Auction website Ebay.ie today claimed it has over 500,000 registered users in Ireland.
The company said this represented 16 per cent of the over-18 population or 58 per cent of all Irish internet users.
The company based its claim to have 58 per cent of all Irish internet users on 2006 statistics from the Central Statistics Office on the number of registered broadband and dial-up subscribers.
Ebay claims an item in the computing category is sold by an Irish seller every five minutes, while an item of clothing is bought by an Irish buyer every two minutes and a DVD is bought by an Irish buyer ever four minutes.
The site, together with Paypal, the company's online payment system, employs more than 1,200 Irish staff at its offices in Blanchardstown, Dublin.