The eBay of the meat industry to launch soon

Would you buy meat that had been purchased off of eBay? Well in the foreseeable future you very well could be. A new online auction site is  striving to become the "eBay for the meat industry". The site would allow meat to be bought and sold on an anonymous basis across the globe.

Meatnet.com whose motto is "let`s buy, let`s sell, let`s meat" unveiled its beta last week. The site is run by Meatlink. a newly formed company registered in Cyprus, which says it has been working on the idea over the last five years.

The concept of the site is very similar to eBay. Buyers can sign-up for free and then bid on wholesale quantities of meat and sellers can create auctions for their meat items for a fee of 99 Euro cents per auction. Buyers and sellers remain anonymous until an auction ends but prospective buyer can request further information from sellers during the course of the bidding process.

Commercial director Dimitry Skazaz commented that " We want to be the eBay for the meat industry - it is not us doing the trading; we are simply there to help the buyers and sellers meet." However currently the meat industry are focused on shortening their supply chains and taking out the middlemen after the recent horse meat scandal. The idea of the site has stimulated concern within the industry with one source saying "given what we know and have learnt about transparent and clear supply chains, this is clearly in contradiction with what a good supply chain looks like." But Skazaz responded saying "Our platform is a way to get more information to buyers."

The full launch of the site is expected to launch in 3 months. It will be available in French, German, Italian, Spanish and English. They expect their primary market will be in Europe although the site is accessible globally.

This is a great example of how different types of industries are trying to break into e-commerce and set up marketplaces for themselves. However I think that this idea will definitely  spark up controversy throughout the meat industry. 

Next time you`re in your local butcher ask them if they have heard of Meatnet.com? It could soon be were your sausages are coming from!