Christmas shopping on smartphones to reach all-time high on December 8, say eBay and PayPal

MANY of us are seasoned online Christmas shoppers, and on December 8 we'll reach another cyber-milestone.

ONLINE shoppers are ditching computers for their phones, with December 8 predicted to be the busiest day ever for internet shopping using mobiles.

More than 1.28 million Australians are expected to shop using a mobile on Sunday week, up more than 30 per cent on last year's busiest day, online auction site eBay estimates.

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"Low interest rates and the steadying of the Australian dollar has seen consumer confidence rise to its highest levels this year which means Australians are heading back online in record numbers," eBay Australia buyer experience director Nicolette Maury said.

Driving the mobile trend is the Christmas rush and the convenience of shopping on the go.

"Australians are leaders when it comes to mobile adoption and ... it's become really clear this year that Australia is a nation of multi-taskers, using connected devices to multi-screen from the couch or to search for Christmas gifts on the way in to work," Ms Maury said.

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A record 140,000 items are forecast to be sold and $5 million worth of goods will be traded via a mobile on December 8 - 40 per cent more than in 2012. That includes a piece of women's clothing every eight seconds and a piece of fashion jewellery every 20 seconds.

Secure payments provider PayPal confirms mobile sales are on the rise, estimating phone purchases will increase more than 60 per cent this year compared to last.

Brisbane medical assistant Tiffany Hunting, 24, is a regular mobile phone shopper for everything from fashion to furniture and said she loved the convenience of it.

"If I'm watching TV or something it's more convenient than my laptop or desktop - it's just being able to shop wherever," she said.

"It's also really easy because a lot of them have apps these days that make checking out really simple."

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