eBay throws down the gauntlet to PayPal

NEWS eBay has reclaimed its stake in Billpoint - the billing service used by the online auction site - in an attempt to fend off an emerging e-payment rival. eBay has paid $43.5m to gain full ownership of the billing system from Wells Fargo Bank in order to mount an effective challenge against upstart auction site, PayPal. Wells Fargo bought a 35 per cent stake in the operation from eBay in March 2000 and used it to target ecommerce customers. eBay now intends to reengineer the system to work only for its own customers, which have swelled to 42.4 million registered users. Wells Fargo will continue to provide transaction services to eBay, including bank processing and fraud protection. eBay will rename the service eBay Payments.