eBay’s merchandise sales soar 24% in the fourth quarter

The value of merchandise sold on the eBay marketplace rose 24% year over year in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, eBay Inc. reported today. The company’s revenue grew 16% compared to a year ago.

In its Q4 release, eBay reported:

• The value of goods sold through goods sold through eBay’s online marketplaces, excluding autos, rose 24% in the fourth quarter to $14.24 billion from $11.47 billion in the same quarter last year. 60% of marketplace revenue was from outside the U.S.
• Fixed-price sales represented 56% of marketplace volume compared to 49% a year earlier, reflecting eBay’s shift away from the auction format as more large and midsized retailers use eBay as a sales platform.
• Active users of eBay’s marketplaces totaled 90.1 million, up 2.7% from 87.7 million a year earlier. (Active users are those who have listed or bought on eBay in the previous 12 months.)
• Payment volume increased 34% year over year to $21.4 billion, of which 57% came from the company’s merchant services unit that handles online payments for e-retailers. Payments with eBay’s PayPal online payment service account for the majority of the rest, with Bill Me Later accounting for 1% of total payment volume.
• Active users of eBay’s payment services, which include consumers with PayPal or Bill Me Later accounts, increased 15% year over year to 81 million.
• EBay’s total Q4 revenue rose 16% to $2.37 billion from $2.04 billion a year ago, thanks, in part, to a $112 million gain from selling a majority stake in Internet telephone service Skype. Q4 net income was $988 million, up from $367 million a year ago.

For all of 2009 eBay reported:

 

• The value of goods sold through goods sold through eBay’s online marketplaces, excluding autos, was $48.35 billion, virtually unchanged from $48 billion in 2008.
• EBay’s total revenue rose 2% to $8.73 billion from $8.54 billion in 2008.
• GAAP net income for the year rose to $2.39 billion, up from $1.18. GAAP stands for generally accepted accounting principles followed by U.S. publicly held companies.
• Non-GAAP net income, which doesn’t include one-time charges in each year, fell 8% to $2.07 billion for the year ended Dec. 31, 2009, from $2.25 billion the prior year.