Auctiva becomes Chinese website Alibaba's second US acquisition

Alibaba.com Ltd, the Chinese e-commerce firm for small businesses and the flagship company of Alibaba Group, is making its second acquisition in the US by buying Auctiva, a maker of marketing tools to vendors on e-commerce websites like eBay.

Hangzhou-based Alibaba, in which Yahoo holds a nearly 40-per cent stake, did not reveal financial terms of the deal. However the deal is part of a $100 million investment plan announced in April by Alibaba.com.

California-based Auctiva is a leading third-party developer of tools for eBay sellers. With more than 170,000 active users, Auctiva provides a variety of listing, marketing and management tools as well as image hosting and online storefronts that make it easy for small businesses to sell successfully via e-commerce on sites like eBay.

The acquisition of Auctiva, as well as Alibaba.com's purchase of Vendio in June, combined with Alibaba.com's strength in sourcing, will create a significant source of tools and resources for US small businesses looking to leverage e-commerce.

The combination of both the Auctiva and Vendio acquisitions brings more than 250,000 new customers to the Alibaba.com family of products, and significantly expands the size of Alibaba.com's US operations, said Alibaba in a statement.

In June, Alibaba made its first acquisition in the US by buying San Mateo, California-based Vendio Services Inc, an e-commerce firm that helps small- to medium-sized merchants manage their sales across multiple online sales channels including their online store, Amazon.com, eBay, Google, Shopzilla, and more. (See: Alibaba.com to acquire US e-commerce firm Vendio Services)