EBay rolls out Paypal offering in the UK

Revolution UK 23-Oct-02

EBay has rolled out PayPal in the UK earlier than anticipated, just two weeks after it completed the acquisition of the secure online payment system firm.

The service now accepts payments in sterling and euros. Users can transfer funds between multiple-currency balances and withdraw funds to a UK bank account.

PayPal, which was acquired in a near-$1.5 billion (£966 million) deal, soft-launched in the UK last Wednesday (16 October). It will be refined for the UK market before being officially launched early next year.

Separately, eBay reported a 152 per cent year-on-year increase in international net revenues in third-quarter results for the three months to 30 September 2002. The $76.2m (£49m) figure was up 19 per cent on the previous quarter.

This strong performance was attributed to transaction revenues exceeding expectations. In contrast, global third-party advertising revenue was down 40 per cent year on year.

EBay has raised its forecasts for the remainder of the year based on its third-quarter performance and the incremental revenues expected from the PayPal service.

Global revenues for the last quarter are now forecast at between $372m (£240m) and $381m (£245m). This compares with $288.8m (£186m) for the third quarter.