Yahoo! and eBay, Tag Team Champions in Japan

What might have been considered a strategic withdrawal off the market back in 2002, actually turned out to be a KO that sent eBay to the ground in round 1. Yahoo! and the world knew that it wouldn't be a lucky punch, but didn't shy away from going into the ring with the inexperienced, on the Japanese market, eBay despite being the clear winner even before the fight started. Many thought that all that the online auction and shopping website needed was time to gather its forces and take another shot at the title, but it wasn't so.

Basing its strategy on the ancient saying that "If you can't beat them, join them", eBay has teamed up today with Yahoo! at least for the next year, in order to make it easier for consumers to buy things over the Internet from the United States and Japan.

The joint direction of efforts to be made from now on has been discussed about for a while and this period gave the engineers time to design a separate web site called Sekaimon, the English spelling for the Japanese term for "global shopping". Yuri Kageyama, of the AP Business section, said that "The online Sekaimon site will translate items on listed on eBay into Japanese and help with payments, shipping and customs clearance for Japanese shoppers, both sides said. Revenue from Sekaimon will be shared, they said, while not disclosing the terms."

The collaboration's point is that Americans using eBay would have an easier time buying Japanese goods that are popular abroad, such as "manga" comics books, CDs and products that feature Japonese animation characters and other mascots.

"Last year, Internet powerhouses Yahoo and eBay announced a wide-ranging alliance in the U.S., helping defining the battle lines against rivals Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AOL. Yahoo and eBay said will draw upon each other's strengths in online advertising, payments and communications. Since then, they have collaborated in advertising, online payments and other areas outside of Japan," Kageyama observed.