Ebay holiday quarter sales jump; 2013 forecast cautious

SAN FRANCISCO (REUTERS) - Ebay reported holiday quarter results that just beat Wall Street expectations, but the e-commerce company also gave a cautious forecast for 2013.

Ebay shares climbed 1.7 per cent to US$53.80 in after-hours trading following the announcement.

Expectations were high ahead of the results because sales data from outside sources suggested strong sales growth from Ebay's online marketplace and a solid increase in transactions processed by the company's PayPal payments business.

Ebay's online marketplace, one of the largest in the world, has lagged behind the growth of e-commerce and Amazon.com Inc for several years.