MarketingVOX: EBay shares rose after it reaffirmed its forecast for higher profits this year and for the first time announced a stock buyback plan.

eBay narrowed the range of its full-year profit, excluding stock-options costs, to $0.98-$1.01, up from $0.96-$1.01, and reiterated its revenue projection of $5.7-$5.9 billion, reports Bloomberg. eBay plans to repurchase as much as 5 percent, or $2 billion of its shares, over the next two years.

Second-quarter sales increased 30 percent, to $1.41 billion; net income decreased to $250 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with $291.6 million, or 21 cents, a year earlier. Excluding stock-option expenses of 4 cents and other items, eBay earned 24 cents, meeting analysts' expectations.

Auction site revenue grew 22 percent from the year-ago period; PayPal revenue grew 39 percent; Skype revenue was up 26 percent. CEO Meg Whitman said eBay plans to raise fees on fixed-price merchandise sales to encourage selling on its main auction sites instead.

Prior coverage:

- eBay: Google Checkout Doesn't; Bans It

- eBay Likely to Ban Google Checkout Use

-Google Checkout (not Gbuy) Checks in, Challenges PayPal (and Amazon)

- Google to Start Gbuy Test

- Google's GBuy 'Revolutionary' for Search

- eBay Launching Contextual Ad Program

- Yahoo and eBay Form Online Advertising and E-Commerce Alliance

- Getting Ready for 'Google Store'

- Google CEO Confirms Payment Tool; Says Won't Challenge PayPal

- 'Google Wallet' Reportedly Ready to Jump into PayPal's E-Payments Space

- PayPal Launches E-Commerce Checkout Tool, Expands Services