Online auction site OZtion announced a 50% increase in sales for May, thanks to eBay decisions to restrict payment via Paypal only, on its Australia site. OZtion is a Melbourned-based auction site.

Co-founder Philip Druce happily reported on SmartCompany:

• 28,000 new members have joined since the last 6 weeks,
• number of members now at healthy figures 275,000.
• value of merchandise increased 65%.

That’s about half of the number of items on eBay Australia and three times as many as on Trading Post, which entered the online auction market last week!!!

Druce next challenge is to keep up with the growth, giving more feature rich facilities and make unhappy ex-eBay sellers happy. He’s not concerned with Trading Post though, as he mentioned “It is a pretty simple site. I don’t think they’re a huge threat.”

And recently, OZtion has been acquired by Jumbuck Entertainment, for $A1 million plus $A1 million in Jumbuck shares. Looks like OZtion is determined to become the biggest online auction website in Australia in the near future.

Way to go OZtion!

Hmm, I guess we have a lot more options than ever before to sell our wares. As Oztion continues to grow popular among the Aussies, will eBay do something about it to lure ex-sellers back?