Kazutoshi Kitazawa, a 37-year-old university professor, has been bidding and selling in online auctions for two years. When he feels like upgrading his computer, he browses through Yahoo! Japan's auction Web site to buy memory cards and other computer components at bargain prices. When he decides the time has come to replace his PC with a new model, Kitazawa sells the old one online.
"As a buyer, I've picked up real bargains. As a seller, profits are much higher than when I sell stuff at secondhand shops," says Kitazawa. "But what is really nice about online auctions is that everybody appreciates the transactions. It's nice to feel that you are helping somebody."
In Japan, buying and selling in online auctions is no longer just a hobby pursued by a small minority of Net-heads. Yahoo! Auction, Japan's online auctioneer giant, reported that the number of items offered for sale at its site jumped from 100,000 in 1999 to 2 million in 2000. Some 180,000 items are added to the site every day by more than 6 million members, resulting in millions of successful transactions.