eBay

pierrelebel · ‎10-17-2013

That's right folks.... over 500,000,000 listings on eBay. That is what I call competition for the buyer's money.

From the eBay release of financial results yesterday:

"The selection of items available on Marketplaces grew to over 500 million listings reflecting the success of consumer selling initiatives, particularly on mobile.

Free shipping was provided on more than half of U.S. transactions in the quarter and the global shipping program continued to expand."

I still remember the days when 14,000,000 listings was the high average and a one day promotion would increase the total to 20,000,000 with sellers complaining: "too many listings, too much competition."

"Gross merchandise volume (GMV), excluding vehicles, increased 13% to $18 billion." That works out to US$200,000,000 every day.

"...and the global shipping program continued to expand."

http://www.ebayinc.com/in_the_news/story/ebay-inc-reports-strong-third-quarter-2013-results

Whoever predicted the demise of eBay with the introduction of new programs, new policies and fee increases in the last few years needs a new crystal ball.

nan*55 · ‎10-17-2013

Those are impressive numbers.

pierrelebel · ‎10-17-2013

One does not need a doctorate in advanced calculus from M.I.T. to understand that the number of listings on eBay is growing much faster than the amount of money spent by buyers (10% - 15% a year). The result is the "sell through rate" gets smaller every year and/or it takes much longer for a listing to sell.

That is reality.

It should also be noted that fixed price listings now account for 71% of the total value of items sold on eBay, leaving 29% only for auction listings. The trend towards fixed price listings and away from the auction format started about ten years ago and has been growing ever since. While it is still possible to be successful using the auction format, it is getting more challenging and one cannot ignore that buyers increasingly prefer to use the fixed price format.

The growing trend towards "free shipping" (shipping included in price) - now accounting for more than half the USA sales - also cannot be ignored. While it is extremely challenging for Canadian sellers to absorb higher shipping costs, we must face the reality: our American competitors are doing it. And if a Canadian seller cannot compete with American competitors, what is the point to attempt selling through eBay?

mikal3141 · ‎10-17-2013

im not impressed. worst ever for buyers not paying and opening up inr disputes. terrible.

cumos55 · ‎10-17-2013

500,000,000 listings ---But which categories

That makes it about 350 million fixed price listings.

Today there are about 150 million auction listings.

Go back to 200 million listings on eBay... at 30 % auction listings that would have been 60 million auction listings

In absolute numbers... auction listings have NOT gone DOWN..... Free listings perhaps!

Percentages can be deceiving....

500 milion listings ..... When is lots of listings TOO Many?

Free listings by invite..... .... Where are those free listings placed?... Which categories?....

and then ...What if there are no listing fees? for everyone......

pierrelebel · ‎10-17-2013

"That makes it about 350 million fixed price listings."

Not really. More like 450,000,000

While fixed price listings account for 71% of sales, they account for a much larger percentage of listings (I would guess about 90%-92%) since most fixed price listings are listed for 30 days and renew automatically while most auction listings end in 7 days.

In absolute numbers, auction listings may not be down BUT the reality is that a growing number of buyers make their purchasing decision using the fixed price format. There is nothing wrong selling in a format with less popularity as long as it works fior the seller.

cumos55 · ‎10-17-2013

I know of several sellers who sell using the auction format on eBay...

They do very well because they price appropriately...

Also ... Auctions are not appropriate for some categories...

Also ... Listing at 99 cents and looking for a miracle is suicide in many situations.

One has to understand the realities of eBay in order to be successful... whether with auctions, or with fixed price

louiezlane · ‎10-17-2013

Oh Pierre, you really need a hobby. Or at least a better understanding of the numbers.

Ebay revenue for 2012 was (approx) US $14 billion. That's for the whole year, not a financial quarter.

This translates into average daily sales of (approx) US $38.3 million, NOT $200 million as you keep claiming.

You also make claims about the number of listings running live on the site.

I have asked you to provide a link to back up your absurd claims, and you have not to date. I will provide one for you:

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AEBAY&fstype=ii&ei=H9T4UPiZFMrqkAWb5QE

I'm guessing you're an ebay employee with stock options trying to upsell the company to increase your own profits.

