CONNECTIONS: Taiwan's online trade alarmed by eBay launch

TAIPEI: US online auction giant eBay has its sights set on Taiwan, and although it has yet to open an office in Taipei, rumours of such have alarmed the struggling e-commerce industry.

"Everyone has their eyes on them,

said a public relations spokesperson for Coolbid.com. "eBay won't go against us as a direct competitor on the auction side of the business, but its B2C businesses represent a threat to us and everyone else."

He said it was still unclear how eBay intended to structure its business in Taiwan. But there is mounting evidence that eBay is looking at a Taiwan operation. A visit to eBay's US site shows the current 'jobs' section includes a listing for "country general manager, Taiwan", whose task will be to "make eBay the dominant company in its field in the Taiwan market."

The listing was posted on December 6, and already Taiwan newspapers are reporting 'eBay' sightings. Typical reports include the attempted recruitment of Raymond Chang, deputy manager at Giga Media, a local internet service provider.

"The stories were true,

said Giga Media public relations manager, Christine Feng. "Raymond turned down the offer, however, and we issued an announcement to that effect."