eBay Watch: Week 11 Listings, Equity Stake in Tom Group and The Venice Project

A number of key developments for eBay (EBAY) watchers:

Mediocre Week 11 Listings Data

Week 11 listings were mediocre at best. Core listings fell 11% from last week, in what Merrill Lynch call a seasonal pull-back due to post-promotion declines and normal slowdown ahead of the holiday break. But regardless of the reason, I had not expected such a marked decline. The biggest declines came from the UK [30% drop in listings from last week] and the US [13% drop]. That said, overall Y/Y growth rates in listings [core and total] remained relatively flat because there was also a pull-back last year. But therein lies the problem - flat growth is just not good enough if its in the low double digits.

Listings data for this week, according to Merrill Lynch, came in with total listings QTD [to 15 Dec] of 511.2 million [versus 443.7 million QTD in 2005] representing 15.2% Y/Y growth. Corresponding core listings stood at 431.1 million QTD [versus 386.7 million QTD in 2005] representing 11.5% Y/Y growth.

eBay to Take Equity Stake in Tom Group

The rumor I reported earlier has now made its way into a Forbes.com article. Forbes mentions speculation by Shanghai Securities News that PayPal Beibao [PayPal's Chinese service] is expected to tie up with Hong Kong's Tom Group in a deal that involves eBay taking an equity stake in Tom Group. Forbes adds that:

"China is expected to issue online payment licenses next year, giving Tom an appropriate regulatory environment to develop online payment services."

The Venice Project Makes Headlines

Buzz surrounding The Venice Project was all over the news today with articles here, here, here here, and here. This flurry of activity has basically been caused by the launch of beta testing of the service, which includes over 6,000 individuals, myself included. I am still curious to see whether eBay plays any role at all in this new company - for the moment I am not aware any information has been provided regarding this.