Walla! announced yesterday two new services which are local versions of eBay and Paypal.

Walla!Buy is an online market and auction site, while Walla!Pay allows users to make secure payments without revealing their credit card details. The development of the sites, similar in design to the U.S. sites that they emulate, took more than a year and cost more than NIS 2 million.

Walla!Shops CEO Uri Nadler explained that Walla!Buy works as an open trading arena, in which any individual or business can offer items for sale. Nadler expects the new site’s revenues to reach NIS 300 million within three years.

The site allows fixed-price sales, auctions and also classified ads for items which are not yet for sale such as vehicles or real estate. When an item is paid for using Walla!Pay, the money is charged from the buyers credit card to Walla!Pay, and then the buyer must confirm that he has received the item before the money is transferred to the seller. Items can also be delivered by UPS, at an extra cost of NIS 49, and then the money is transferred to the seller once the courier confirms delivery.

Walla! will charge 6 percent commission for every sale. Additionally, at the end of the initial introductory period, Walla! will charge NIS 3 for each item offered, and a registration fee for each user. Prominently featured items will cost extra.

Nadler admitted that this is Walla!’s second attempt at setting up an online trading system. The first, which had the same name, began operating in 2000, and also attracted a lot of activity, he said.

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Posted: 03|24|06 at 10:00 am. Filed under: Auction News.