EBay more than doubled its second-quarter net income thanks to higher revenue from its PayPal online payments business and its e-commerce websites. The solid results, which came against the backdrop of the ongoing European economic turmoil, prompted investors to send the company’s stock up nearly six per cent in after-hours trading.

It was an excellent quarter almost across the board

“It was an excellent quarter almost across the board,” said Wedbush analyst Gil Luria. “It’s a sign that eBay continues to do really well and can continue to do well for many years to come.”

The growing use of smartphones and tablet computers to shop helped eBay sweep aside the economic woes affecting brick-and-mortar retailers. More people are using their smartphones and tablet computers to shop, which means they are more likely to shop on eBay, Mr Luria said.

While eBay’s PayPal business has been going strong for several quarters, a real surprise was its marketplaces business, which consists mainly of its namesake e-commerce site. Though the company was not expecting a decline, many investors had braced for a deceleration of growth, in large part because of Europe. But chief executive John Donahoe said the marketplaces business saw its strongest growth since 2006.

Marketplaces’ gross merchandise volume, an important metric that measures all items sold on eBay excluding vehicles, rose 10 per cent to $16 billion. In all, eBay earned $692 million, or 53 cents a share, in the April-June period. That is up from $283 million, or 22 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings were $730 million, or 56 cents a share, in the latest quarter – a penny above analysts’ expectations.

Revenue grew 23 per cent to $3.4 billion from $2.76 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting revenue of $3.36 billion, according to FactSet.

Besides its namesake online marketplace, eBay also owns StubHub, the ticket-selling website, Shopping.com and GSI Commerce, a provider of e-commerce and online marketing services.