Is eBay Loosing Out to China's Alibaba?

[mandy]

Article suggeasts the recent eBay/Yahoo marketing partnership in the US is unlikely to end the eBay China vs. Taobao/Aliba/Yahoo war in China.

Peace may have broken out between eBay and Yahoo in the United States, but one of the bloodiest battles on the web—the contest over China’s online auction space—rages on between their Chinese allies.

Yahoo and eBay announced last week they’ll cooperate on their U.S. search, advertising, and online payment efforts. But that teamwork won’t extend to their affiliates in China, according to officials at the Asian operations...

eBay has committed approximately $100 million toward advertising and promotion of eBay in the China market, determined not to suffer the same fate as it has in Japan and Taiwan—both times at the hands of Softbank-controlled rivals Yahoo Japan and Kimo...

“We need to remember that eBay has lost Japan and Taiwan,” he said. “If there’s a perception of them losing China as well, that’s something that they’re not going to stomach.”...

full article: http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=17056&hed=Yahoo-eBay+War+Rages+in+China§or=Industries&subsector=InternetAndServices

[mandy]

The head of eBay China is claiming Taobao was stagnant in the first quarter while eBay China grew at double digits.  He failed however to provide any actual numbers on eBay China.  eBay China stopped reporting its numbers 1 year ago when Taobao became the top destination for Chinese C2C auction goers

US internet auction company eBay Inc posted 'double-digit' growth in China in the first quarter from the preceding quarter, while that of its main rival Taobao.com was flat, eBay China chief executive Martin Wu said.

He did not provide specific figures.

'If you look at Taobao at the last announcement for Q1, GMV (gross
merchandise volume) was zero percent growth -- I'm not going to give the numbers
but we are growing much more healthy than they are, for sure,' Wu said on the sidelines of a conference in Shanghai...

Contacted by phone, Alibaba.com vice president Porter Erisman disputed Wu's
claims. 'eBay is still nipping at our heels as the lead for Taobao and AliPay
continues to grow,' Erisman said.

He also noted that eBay did not disclose any solid numbers...

full article: http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx...89191.html

[mandy]

As thought, the head of eBay China was full of shit when he claimed strong Q1 growth for eBay China but failed to backup his claims with data.

Score one for Amy with her prediction before PaiPai's launch last October that it would be a force to be reckoned with.  The latest China auction market shares: Taobao 57% (no change), eBay 28% (down from 31%), PaiPai 14% (up from 0%).

In the C2C market, where products are sold by individuals to individuals, Analysys' data shows that eBay users' share of total transaction revenues fell to 28 per cent in the first quarter from an average of 31.46 per cent in 2005.

The decline continues a trend for eBay. The company was originally the leader in China's online auction market, but the introduction of a free auction service by rival Taobao caused a stampede in the direction of the newcomer in 2004.

In January this year, eBay dropped transaction fees from its basic C2C services in China, but this does not appear to have stemmed the tide.

Paipai... saw its share of revenues leap from zero to 14 per cent in the nine months since it took up the online gavel.

full article: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/215846...a-auctions

[bargainbloodhound]

eBay China is reportedly looking for partners in China.

i.e. eBay is looking for an exit similar to the one they just announced in Taiwan.

[Kristijntje]

...in China

Meg Whitman for the first time publicly admitting that eBay is "behind a tad" in China during the company's second quarter conference call.

Meg Whitman - President & CEO

It's early days, Safa, and I don't know the answer to your question. What I can tell you is that while I think we are behind a tad in China, we have been steadily improving our performance over the last 12 months. There's no question that when we cut over to the global trading platform, that actually took a chunk out of our growth rates. We had to make the site more Chinese, we had to get a local team trained and ready to go. But over the last 12 months, our performance has continued to uptick there and it is a long game in China...

full article: http://china.seekingalpha.com/article/13890

[amy]

eBay is "behind a tad" in China

34% marketshare when your competitor has 57% is 'behind a tad'?