PayPal/eBay Split Means New Opportunities

Following the upcoming split of PayPal and eBay, both companies can pursue new partnerships, potentially signaling greater competition for both the alternative payments and online marketplace space.

As a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission states, “EBay and PayPal also will benefit from additional flexibility and agility to pursue new market and partnership opportunities” after the split slated for the end of this year.

This would mean that PayPal, no longer beholden to eBay, can ink deals with other online commerce titans such as Amazon and Alibaba.

On the flipside, much has been said about Alibaba buying eBay after the split.

Like eBay, Alibaba doesn’t sell goods, but instead provides a link between buyer and seller.

This would naturally give the Chinese company an immediate foothold into the US market. However, Alibaba is currently eclipsing eBay and Amazon in volume of sales. Thanks to having Tmall and Taobao, two marketplaces that focus on B2C and C2C commerce respectively, Alibaba owns the Chinese online selling market.

Whether PayPal and eBay can utilize this new freedom to partner, potentially for tapping the greater international market, remains to be seen.