I have long thought that the internet was an elaborate toy which provides entertainments and jobs for the entertainers but essentially has not provide a form of service different from that which existed before, just a new format. Distance shopping existed well before e-commerce. Junk stores could rip you off face to face like that part who are the jerks of eBay. People who wanted to make a difference and who massed in the streets have made more change than a blog ever will. This, however, is entirely different:

What we do is very simple: we put people who want to lend in touch with creditworthy people who want to borrow. And because there's no middleman - the borrower just pays a 1% exchange fee to Zopa up front - both benefit.

This week saw the latest twist on what's come to be known as the "eBay model" with the launch of Zopa - an online loans service that works in a similar way. Anyone with some spare cash can offer it up for a loan, through Zopa. Lenders set their own interest rates and can choose which borrowers to lend to, based on their credit rating. Borrowers, meanwhile, can pick a rate that's right for them and because Zopa is simply assisting the transaction, not lending its own assets, it claims to take a smaller cut (1% of the amount borrowed) than a bank. Safeguards are built in to help prevent lenders being fleeced and the whole outfit is sanctioned by the FSA - Britain's financial services watchdog.