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Yahoo Japan, EBay Unite in Online Auctions

Posted on: Tuesday, 4 December 2007, 03:00 CST

By YURI KAGEYAMA

TOKYO - Yahoo Japan Corp. and eBay Inc. agreed Tuesday to team up in online auctions, planning services for next year that will make it easier for consumers to buy things over the Internet from the U.S. and Japan.

The move marks a return to Japan of eBay, which pulled out of the market in 2002, never able to compete against the domination of Yahoo here.

Yahoo said by March, Japanese will be able to bid for items up for sale on eBay through the Yahoo auction site in Japan. By the middle of next year, similarly, a site will be set up that will allow Americans to buy Yahoo Japan auction items through the eBay site.

The deal will facilitate "cross-border trading" and invigorate the online auction market, Yahoo said in a statement. In online auctions, consumers put up items they want to sell and get offers through the Internet from prospective buyers.

"We are excited to partner with Yahoo Japan in providing Japanese users with localized site designed to enable them to shop on the eBay marketplace with ease and convenience," eBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman said in a statement.

EBay and Yahoo Japan - collaborating for the first time - also launched a separate Web site called Sekaimon, which means "global shopping" in Japanese.

The online Sekaimon site will translate items on listed on eBay into Japanese and help with payments, shipping and customs clearance for Japanese shoppers, both sides said. Revenue from Sekaimon will be shared, they said, while not disclosing the terms.

Americans using eBay will be able to more easily buy Japanese goods popular abroad, such as "manga" comic books, CDs, and products that feature Japanese animation characters and other mascots, it said.

Also, some products are cheaper online abroad than in Japan, and consumers will be able to compare prices for the best deals.

The news, initially reported in the business daily The Nikkei, sent shares of Yahoo Japan climbing. By midday in Tokyo, the stock was up 3.9 percent at 56,040 yen ($509).

Yahoo Japan, a unit of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo Inc., has more than 15 million auction items listed on any given day, while eBay, the world's biggest online auction site, boasts 248 million registered users.

The online auction markets in both countries are growing, Yahoo said. In Japan, it's up about 27 percent from a year ago to an estimated 4 trillion yen ($36.4 billion) and in the U.S., it's up 21 percent to more than 19 trillion yen ($172.7 billion).

Although Japanese already can shop online on overseas sites, and vice versa, the agreement will make it easier by bridging language and other barriers.

Macquarie analyst Nathan Ramler said the deal is positive for both sides.

"Now there is going to be a formal channel by which you can sell products from one market into another," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

The tie-up may be expanded, both sides said.

Lorrie Norrington, head of eBay's international operations, said the deal may be expanded in the future to other businesses. Besides the online auction, eBay owns the PayPal online settlement service and Skype, an online telephony service.

Yahoo Japan President Masahiro Inoue said the companies may pursue a capital tie-up, although Tuesday's deal doesn't involve such mutual investments.

"We will diligently work together to create a new auction experience for Japanese consumers while ensuring that we provide a healthy and secure online experience," Inoue said.

The 2002 withdrawal from Japan was a rare defeat for San Jose, Calif.-based eBay, which entered the Japanese market in 2000. But it had just 25,000 items listed for sale. At that time, eBay said it hoped to return to the world's second-largest retail market when the timing was right.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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