I always wonder what would have happened had eBay continued in its original direction with being the largest online garage sale and let Amazon go its direction.
Instead eBay saw what they felt was the greener grass on the other side of the fence, followed suit to clone themselves into being more like Amazon.
eBay sacrificed much in doing this. What was once the e-shopping go-to for the unique, the strange, and the one off, became just another face in the herd.