Good news for e-commerce giant eBay, as today they report solid first quarter results.

For the first quarter ending March 31st, eBay reports $2.5 billion in net revenue, which is a 16% increase from the same period last year.

The company recorded first quarter net income on a GAAP basis of $475.9 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $619.0 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, representing a 12% increase for each compared to the same period of 2010. The first quarter increase in non-GAAP earnings per diluted share was due primarily to solid top line growth and a lower effective tax rate.

It looks like the growth of eBay’s PayPal service really pushed revenues in the right direction.  PayPal grew in active registered accounts 16% year-over-year.  At the end of the quarter that figure totalled 97.7 million accounts.  This marks the 6th consecutive quarter that PayPal has added around 1 million new accounts per month.

“In the first quarter, PayPal continued to drive strong growth globally, eBay sharply accelerated growth in the U.S. and we announced several acquisitions that we believe will enhance our leadership and innovation in commerce and payments.  The year is off to a strong start,” said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe.

Last December eBay acquired local commerce company Milo, and this year they have acquired GSI Commerce, location media company WHERE and they bought majority stake in Turkish online marketplace GittiGidiyor.

eBay Marketplace grew modestly, but not at the clip that PayPal grew – gross merchandise volume grew 8% year-over-year (excluding vehicles).

For the future, eBay says they expect net revenues of $2.55 billion to $2.65 billion in the second quarter.  For the full year 2011, eBay expects net revenues between $10.6 billion and $10.9 billion.  They also expect GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $1.53 to $1.58 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $1.93 to $1.97.