A KERRY man has helped ensure the tills have been ringing out for one of Ireland’s most important marketplaces for traders.
Trading website eBay has enjoyed an extraordinarily rapid expansion in this country, with Tralee man, John McElligott, managing director of eBay Ireland, at the helm. eBay.ie, the dedicated Irish eBay website, now has over 500,000 confirmed registered users in Ireland, he revealed during the week.
This figure, which represents 58 per cent of all Irish Internet users and 16 per cent of the over 18 population of Ireland, marks a 150 percent increase in users since the site launched in June 2005.
Mr McElligott, managing director of eBay Ireland said the figure represents a significant landmark for eBay.ie.
"We are grateful for the loyalty of our users in helping us pass this milestone," he stated.
The potential for Irish entrepreneurs to realise success through eBay.ie is significant and thousands of small and medium-sized businesses are using eBay.ie as an additional sales channel and turning their excess stock into cash, he added.
"With four items bought and one item sold every minute by Irish eBayers, it is clear that eBay.ie is striking a chord with this new generation of Irish traders," said Mr McElligott.
The site together with PayPal, eBay’s online payment system, currently employs more than 1,200 Irish staff at its Blanchard-stown offices.
Many people in Ireland use the site as a business tool and can take advantage of the eBay.ie business centre, http://pages.ebay.ie/ebaybusinesscentre/index.html - a highly successful online facility, launched in April 2006, to help small and medium-sized businesses get started on the website. eBay.ie is also running a Seller of the Year competition to encourage budding Irish entrepreneurs to start selling. The competition has three categories - New eBay Seller, New eBay Business and Existing eBay Seller - and six lucky finalists will receive ¤1,000 paid into their PayPal account.
The overall winner will receive ¤4,000 paid into their PayPal account, an eBay.ie home office package plus a trip for two to the eBay Live! event in Boston, including flights and accommodation.
The two remaining category winners will each receive ¤1,500 paid into their PayPal account plus an eBay.ie home office package.
Founded in 1995, eBay pioneers communities built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity. eBay enables ecommerce on a local, national and international basis with an array of websites - including the eBay Marketplace, PayPal, Skype, Kijiji, Rent.com, Shopping.com - that bring together millions of buyers and sellers every day.
An item in the computing category is sold by an Irish seller every five minutes, while an item is listed in the collectable category every
3.5 minutes.
An item of clothing is bought by an Irish buyer every two minutes and a DVD is bought by an Irish buyer every four minutes.
An item is bought from the collectable category by an Irish buyer every two minutes, while auto parts are purchased by an Irish buyer every five minutes. eBay.ie allows buyers and sellers based in Ireland to meet and trade conveniently in their local currency. As the world’s online marketplace with more than 222 million registered users, more than 50,000 categories and approximately 100 million items available at any given time globally, eBay.ie is a place where practically anyone in Ireland can trade practically anything.
