According to Yahoo News, eBay Inc is now trying the Japanese market again, this time teaming up with Yahoo Japan. The companies introduced a site called Sekaimon or “Gateway to the world” at http://www.sekaimon.com

eBay has huge succeeses globally, but failed miserably in Japan. eBay pulled out from Japan in 2002. It seems not popular enough compared to Yahoo Japan and Rakuten Inc which are already well-established then.

It reported that eBay failed on Japan due to cultural differences. Yahoo Japan was also popular as Yahoo! Payments allows the seller to receive the funds from the sale into their bank account.

But I guess language is also a barrier in communication. Perhaps the westerners and Japanese have trouble understanding each other?

eBay has been seeking local partners to boost its Asian operations in the face of mounting competition. In China, it is working on a joint venture with Tom Group’s Tom Online to compete against Alibaba.com. In Thailand it plans to launch a joint site with domestic partner Sanook.

Looks like eBay is trying very hard on marketing now and trying to enter more foreign markets. Lets see how well these partnership goes for eBay.

Good Luck, eBay.

Tags: tokyo, japan auction, yahoo, ebay, sekaimon, jp