eBay Encourages Sellers to Build Web Sites

• The move comes as year-over-year revenue growth slows in the company's core auction format _ particularly in the United States and Germany, where eBay's market penetration is nearing saturation.
• The San Jose-based company has been aggressive about expanding into emerging markets such as China and India, but it also has experimented with online classified advertisements, real estate and other new business ventures to try to maintain double-digit revenue increases in the lucrative e-commerce markets of North America and western Europe.
• For several years, eBay employees have been charged with expanding the company beyond online auctions _ including creating services that transform eBay into a sort of consulting service for small business owners looking to build their e-commerce presence, said Michael Dearing, eBay senior vice president and general merchandise manager.
• About one in three of eBay's largest sellers _ such as people who sell entire lines of discontinued clothes from China and computer vendors who sell millions of dollars worth of equipment each month _ operate their own e-commerce stores.
• But more than 100,000 smaller sellers, who hawk everything from handmade sweaters to Pez dispensers, often don't have sites other than their eBay store, Dearing said.
• Also on Thursday, CEO Meg Whitman said the company, which ended 2004 with net income of $778.2 million and cash reserves of $1.33 billion, may offer a dividend or repurchase some shares.
• "We aren't averse to returning cash to shareholders when we think we have a strategic reserve," Whitman said to about 100 shareholders who gathered in San Jose for an annual meeting.
• "But you have to be thoughtful of what you communicate when you do that."
• Whitman also brushed aside concerns of one shareholder, who worried about the company's sliding stock price.