eBay Tuesday says it has signed a multiyear deal with San Francisco-based LiquidSeats to tap into its StubHub Network.

The deal is expected to give eBay's 42 million registered users access to the live-event tickets, including Web sites affiliated with professional sports teams and media companies.

This is the first time that the online auction house has outsourced services of a professional ticketing firm. Usually, eBay's users post their own tickets.

LiquidSeats' current inventory includes tickets to events like Dave Matthews Band and NSYNC concerts and sporting events for the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Clippers.

As part of the deal, ticket listings from the StubHub Network are posted onto eBay electronically using eBay's API technology. Also as part of the arrangement, eBay is promoting StubHub ticket listings throughout the eBay Web site. LiquidSeats will also have its own storefront location on eBay taking users directly to ticket listings from the StubHub Network.

"eBay users want to buy and sell tickets to their favorite sporting events, concerts and other live performances," says eBay vice president of vertical development and community Bob Hebeler. "LiquidSeats will significantly increase the tickets available on eBay and provide our community with a safe and easy process to conduct their ticket transactions."

LiquidSeats says the inventory is available because of its longstanding relationships with sports teams like the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Super Sonics and media companies like Knight Ridder, The Seattle Times and Gannett. For getting access to the tickets, the company offers these organizations an outsourced ticketing platform.

eBay has been expanding its ticketing options of late. The San Jose, Calif.-based online auction site recently inked a deal with Priceline.com.