Ebay and Yahoo Japan to link up auction services

EBay and Yahoo Japan will link up their auction sites to make cross-border bidding easier in a deal that gives United States' auction titan eBay another chance to woo Japanese consumers.

EBay, the world's biggest online auctioneer, and Yahoo Japan, owner of the country's biggest auction website, are betting that more shoppers will hunt online for overseas bargains, once language barriers and cumbersome shipment and payment arrangements are cleared.

But such hopes may be misplaced, according to Masato Araki, an analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

When you take into consideration shipping and transaction fees, participation may be limited, he said. For Yahoo Japan, the move is unlikely to have a large impact on earnings.

EBay pulled out of Japan in 2002 after only two years, having struggled to make inroads into a market where Yahoo Japan and Rakuten already operated well-established sites.

EBay and Yahoo Japan, which together have about four trillion yen (HK$28.32 trillion) in annual successful bids, will first launch a Japanese-language site on which Yahoo Japan users can bid for eBay items.

The companies launched the site, called Sekaimon or Gateway to the world yesterday.

Shop Airlines, a unit of online sales services firm NetPrice will manage the site, payment services, customs clearance and delivery. It plans to charge 15 per cent in fees on each transaction.

Revenue from fees and advertising would be shared by the three firms, executives said.

The move is the latest tie-up with a local firm for eBay, whose fast-growing international operations make up 51 per cent of its auction and online shopping business.

EBay has been seeking local partners to boost its Asian operations amid mounting competition.

In the mainland, it is working on a joint venture with Tom Online to compete against Alibaba.com. In Thailand, it plans to launch a joint site with domestic partner Sanook.

Jay Lee, senior vice-president of eBay Asia Pacific, said the firm was considering further partnerships in areas such as Vietnam.

These are places where the local customs and markets are very distinct, so they're perfect for partnerships, he said.