eBay beats Amazon as the Net's number 1

LONDON - The internet auctioneer eBay has usurped amazon.com, the online bookstore, as the world's favourite e-commerce website according to an internet survey published this month.

Launched in Britain in December 1999, eBay offers shoppers all the possibilities of a giant car boot sale with none of the downsides such as getting up early on a Sunday morning or crossing a soggy field in the rain.

Jennifer Mowat, country manager of eBay UK, summed up the site's popularity: "It's just about choice really. It's like shopping in Bluewater [a vast shopping centre near Dartford, Kent] rather than going to the corner store."

The survey, compiled by Nielsens/Net Rating, shows that March's visitors to the eBay site grew by nearly 4 million to more than 22 million people. Amazon.com, the world's leading online retailer, gained only a million more visitors and now trails eBay in audience terms by just under 50,000.

- INDEPENDENT