The online auction site, eBay, has done a detailed breakdown county by county of the country’s shopping habits.

The site, which was launched in the US 12 years ago and has had a site specific to Ireland for two years, has 500,000 registered users in the country.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland, John McElligott, Managing Director of eBay.ie, said the top three spenders on the Irish site were Laois, Carlow and Wicklow.

Mr McElligott also said that the items bought varied by county: ‘There’s quite a substantial difference not just between the amount they sell but the things they are buying and selling.’

The company’s figures say that per capita: Leitrim is the biggest buyer of books and magazines; Wicklow trades the most art and art supplies, Cavan spends most on toys and games; Laois buys the most cars and trucks; and Waterford buys the most sports goods while Galway sells the most sports goods.

Mr McElligott said the Irish were ‘pretty active eBayers’, adding that the site is an outlet for collectors: ‘You find people like these do often spend quite a lot of time on eBay looking for that coin to complete their collection or that stamp that they are missing.’

The company expects that more than $10 billion worth of goods will be bought and sold on eBay worldwide in 2007. www.rte.ie

Posted: 07|10|07 at 12:56 pm. Filed under: Auction News.