April 18 (Bloomberg) -- EBay Inc., the world's largest online auction company, may say profit increased at the fastest pace in five quarters after it charged more for users to list items for sale.

First-quarter earnings probably rose 32 percent to $327.6 million, or 23 cents a share, from $248.3 million, or 17 cents, a year earlier, according to the average estimate of 16 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales may have gained 24 percent to $1.72 billion.

EBay Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman more than doubled fees for merchants selling goods at fixed prices to reduce clutter on its site. A higher percentage of listings are subsequently resulting in sales, boosting profit, analysts said.

``Nothing beats pricing power,'' said Matthew Kelmon, who helps manage $400 million, including EBay shares, as president and portfolio manager at Kelmoore Investment Co. in Palo Alto, California. ``They really have a strong hold on the auction market.''

The San Jose, California-based company will report results after the close of U.S. trading today.

Excluding stock options, EBay may have earned 30 cents a share. On that basis, the company in January forecast profit of 28 cents to 30 cents a share on sales of as much as $1.72 billion.

Shares Surge

EBay shares fell 42 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $34.78 at 9:54 a.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. From Aug. 22, the day EBay raised its listing fees, through yesterday, the shares have surged 28 percent, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed 13 percent.

The company offers goods for sale via auctions or for fixed prices. It makes money on listing fees and sales commissions. Revenue per listing rose 11 percent in the quarter, helped by the fee increase, after a higher percentage of the site's visitors made purchases, Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney in San Francisco wrote in a note to investors last week.

Sales at EBay's PayPal payment services unit probably rose 28 percent to $419 million, wrote Mahaney, who has a ``buy'' rating on the stock.

EBay spokesman Hani Durzy said the company doesn't comment on earnings the day before their release.

To contact the reporter on this story: Danny King in Los Angeles at dking19@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 18, 2007 09:55 EDT