Previous Story: Hackers plot more phishing, mobile viruses
Next Story: RFID hooks ride on German mass transit

EBay enters Eastern Europe with Polish service
By Scarlet Pruitt

Time to buy a new samochoód? Or maybe you wanted to sell pisanki over the holidays to make some extra cash. Then eBay Inc.'s announcement Friday that it launched an online auction service in Poland may be welcome news.

Poles who may have already been using eBay to sell Easter eggs (pisanki) or buy a car (samochoód) are now being offered a service in their own language and currency at www.ebay.pl.

EBay's move into Poland represents its first service in Eastern Europe, a market that is seen as having strong growth potential. Poland and nine other Eastern European countries joined the European Union last year, and have been working diligently to develop their e-commerce markets.

Poland's business-to-consumer e-commerce market is expected to grow by 400 percent to US$1.2 billion over the next three years, eBay said, citing numbers from researcher IDC.

The San Jose, California, auction powerhouse isn't the only company recognizing Poland's potential. Hewlett-Packard Co., for instance, announced last week that it is opening a BPO (business processing outsourcing) center in the country.

EBay has other local services in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the U.K. and the U.S.

Posted April 25, 2005 02:41 PM |