Yahoo! Auctions is a service set up by the online search giant Yahoo! in 1998 to compete against eBay. There are currently only three localizations of the service active in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan; Yahoo! has already discontinued the service in United States, Canada, Singapore, United Kingdom and Ireland. The US and Canada sections of the site were closed on June 16, 2007. The Singapore section of the site was closed on September 22, 2008. The UK and Ireland service was closed on June 28, 2002. During the shutdown of the UK and Ireland service, Yahoo! took the unusual step of endorsing its main auctions rival, eBay, as their 'preferred' service.