eBay is retiring its Live Auctions platform that allowed auction houses to incorporate Internet bidding with their real-life auctions. eBay posted an announcement on Tuesday that said the move comes as the company aligns its resources with its priorities as it works to improve the buying and selling experiences, "including significant investments in Trust & Safety and customer support."

The announcement went on to state, "In the case of Live Auctions, maintaining and improving this platform falls outside our immediate focus, and will, therefore, be retired at the end of the year."

Rumor has it that eBay has more chopping to do, perhaps not surprising given its new CEO who came on board on April 1 comes from management consultant firm Bain & Co. eBay also signaled recently it is looking for acquisitions (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y08/m02/i28/s03).

eBay had partnered with a small number of service providers who worked directly with the live auction houses to integrate with eBay Live Auctions. One such company, iCollector (a subsidiary of Ableauctions), said it derives approximately $700,000 in annual revenue, or 14% of the Company’s total revenues, from its eBay Live Auctions business. Another company, LiveAuctioneers, issued a press release announcing its plans to launch an independent online-bidding platform.

eBay said several hundred sellers also listed their items directly using the Live Auction format. The Live Auctions platform will shut down on December 31, 2008.

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200804151300402.html

Comment on the AuctionBytes Blog:

"eBay Axing Live Auctions Platform," April 14, 2008
http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2008/4/1208221221.html

"eBay Live Auctions RIP - It's Official," April 15, 2008
http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2008/4/1208291066.html