Yahoo Japan, eBay Team Up

Yahoo Japan Corp. and eBay Inc. said Tuesday they have agreed to team up in online auctions, planning services for next year that will make it easier for consumers to buy things via the Internet from the U.S. and Japan. Yahoo said by March, Japanese will be able to bid for items up for sale on eBay through the Yahoo auction site in Japan. By the middle of next year, similarly, a site will be set up that will allow Americans to buy Yahoo Japan auction items through the eBay site. The move will mark a return to Japan of eBay, which pulled out of the market in 2002, never able to compete against the domination of Yahoo here. The deal will facilitate "cross-border trading" and invigorate the online auction market, Yahoo said in a statement. In online auctions, consumers put up items they want to sell and get offers through the Internet from prospective buyers. Americans using eBay will be able to more easily buy Japanese goods popular abroad, such as "manga" comic books, CDs, and products that feature Japanese animation characters and other mascots, it said. Also, some products are cheaper online abroad than in Japan, and consumers will be able to compare prices for the best deals.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/12/03/online.auctions.ap/index.html