E-commerce giant eBay on Monday said it saw a surge in mobile shopping this holiday season as number of items bought by shoppers using mobile phones tripled over the same period last year.

A total of 1.5 million items were bought via mobile phones on the world's largest online marketplace this holiday season, with purchases ranging from designer handbags to a 1966 Chevrolet Corvette sports car worth 75,000 U.S. dollars.

eBay, based in San Jose in the U.S. state of California, launched its mobile web application site and iPhone application in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

It said nearly 6 million people now have eBay's iPhone applications and shoppers are making 750,000 unique visits a day to eBay via mobile apps. eBay buyers and sellers are expected to generate more than half a billion dollars of transactions using mobile phones in 2009.

eBay believed the strong momentum seen this holiday season will extend its leadership in mobile commerce.

"Mobile is changing the way people shop this holiday season," Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay marketplaces, said in a statement.

"eBay buyers and sellers have rapidly embraced mobile commerce this year, and this holiday season has been a mobile commerce tipping point. Shopping will never be the same again," she noted.