eBay agrees to acquire Skype for Internet voice communications

In a move that eBay says will help its retail partners increase customer service at lower operating cost, eBay is getting into Internet phone communications by acquiring Luxembourg-based Skype Technologies SA for $2.6 billion.

Skype provides for free computer-to-computer Voice over IP calls as part of a broader package of fee-based telecommunications services. By offering its services along with the eBay and PayPal brands, “we will create an extraordinarily powerful environment for business on the Internet,” said eBay president and CEO Meg Whitman.

The most likely users of the Skype service are retailers of high-ticket products, like jewelry or automobiles, that could benefit from more voice communications with customers, says Scot Wingo, president and CEO of ChannelAdvisor Corp., a company that helps independent retailers get set up with eBay and other marketplaces. “They have to sell high-average-price items to justify the cost of call reps.”

Offering Skype services could work particularly well for larger retailers on Shopping.com, which eBay acquired this summer, Wingo adds. “It can help them save money while adding customer service,” he says.

Wingo says the Skype service may be too costly for many of eBay’s sellers, especially its smaller ones, because many of them are already overwhelmed with e-mail communications and can’t afford to hire addition people to answer phone calls, even if the calls are free.

Skype user base has surged over the past year. Its unique U.S. audience grew 178% over the past year, to 1.11 million in August 2005 from 398,000 in August 2004, according to Nielsen/NetRatings Inc. Globally, Skype had a unique audience of 6.9 million in July, Nielsen said.

EBay grew 15% over the same period, to 57.76 million from 50.27 million. EBay’s and Skypes combined unduplicated U.S. audience was 58 million in August 2005, Nielsen said.