eBayEachnet, Taobao, 1pai - fierce struggle among the three auction giants

From 21st Century Online: eBay's big plans for 2005

"The California group is seeking to capitalize on China's more than 94 million Internet users and its fast-growing middle class. Its China subsidiary EachNet will benefit most from the investment (eBay plans to put US$100 million into China this year to expand its presence in the e-commerce market, the company announced last Friday) . This is obviously good news for EachNet. That's because it needs to compete with two other giants: Taobao, a subsidiary of Chinese B2B (business to business) giant Alibaba.com. And, 1pai.com, the Beijing-based online auction site jointly owned by Yahoo and Sina."

"E-commerce is beginning to take off in China. Books and computer gear are proving particularly popular. That could make China the world's biggest online market within two years, according to a recent report on the country's e-commerce potential."Read more