Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- EBay Inc., the world’s biggest Internet auctioneer, fell in Nasdaq trading after giving a first- quarter forecast that was less than analysts’ estimates and saying the value of goods sold on its Web site declined.

First-quarter earnings will be 32 cents to 34 cents a share, EBay said yesterday after markets closed. That compared with the 39-cent average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. EBay dropped $1.61, or 12 percent, to $11.67 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Exchange composite trading, its biggest decline in three months.

EBay, based in San Jose, California, said it was hurt by the global e-commerce slowdown, offsetting Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe’s efforts to gain sales by overhauling listing fees and bolstering the company’s secure-payments unit.

“The buyer side of the equation has been deteriorating,” said John Aiken, an analyst at Majestic Research LLC in New York. “They’re not immune to the economy.”

Gross merchandise volume, the value of all goods that users sold on EBay’s sites excluding vehicles, fell 12 percent to $11.5 billion, the second drop in the company’s history.

A year ago, EBay said it would reduce listing fees and make selling standards more stringent to attract buyers.

“When you look at the volume of trade that went through EBay, we held our own against the market,” Donahoe said yesterday in a telephone interview. “We didn’t gain ground, but we didn’t lose any.”

Slowing Sales

The shares have plunged 57 percent in past 12 months.

Revenue will be $1.8 billion to $2.05 billion in the first quarter, compared with the average estimate of $2.1 billion.

Donahoe became CEO last year, succeeding Meg Whitman after 2007 sales rose at the slowest pace in at least nine years.

Revenue fell 6.6 percent to $2.04 billion in the fourth quarter, EBay’s first quarterly decline, as sellers cut prices and the company boosted promotions to lure more holiday shoppers online amid the U.S. recession. Earnings also were hurt by foreign-currency changes, including the stronger U.S. dollar.

Net income dropped 31 percent to $367.1 million, or 29 cents a share, from $530.9 million, or 39 cents, a year earlier, EBay said yesterday. Excluding some items, EBay earned 41 cents a share, beating the 39-cent average of 24 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Revenue from EBay’s marketplaces businesses, including its namesake auction and fixed-price Web site, Kijiji online classifieds, and ticket re-seller StubHub fell 16 percent to $1.27 billion.

Fewer Visitors

EBay’s sites attracted fewer new visitors compared with a year earlier. With about 55 percent of its online sales coming from outside the U.S., the strengthening U.S. dollar hurts revenue that is converted from other currencies, Donahoe said yesterday.

Payments revenue rose 11 percent to $623 million in the quarter, as more companies and customers opted to use EBay’s PayPal Internet unit. Active registered accounts climbed 23 percent to 70 million.

Payment income was boosted by the online-credit service Bill Me Later, which EBay agreed to buy in October for $945 million. Bill Me Later gives users the option for deferred payments, allowing PayPal to make more money on transactions by avoiding fee payments to credit-card companies and charging interest on credit transactions.

Revenue from its Skype Internet telephone unit climbed 26 percent to $145 million, EBay said. Skype added 35 million users in the quarter, and now has more than 405 million.

To contact the reporters on this story: Beth Jinks in New York at bjinks1@bloomberg.net; Joseph Galante at jgalante3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 22, 2009 16:25 EST