The world's biggest Internet marketplace said it traded more than 10 billion dollars' worth of goods in the first quarter, earning net profits of 256.3 million dollars or 19 cents per share.

That compared to 200 million dollars in the same three-month period a year before.

Excluding certain items, eBay earned 275.5 million dollars, or 20 cents per share, topping analyst expectations by two cents.

Quarterly sales rose 36 percent to 1.032 billion dollars, from 756 million dollars last year, matching the consensus projection of Wall Street.

"A record jump in registered users, record GMV (gross merchandise volume), tremendous PayPal growth, and record net revenues all highlighted a wonderful quarter for eBay," said the company's chief executive, Meg Whitman.

"The eBay community is thriving, and we're in an excellent position to deliver on both the top line and profit goals we've set out for 2005 and beyond," she added.

The company said it expects to generate sales of between 4.27 billion and 4.36 billion dollars in 2005, and profits of 76-78 cents a share, in line with analysts' forecasts.

The auctioneer is setting great store by the growth of its PayPal system for making online payments, touting the e-mail based system as a cheap way of sending money to friends and family around the world.

From its creation in 1995, via a lucrative stock market listing, eBay has staged stellar growth and now claims more than 100 million registered users.

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