EBay eyes pay per call after Skype buy

Emma Rigby, Revolution UK 24-Oct-05

Online auction eBay is to look at pay-per-call services following its $2.6 billion (1.4bn) acquisition of Skype, which lets PC users talk to each other for free.

The deal will bring eBay and Skype into the lead-generation business as
eBay will be able to connect a buyer to a sales person or inbound call
centre.

For example, users could click 'room to rent' on Gumtree.com, owned by

Kijiji, eBay's classified group, and talk to the rental agent. Saul

Klein, VP of marketing at Skype, said: "They get a totally targeted lead
with someone calling them. This turns e-commerce into an extremely
powerful ad proposition.

"If you want to buy a house or car, traditionally that has been the
realm of classified advertising or services," he continued. "Instead of
charging a transaction fee, which eBay does, you would charge a lead
fee. To cut that distance between interest and transaction is the Holy
Grail of marketing."

There are also possibilities for adding voice to eBay's service. Skype
has 54 million registered users while eBay reaches 100 million
people.

See analysis p19.