Online auction house QXL continued to make a loss in the third quarter.

The company posted a pre-tax loss of £38m in the last quarter, compared with £11.2m in the previous quarter.

The number of people using the site is increasing.

The auction site had 453,000 registered users at the end of the third quarter, up 84% on three months previously.

QXL members were up 130% at 300,000, while in January page impressions hit 30 million.

The company is Britain's best-known internet auction service and has opened sites across most of western Europe.

Membership to boom

The company said it expects its membership base to continue to grow as it begins pan-European marketing.

Nearly half its members are now from outside Britain.

The company expects that consumer-to-consumer transactions will make up a larger proportion of gross auction value in the future.

In the third quarter this was £5.2m, 43% higher than in the previous quarter.

The number of items listed for auction increased to £1.3m in the quarter, up 49% on the previous quarter.

Turnover rose to £1.55m from £858,000 in the previous quarter.

Share frenzy

QXL figures have yet to match the frenzy that has surrounded its share price.

Since the company floated in October at 195 pence, investor frenzy has seen its share price soar.

QXL's finance director, Robert Dighero, has said he expected the company to move into profit in three to fours years' time.

Excite deal

Late last year, QXL signed a deal with web group Excite.

The two companies plan to set up joint auction pages on the internet, allowing users to buy or sell goods.

The pages will be linked to Excite's three main web portals for the UK, France, Germany and Italy.