Nine months after eBay spent $2.6 billion for internet phone startup Skype, many eBay sellers will be able to add a link to their listings that will allow potential buyers to contact them using Skype, reports the New York Times. Buyers who have Skype's free software installed on their computers will be able to talk with or send messages to sellers - a feature that eBay hopes will facilitate $200 million in sales this year.

On Monday, the new Skype feature will be available to sellers in 14 eBay categories, including real estate, cars and trucks, silver coins and beds - items that are expensive or which might generate questions. With Skype's videophone feature, buyers can also get another look at the products for sale.

"We believe that Skype will enhance the way that people communicate and trade on eBay, especially in high-involvement and high-price categories," Bill Cobb, the president of eBay North America, said in a statement. To encourage more people to use Skype, eBay last month eliminated the charge that users in the U.S. and Canada would normally pay to call landlines and mobile phones.