Ebay has been describ-ed as a church jumble sale without the ex-cuse of a belltower repair fund. But in the UK, the on-line auction website has been the launchpad for 178,000 full-time and hobby businesses. Turnover has more than doubled over two years to £2bn in 2007. While the high street has become a graveyard for small businesses, small-scale retailing is flourishing online.

Recently Ebay announced it would change the fee structure of its UK site as part of a worldwide program-me aiming to move the US-based web business upmar-ket. Cuts to listing fees will be accompanied by relatively large increases in fees for selling items. Ebay said the changes would be "essentially neutral" because of discounts for volume sellers.