WebProNews

EBay's still king of the online shopping ring, and then some, according to numbers released by Hitwise. Amazon, Wal-Mart, Craigslist, and Target combined can't match the grip the incumbent online auction powerhouse holds on the online shopping public.

In February, eBay.com attracted 18.5 percent of all visits in Hitwise's Shopping and Classifieds categories, followed by eBayMotors, racking up another 3.5 percent. The shellacking would be dramatic enough if it stopped there. But it doesn't. Number nine on the list is eBay's Half.com with 0.64 percent.

Calculators ready, that's nearly 23 percent of online shoppers browsing around at one store. Not to sound stupid or anything, but eBay is the Wal-Mart of the Web. Wal-Mart, by the way, pulled in just 1.8 percent of that traffic, putting the big-box run-everybody-outta-town superstore in fourth place online.

If you combine places three through six, which is Amazon, Wal-Mart, Craigslist, and Target, together they still don't quite reach ten percent. Each of the remaining top 20 online shopping sites control less than one percent of the market.

The Top 20 Shopping and Classified Sites in February 2007:

1.    eBay
2.    eBay Motors
3.    Amazon
4.    Wal-Mart
5.    Craigslist
6.     Target
7.    NetFlix
8.    Dell
9.    BestBuy
10.    Half.com
11.    Ticketmaster
12.    MonsterMarketplace
13.    Shopping.com
14.    JC Penney
15.    Gateway
16.    Blockbuster
17.    BizRate
18.    Overstock.com
19.    Apple iTunes
20.    CicuitCity.com

In search, it wasn't much of a different story. EBay and its variations dominate search terms in the category, too. There are four eBay-related terms in the top 30 shopping and classified site search terms, making up almost three percent of the total volume, nearly twice as much as its nearest competitor, Craigslist.