BusinessWeek:

"We think fixed price is important to eBay because it gives sellers and buyers more options. In the second quarter, about 19% of sales were settled through fixed price, and largely that was Buy It Now [an option for immediate, fixed-price purchase]. [...] The kinds of goods that sell on eBay are on both ends of the product life cycle. The unique and new and hard-to-find, like Sony PlayStation, XBoxes, Furbees, or Beanie babies, when they were hot. And the other end of the product cycle: used, vintage, overstocked, refurbished, returned kinds of items.

[Those extremes] are where the vast majority of eBay sales occur. I don't think that's likely to change given the fixed-price format. We'll still have small and medium-size businesses that sell using [both formats]. Amazon's primary business is brand new, in-season, manufacture-suggested price. That would be a minority of our business. "

Interesting to see Buy It Now became so significant in eBay sales. I could get it for a little cheaper, but then, the product might escape me altogether. Better make sure and buy it now.