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EBay forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $2.02 billion to $2.17 billion, compared with $2.18 billion a year earlier. The value of goods sold on EBay's sites fell 1 percent in the third quarter, the first drop in the company's history, as international markets declined as much as the U.S.

EBay's marketplaces revenue rose 4 percent to $1.38 billion in the third quarter. New marketplace listings climbed 26 percent from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive quarterly increase, EBay said. Revenue rose to $2.12 billion from $1.89 billion, helped by growth in its PayPal Internet payments unit and global classified advertising. The company's PayPal unit logged much higher growth - 27 percent, with revenue rising to $597 million.

Gross merchandise volume, or GMV, the value of all goods that users sold on EBay's sites, fell 1 percent. The average selling price on EBay's Web sites fell 7 percent, as consumers globally were squeezed by higher fuel and food prices, job losses and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. They are buying ``fewer large ticket items,'' Donahoe said yesterday. Revenue from Skype, which added 32 million users in the quarter, climbed 46 percent to $143 million.

One thousand full-time employees and about 600 temporary and part-time workers will be fired by the end of this year, EBay said Oct. 6/2008. The job cuts will cost EBay $70 million to $80 million pretax, most of which will be recorded in the fourth quarter, and lead to annual savings of about $150 million.

EBay's number of new listings jumped 26 percent year over year to 700 million. But the number of active users - which is an important measure of how well it is doing bringing in new buyers and sellers - rose just 3 percent in the quarter to 85.7 million.

Courtesy: (Bloomberg.com)