To a great extent, mega-successful online auction site eBay has built its reputation on being a destination for consumers who can't find what they're looking for via traditional retail outlets. Be it a Partridge Family lunchbox, a baseball autographed by Willie Mays or a brand-new pair of Nike running shoes, chances are it's on the site. EBay currently boasts 86 million users, 35,000 categories and $20 billion in total gross merchandise sales.

So, do audiobooks fit into this thriving arena? Of course. Audiobooks are part of eBay's media group, which also contains books, music, movies, magazines and video games. "It's a large, widely used, ever-changing marketplace," said Clay Kallman, associate manager of eBay Media. Kallman estimates that his division generates $1.7 billion in annual sales "and it's been growing 45% from year to year."

Kallman says that audiobooks are making a strong showing on the site for a couple of reasons. First, "eBay has played well where markets become inefficient—where there's an imbalance between supply and demand," he explained. "In the audiobook business there are lots of pockets where suppliers don't get the same placement for their product that they do for other products. EBay can serve as an enormous marketing platform for them."

Second, according to Kallman, "Publishers can list inventory that's hard for people to find, and they will find buyers for it. Small publishers with overstock can list titles for a very low cost" (listing fees range from .30 to $3.30).

Publishers can also liquidate product in bulk (overstock, returns, etc.) in lots, for example, of 25, 100 or 500 items. Members of what Kallman refers to as eBay's "army of entrepreneurs" often purchase the lots and sell them individually on the site. The "army" is pretty substantial, too. "More than 150,000 people earn their living off of eBay," Kallman noted.

As of press time, 133 different listings in the audiobook category and 11 listings of wholesale audiobook lots were offered on the site.

Blackstone Audiobooks is one publisher that has been happily taking advantage of what eBay has to offer. "We use eBay mostly to list our pre-listened-to rentals," said marketing manager Josh Stanton. "You have to offer so many copies of a title to the rental market when a title is new and popular. But when the title slows down, what do you do with those extra copies? eBay is a great place to move used titles. And listeners find what they're looking for at a rock-bottom price."

Blackstone is also experimenting with the marketing angle. "Sometimes we list a few new, hot titles, usually around the holidays," he said. "We often find new customers that might not stumble upon us at regular retail. On eBay, for a good price, they might give us a chance."

Stanton noted that being able to sell overstock all at once is beneficial as well. "We're finding more and more people are shopping there because you can find such great deals," he said. "It's a big Internet selling tool."

Kallman continues to see audiobook activity increasing on eBay and believes that the future looks promising for the category. "We like to seed marketplaces and see how they grow," he said. "We're learning more and more about this marketplace, but I see it getting bigger. The issues surrounding the audio industry's ongoing conversion from cassette to CD are not a problem for us. Where there's transition and flux, we tend to play very well."