Sales on eBay jump 14% in first quarter versus 2006
Sales on eBay totaled $14.3 billion in the first three months of 2007, down slightly from holiday-fueled fourth-quarter sales of $14.4 billion, but up 14% from $12.5 billion in the first quarter of 2006. Registered users in Q1 2007 reached 233.4 million, up 21% from 192.9 million a year ago, and active users were up 10% to 82.9 million from 75.4 million in the year-ago quarter.
The number of eBay stores, where merchants sell items at fixed prices through eBay, rose to 632,000 from 486,000 a year ago. But store inventory listings were down 6.5% to 79.1 million, continuing a downward trend that began when eBay raised listing fees last August. Non-store listings totaled 509.3 million, up nearly 4% from 490.8 million in the first quarter of 2006. Fixed-price sales represented 39% of sales volume, up from 34% a year ago.
EBay reported revenue of $1.77 billion in the first quarter, up 27% from $1.39 billion in the first three months of 2006. Net income increased 52% to $377 million. “This first quarter of 2007 was a very strong one for the company,” says Meg Whitman, eBay president and CEO.
EBay breaks its business into three segments. Marketplaces includes the auction and Stores businesses, eBay-owned web sites Shopping.com and Rent.com, and classifieds. Payments includes the PayPal payment service and PayPal Merchant Services, which processes a range of payments for other merchants. The smallest unit is Communications, which includes the Skype service that transmits phone calls over the Internet.
Marketplaces revenue was up 23% to $1.25 billion. Skype had revenue of $79 million, up 123%.
PayPal revenue was $439 million, an increase of 31% over the year-ago quarter. PayPal had 143 million accounts, up 36% from 105 million accounts. Active accounts numbered 35.7 million, compared with 29.2 million a year ago. The number of payments reached 177.0 million, up 19% from 149.2 million in the 2006 quarter.
The Payments unit handled transactions worth $11.36 billion, up 30% from a year ago. Of that, $4.38 billion, or 39%, came from PayPal Merchant Services.
EBay executives Gary Briggs and Tod Cohen will speak at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition, June 4-7 in San Jose.. Briggs will speak on How eBay Will Continue Re-Shaping the E-Retailing Industry” and Cohen on The Face-Off Over Internet Regulation.” Both will speak on June 5.
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