Alibaba, eBay Lovefest Over as eBay Rethinks China 阿里巴巴和eBay的蜜月期结束

By newsdoug on June 8, 2011

eBay preparing to set up new China shop? The short lovefest between former archrivals Alibaba Group and eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) has ended almost as quickly as it began, as the US online auctions giant gears up for another possible move into China’s blossoming e-commerce market. Many were surprised (or at least I was) last year when eBay CEO John Donahoe showed up as the guest of honor in Hangzhou at Alifest, Alibaba’s annual shindig where it talks about the latest tech trends. A few months before the event, the pair of former bitter rivals signaled their friendly approach when eBay’s PayPal online payments unit entered a tie-up with Alibaba’s AilExpress service. Now just a year after that partnership began, PayPal has quietly announced on its blog it is ending the tie-up. (company announcement; Chinese article) PayPal wasn’t saying much more, except that the AliExpress deal was providing an immaterial amount of the $4.4 billion in Greater China sales volume it handled last year. But clearly eBay no longer sees Alibaba as integral to its success in China, if it ever did at all. In fact eBay may even be gearing up for its own new play into China, my company sources tell me. PayPal itself is in the process of applying for a license to offer domestic online payment services, which, if it moves ahead in that area, would put it in direct competition with Alibaba’s Alipay service. What’s more, eBay’s agreement to confine its domestic e-commerce efforts to a moribund joint venture with Tom Group that it signed in 2006, will officially end at the end of this year, meaning eBay will be free to pursue its own new domestic e-commerce initiatives after that time. While eBay is unlikely to try out online auctions again, it will certainly need to look closely at potential partnerships with the many interesting more traditional e-commerce companies such as Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) that are now doing big business in China’s domestic market.

Bottom line: eBay’s cutting of ties with Alibaba comes as the US e-commerce giant prepares to make potential new moves into China.

来也匆匆，去也匆匆——阿里巴巴<1688.HK>和eBay<EBAY.O>之间的短暂蜜月期已经结束，後者有可能再度直接进军中国蓬勃发展的电子商务市场。很多人（包括我）去年曾对eBay首席执行官约翰·多纳霍(John Donahoe)去杭州参加阿里巴巴网商交易年会AliFest感到惊讶。在此次年会之前不久，阿里巴巴和eBay这两家昔日死对头相互作出友好姿态，eBay旗下PayPal支付平台宣布与阿里巴巴的全球速卖通（AliExpress）合作。仅仅一年之後的今天，PayPal已悄悄在其博客上宣布，这项合作走到了尽头。PayPal没有说很多，仅表示在它去年于大中华区处理的44亿美元总交易支付额中，与AliExpress合作项目贡献甚微。但可以肯定的是，eBay 已不再把阿里巴巴视为其中国战略的一部分。我的消息人士说，事实上eBay可能正准备推出自己的进军中国新策略。PayPal正在申请许可，以在中国国内提供网络支付服务，而这将使其与阿里巴巴的支付宝（Alipay）形成直接竞争关系。另外，eBay与TOM集团在2006年结成的中国国内电子商务独家合作关系也将於今年底正式到期，意味着eBay即将摆脱该合作关系的束缚，可以独自在中国开展电子商务。虽然eBay不大可能再度在华尝试网络拍卖业务，但它肯定要密切关注与当当网<DANG.N>等传统电子商务企业的合作机会。

一句话：eBay与阿里巴巴中止合作，可能与前者在中国市场拿出新动作的计划不谋而合。

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)