eBay’s Q3 gross merchandise sales rise 17% to $12.6 billion

Gross merchandise volume at eBay Inc.’s eBay.com rose 17% year-over-year to $12.6 billion for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, the company said. EBay also is reporting consolidated net revenue of $1.449 billion for Q3, an increase of 31% from $1.1 billion in Q3 2005, for all of its units including eBay.com, PayPal and Skype.

GAAP net income in Q3 was $281 million vs. $255 million in the same quarter in the previous year. “Q3 was a very good quarter for the company and a continuation of the strong earnings growth we delivered throughout the first half of the year,” said Meg Whitman, president and CEO of eBay. “As our results demonstrate, we are executing on our strategy to grow our Marketplaces, PayPal and Skype businesses individually and collectively to deliver greater value to our community of users and to our shareholders.”

Marketplaces net revenue totaled a record $1.049 billion in Q3, a growth rate of 22% over $858 million in Q3 2005. The eBay platform confirmed registered user base at the end of the third quarter was 212 million, representing a 26% increase over the 168 million users reported at the end of Q3 2005.

EBay’s users generated a total of 584 million new listings in Q3, which is 27% higher than the 459 million new listings reported in the third quarter of 2005.