Social Dublin

The phenomenon that is eBay has long been a home for shoppers who trawl the World Wide Web. For years the site has been shifting goods across the planet and turning over millions of dollars in revenue. Ireland now has its own dedicated site in eBay.ie, who last week celebrated their 1^st birthday. The panoramic Gravity Bar at the Guinness Storehouse was the venue for the party, which was attended by a variety of eBay aficionados, from staff and press to buyers and sellers.

eBay.ie allows buyers and sellers based in Ireland to meet and trade conveniently in their local currency. As the “world's online marketplace” with more than 193 million registered users, more than 50,000 categories and more than 89 million items available at any given time globally, eBay is a place where practically anyone in Ireland can trade practically anything.

It has been an exciting first year for eBay.ie and key highlights include launching a host of Irish stars off Europe's highest bungee crane for charity and the appointment of Judge, famous from his days on Wanderly Wagon, as the eBay.ie Security Watchdog. Many Irish celebrities are also using the site to raise much needed funds for charity. Recent celebrity charity auctions include Joe Dolan's “Such a good Lookin' Hipbone”, a round of golf with Keith Duffy and Samantha Mumba's car was listed on eBay last month.

Recent facts and figures indicate Irish buyers and sellers use the site to search for a bargain, sell unwanted items or as an additional sales channel turning their excess stock into cash:

- An item in the music category is sold by an Irish seller every 4 minutes

- An item is listed in the collectible category every 2.5 minutes

- An item of clothing bought by Irish buyer every 2 minutes

- A DVD is bought by an Irish buyer every 4 minutes

Guests at the birthday bash included former Rose of Tralee Tamara Gervasoni, Gerri O’Neill of Bohemians FC, Eugenia Monti, Christopher and Breda Osbourne and eBay.ie boss David Jesse and his wife Trevor (yes, her name is Trevor!), who were recently married in the U.S. and who will have another marriage ceremony in Ireland next week.

Commenting on the success of eBay.ie David said: "We've had a great first year and we would like to thank all of our buyers and sellers for making the site such a great place to trade. There are currently over 200,000 registered Irish users buying and selling on eBay - a great testament to the site and we'll be doing our utmost to ensure the continued success of eBay in Ireland”.

In March this year, eBay, together with the online payment service PayPal, announced they would be creating an additional 300 jobs in 2006, bringing their current workforce total to over 900 people.