EBay profits shoot up despite Google Checkout launch

EBay, the leading internet auction website, has announced an increase in net profits of 50 per cent for the second quarter. Although new listings actually fell by six per cent over the period, revenue was up by 26 per cent. Over the quarter to the end of June, profits rose to £183.1 million.

The results would appear to show that eBay's PayPal payment system has yet to be seriously challenged by Google's Checkout, in spite of a recent run-in between the companies. In the second quarter, revenue from PayPal increased by 34 per cent, reaching a total of £221 million.

The website has been boosted by higher auction fees and a greater number of "active" eBay users around the world - clearly illustrating the growing trend for consumers to favour online shopping over the high street.

Meg Whitman, eBay president and chief executive, said: "The quarter was a very good one for the company, as our portfolio of businesses continued to deliver value to our global community."

ever heard of Kijiji?

EBay Inc. appears ready to take on Craigslist Inc., quietly opening a rival online classifieds Web site in the U.S. on Friday.

San Jose-based eBay activated a domestic version of an online classified site which has until now been available only in Europe, Asia and Canada, named Kijiji.

Posting an ad is free, although the company said it plans to explore ways to make money in the future.

EBay bought bought a 25 percent stake in Craigslist in 2004. It says it is happy with that investment but thinks there is room for more competition in the U.S. online classified market.

As of now Kijiji is not available in the Philippines, only India, China, Japan and Taiwan are the asian countries with Kijiji ads.

EBay will run 'limited' ads on Google

EBay said Friday the online auction leader plans to resume Web advertising on a limited basis with Google, but plans to use alternative ad services to a greater degree.

EBay, which uses Google advertising to promote its online auctions and is one of the biggest buyers of keyword ads on Google's leading pay-per-click advertising system, had canceled all Google ads 10 days ago in protest over the Web search company's bid to woo eBay customers to a rival payment system.

Instead, eBay plans to rely to a greater degree of competing advertising systems from Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN, Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, and IAC/InterActiveCorp's Ask.com.

Hani Durzy, a spokesman for San Jose, California-based eBay, said his company would begin advertising on Google again later on Friday but that: "I will tell you it will be in a much more limited way than it was before."

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