QXL.co.uk to close down

The QXL.co.uk online auction website will close at noon on 30 May, it has been announced. An email sent to QXL customers today states: "We have decided to withdraw from the UK market and close the QXL.co.uk site". Any credit balances that remain in your account can be reclaimed by providing the customer-service team the credit-balance details on enquiries@qxl.com, according to the company. Customers are also asked to settle any outstanding debit balances as soon as possible. The site, which has been running for 10 years, calls itself the "United Kingdom's original online auction website". However, eBay has always been the dominant force in online auctions in the UK. The site is owned by a company called Tradus, which recently withdrew from the London Stock Exchange and was bought by a South African company, MIH Internet, which is a subsidiary of Naspers. A Tradus spokeswoman told Web User that QXL.co.uk was one of its smaller operations and that its business had become more focused on mainland and eastern Europe in recent years. She did concede that many of these countries are places where eBay doesn't dominate the online auction market but pointed out that eBay did have operations in Poland, a key market for Tradus. The news comes on the back of research from Point Topic that online auction sites are suffering a downturn in popularity. "Consumers, particularly women, need to see and touch some items before they buy them, cosmetics, food and clothes top the list and a growing proportion of users are using the internet to check prices and availability before visiting a physical store. The internet is increasingly regarded as a part of the buying process rather than the start and end of it," said Pamela Varley at Point Topic. Are you sorry to see QXL.co.uk go? Have your say on the Web User forums. www.qxl.co.uk www.point-topic.com