eBay Purchases Shopping.com
Online auctioneer eBay purchased comparative-shopping Web site Shopping.com on June 1 for $620 million, according to the San Jose, Calif.–based auction giant.
More than 13.8 million Americans in April visited eBay and Brisbane, Calif.–based Shopping.com to bid on everything from custom dresses to vintage jeans and to check out how much items cost on other commerce Web sites, according to James Lamberti, vice president of ComScore Networks, a consumer research company based in Chicago.
“This acquisition brings together two of the largest properties in an increasingly competitive e-commerce landscape,” Lamberti said.
Through the purchase, eBay will provide more opportunities for its merchants, said Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, in a company statement. EBay also will be able to add Shopping.com’s popular Epinions.com, which features more than 400,000 consumer reviews, to its family of Web sites, Cobb said.
In other eBay news, the online auction site and Fashion Business Inc. will host a free seminar on the basics of selling on eBay during Los Angeles Fall II Market Week. The June 10 seminar will reveal how to attract customers, open an online store and maximize returns. The seminar will run 5–6:30 p.m. at the FBI Resource Center in The New Mart (suite 212). For more information, contact info@fashionbizinc.org. —Andrew Asch
