheap”.
Back in the day, eBay offered us something revolutionary: a sense of connection and mutual trust.
The return of local shopping streets brings that same value – they strengthen community, economy and regional value creation.
That’s exactly the kind of thinking I’d hope to see in a next-generation online shopping concept.
But… so far? Nothing on the horizon.
Maybe personal AI algorithms will eventually get us there. Ones that truly understand us – using data that isn’t distorted by advertising.
A system that helps us discover meaningful products from across the globe – peer-to-peer.
But for that, we’d first need data sovereignty.
Honestly, Europe isn’t doing badly on that front.
And if AI continues to go open-source…
With a little vision, we might even see something like that come out of Germany.
A “German Zukunft” instead of German Angst – now that would be a revolution for commerce.
Just like eBay once was.
🎙️ Full interview with Deutschlandfunk Kultur – The Feuilleton on Radio and Me
→ Listen here
#Futurologist #FutureThinking #NextCommerce #DigitalTrust #GermanZukunft