Thank you for downloading this program. In this edition of the bottom line, Evan Davis and guests discuss the rise of digital marketplaces.

Hello and welcome to the program. When they invented the term market economy, who would have thought that companies like eBay would come along, giving us digital markets in almost anything and everything?

When you think back to traditional markets in town squares, they've always been designed to connect as many buyers and

sellers as possible in one place at a set time. But online markets use technology to lift the constraints

of time and location to connect unimaginable numbers of buyers and sellers in even the most niche of products.

So today we're taking a look at the rise and rise of the digital market economy.

And with me in the studio are three people involved in running online marketplaces.

I'll get you each to explain what your markets involve.

And we'll start with Francois Cuomo, as general manager for continental Europe at eBay, at Francois. I think most people

will be familiar with eBay, but why don't you summarize what it does? Because it has evolved.

eBay is a marketplace where we connect buyers and sellers and we allow that transaction to happen.

What people might know less about is how eBay has transformed itself over the last 18 years.

And basically we've moved from an auction house where consumers were transacting with other

consumers to a much more established retail operation, if you like, where actually the vast majority of transactions, more than 70%

is actually done through professional sellers selling their items on eBay.

And the total volume of stuff in value terms sold on eBay in a year is what?

It's about $65 billion globally.

Okay, that's eBay.

Next to Francoir is Nicole Vanderbilt, who's managing director for Europe at Etsy.

Now, tell us about Etsy.

Some of our listeners will be familiar with it, but not all of them probably Nicole.

Etsy's the world's largest marketplace for handmade and vintage goods.

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