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 SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Eager to find new sources of income and keep its sellers from striking out on their own, eBay Inc. launched a new service Thursday that encourages small- and medium-sized sellers to build Web stores that operate independent of the e-commerce powerhouse.
EBay's new ProStores service will allow sellers to design their own fixed-price e-commerce site with a unique Web address. The service, which costs $6.95 per month with fees ranging from 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent of transactions, will allow users to link their custom-built site to their eBay site and use PayPal, eBay's popular online transaction service.
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.
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