eBay recently issued another stunning set of quarterly financial results, proving once again that it's an eBay world out there.

The company reported operating income (profits) of over a quarter of a billion dollars for just three months. And that was twice as much as the same 3-month period a year ago.

The number of registered users is now up to 114 million. That's more than the entire populations of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand combined, according to population figures published in the CIA World Factbook.

eBay has had a huge impact on small business. It has transformed entire marketplaces. Take, for instance, the marketplace for collectibles. It's now a US$1.4 Billion marketplace on eBay.

The site has fundamentally altered the supply and demand chain for collectibles. Why? Because now collectors are no longer limited by their geography. They can collect items that come from nearly anywhere on Earth. Likewise, the seller of the items is not limited by geography, either.

Millions of eBay sellers are small businesses, many of them home-based businesses. eBay has opened up markets and customers for them, in ways these merchants could never have accomplished on their own.

Adapted from a post that first appeared on the author's weblog. For more insights on trends impacting the huge small business market, visit Small Business Trends.