eBay.ie, the dedicated Irish eBay website, today Monday 28th July 2008, declared county Carlow the winner of the eBay.ie All Ireland 2008 championship. The competition took every county into account and annually looks at who buys and sells what on eBay.ie over a one year period.

This year saw Carlow emerge victorious as the biggest buyers per capita on the eBay.ie website with Wicklow and Waterford coming second and third respectively.

Carlow people will be delighted to discover that they have stolen the crown from their rivals Laois, the 2007 winners. Carlow native Kathryn Thomas accepted the trophy on behalf of the county.

Kathryn Thomas, TV personality, said “I was absolutely delighted to hear that we had won the 2008 eBay.ie All Ireland championship. The great thing about eBay is that the site allows people who live in the country to get their hands on items which would not normally be readily available to them, and items are delivered direct to your door, cutting out having to drive to the nearest town. Certainly, I believe this is a key reason why my county, Carlow, won this year.”

Eamonn Galvin, Head of Product for eBay in Ireland, said “Once again a small county with a small population won the eBay.ie All Ireland championship and the fact that it has won proves that size doesn’t matter when it comes to buying and selling on our site. Everyone can achieve great things on eBay.ie. We are delighted to crown Carlow the eBay.ie 2008 All Ireland winners and wish the county continued success on eBay.ie in the future.”

The people of Carlow spend more on motorcycles, auto-parts and DVDs & films & TV, than anyone else in Ireland and not to be outdone in selling they sell more baby items per capita than any other county beating closest rival seller Wicklow by a factor of five! This years championship runner-up, Wicklow, has however been found to have very refined taste spending more on gourmet food and antiques than any other county in Ireland.

In third place Waterford natives have been found to accessorise well – they are the highest buyers of jewellery and watches and furthermore came second behind Wicklow in the buying of food and gourmet category.

While some counties had the opportunity to take heed of last years results and get started buying and selling online other counties are consistently underperforming. Once again counties Offaly and Roscommon didn’t fare so well in either the buying or selling categories in the eBay.ie All Ireland. Issues such as broadband access in rural areas may come into play for the county’s continued poor performance in the competition.

Please see some of the surprising statistics that we found below!

Buyers

• Offaly came last overall in the eBay.ie All Ireland but 1st in both music and travel!
• Computer literate Wicklow came 1st in spending on computers with Dublin 2nd and Clare 3rd
• The wee county, Louth, is music mad coming 1st in the music category with Dublin 2nd an Wexford 3rd
• Children at heart Louth topped the doll and doll house category with Wicklow 2nd and Dublin 3rd
• The Cats, Kilkenny, like to hoard coming 1st in collectibles, with Kerry 2nd and Kildare 3rd

Note to editor:
* Should you be interested in speaking with an is an individual who is an eBay.ie case study and trades in your county please get in contact with us and we will see if we have one available
* See how your county performed in relation to your neighbours please feel free to contact us for a breakdown of individual counties

About eBay.ie
eBay.ie is the dedicated eBay site for Irish users. It launched in Ireland in June 2005 and enables Irish users to meet and trade online in their local currency. Since then a growing number of Irish users have enjoyed the benefits of a uniquely tailored Irish site. In March 2007, eBay.ie recorded 500,000 users on the site. eBay.ie is a place where almost anyone in Ireland can trade practically anything on a local, national and international platform.

About eBay
Founded in 1995, eBay pioneers communities built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity. eBay enables ecommerce on a local, national and international basis with an array of websites – including the eBay Marketplace, PayPal, Skype, Kijiji, Rent.com, Shopping.com – that bring together millions of buyers and sellers every day.