Once one venture capitalist was on board behind DoveBid, others were quick to join.

ECONOMIST: The new old thing

The appraisers and auctioneers will stay, but the business will all now be done globally on DoveBid.com.

ECONOMIST: The new old thing

When DoveBid went online in 1999, it used the Internet not to replace but to improve its existing business.

ECONOMIST: If you think B2B marketplaces are dead, read on

Although DoveBid also has eBay-like automatic auctions for small lots, it keeps humans in charge for the large ones.

ECONOMIST: The new old thing

Having grown up in the old economy, DoveBid also has the know-how to offer all sorts of ancillary services, such as evaluating assets for buyers and helping them to work out how to ship heavy factory-equipment from, say, Chicago to Shanghai.

ECONOMIST: If you think B2B marketplaces are dead, read on

B2B pioneers envisaged them, it is now clear that independent exchanges such as DoveBid depend crucially on deep industry knowledge and must add value with services that facilitate transactions, says Hal Varian of the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of California, Berkeley.

ECONOMIST: If you think B2B marketplaces are dead, read on