eBay – the World’s Biggest Online Markeplace has announced that it has agreed to purchase Shopping.com, for $620million worth of shares. This is based on $21 per share, for all outstanding shares on May 31st 2005.

Quoting from the press release:

The combination of Shopping.com and eBay will create a premier online shopping experience for individuals and businesses of all sizes. The acquisition will give eBay’s many sellers a new sales channel and access to a new set of buyers. Shopping.com will especially appeal to eBay sellers who are having success with in-season products. On Shopping.com, the shopping experience will be enhanced by the addition of eBay listings to the product selection already available, and merchants will enjoy dditional traffic and leads from eBay. Finally, the consumer-generated reviews on Epinions complement eBay’s own community feedback-driven marketplace.

“The acquisition of Shopping.com will allow us to provide even more opportunities for our sellers,” said Bill Cobb, president, eBay North America. “Shopping.com’s comparison technology simplifies the online shopping experience and the Epinions’ community of reviewers is a great match with our own. Together with the outstanding management team at Shopping.com, I believe we can accomplish some amazing things on behalf of our buyers and sellers.”

“eBay will provide our shoppers greater convenience and comprehensiveness and will help our merchants increase sales,” said Lorrie Norrington, president and CEO of Shopping.com. “This partnership will allow Shopping.com to accelerate our vision to dramatically improve the way people shop and sell online.”

With comparison shopping feeds become more and more important for e-retailers, this is a smart move for eBay. Learning how to take feeds from the commerical end of the market will boost the number of products available on eBay, whilst providing another revenue stream.

For marketers, submitting your feed to Shopping.com may automatically get you included into eBay.

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