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eBay has announced that it will put an end to its Live Auctions on December 31, 2008 in an effort to restructure its online auction business.

Jim Ambach, Vice President, Seller Experience, eBay said," In the case of Live Auctions, maintaining and improving this platform falls outside our immediate focus, and will, therefore, be retired at the end of the year."

eBay had partnered with a small number of service providers who worked directly with the live auction houses to incorporate with eBay Live Auctions. One company, iCollector, a subsidiary of Ableauctions said it generates approximately $700,000 in annual revenue (or 14% of the company's total revenues) from the auctions broadcast on the eBay Live Auctions platform.

Live Auctioneers said it plans to launch an independent online- bidding platform. "We expect the changeover to take effect on or before Dec. 31, which is the date that our current platform provider, eBay, anticipates winding down its eBay Live Auctions division," said LiveAuctioneers' CEO, Julian R. Ellison.