Furthermore, I'm sure with any reasonable competition ebay will suffer greatly. It's a horrible company. It's a company that makes up rules as they go along, a company that ships american jobs to the phillipines, and a company that has operated with a monopoly for far too long. Lots of buyers and sellers look forward to the day when another company comes along to offer real competition. You can't be this bad and last forever. If I were you, I'd trade those ebay shares of yours in for something more credibles, more profitable and more ethical.

pierrelebel · ‎10-17-2013

"you really need a hobby."

I have one. And yes I have an above average understanding of numbers (I used to teach bookkeeping).

It appears you are confusing eBay's revenues with sales by sellers (GMV) - which is the number I quoted (200 million a day)

Once again, do not take my word for it. Take a look at the financial release from yesterday where you see the Gross Volume at $18,000,000,000 for three months or $200,000,000 a day (rounded for your convenience).

You can get the information on eBay: http://www.ebayinc.com/

under Investors relations: http://investor.ebayinc.com/

http://www.ebayinc.com/in_the_news/story/ebay-inc-reports-strong-third-quarter-2013-results

"Gross merchandise volume (GMV), excluding vehicles, increased 13% to $18 billion."

"Please stop lying Pierre. I'm guessing you're an ebay employee with stock options trying to upsell the company to increase your own profits. Shameful. Put up a link backing up your absurd claims, or stop posting this rubbish."

That comment is unwarrented and reflects badly on you.

dipmicro · ‎10-17-2013

I remember those times when 14M items was a lot.

Looking at Alexa traffic measurements, it just seems Ebay popularity is not growing. They seem to be loading more and more "stuff" with no success in bringing more money in.

Visited a flea market couple months ago and there was an older merchant who had several booths combined and pile of electronic stuff, literally piled on a large heap. There was no way I would go through all and spend half hour finding a $3 cable.

I get similar impression from Ebay, despite their efforts to classify and categorize, it seems to costs me more and more time to locate stuff. Half million of those 500M listings is screen protectors, 1.6M is for some kind of battery. 2.5M necklaces and 4.9M rings. Really? Does anyone really want to go through all that to find their item ? Not me.

femmefan1946 · ‎10-17-2013

Apparently you are not a woman, dipmicro.

We revel in that kind of search.

You. Male. Hunter.

Me . Female. Gatherer.

rose-dee · ‎10-17-2013

@louiezlane wrote:

I'm guessing you're an ebay employee with stock options trying to upsell the company to increase your own profits.

Furthermore, I'm sure with any reasonable competition ebay will suffer greatly. It's a horrible company. It's a company that makes up rules as they go along, a company that ships american jobs to the phillipines, and a company that has operated with a monopoly for far too long. Lots of buyers and sellers look forward to the day when another company comes along to offer real competition. You can't be this bad and last forever. If I were you, I'd trade those ebay shares of yours in for something more credibles, more profitable and more ethical.

If you are so vehemently opposed to eBay, why you are even here? Could it be that eBay is actually providing a worthwhile service for you to make some money, as it does for many people, despite its shortcomings?

Unethical companies are a dime a dozen; it's the truly mindful that are rare, and most that I can think of aren't in the retail ecommerce business. EBay is simply a commercial platform with a number of competitors, hardly a monopoly.

I've seen on these discussion boards that Pierre has a thorough and clear understanding of eBay, tempered with a fairly objective view, which is commendable considering how long he's been here on eBay. His experience is deserving of more respect.

rose-dee · ‎10-17-2013

@pierrelebel wrote:
That's right folks.... over 500,000,000 listings on eBay. That is what I call competition for the buyer's money.

Pierre, was there any breakdown given for the broad categories these 1/2 billion listings comprise, or a % increase per category? It would be interesting to know where the majority of these listings are parked.

I have a reason for asking -- in my categories, I believe listings may actually have remained fairly stable over the past 2 or 3 years. The fact that an item I list now gets #2 spot on searches on eBay.com tells me that my categories may not be as swamped with listings as others. There aren't a lot of sewing pattern manufacturers on eBay for example, and I know most of them and what they are up to.

By the way, thanks for posting these sort of updates. Many of us actually appreciate them (and you).

And yes, I have a hobby too (before I get asked).

rose-dee · ‎10-18-2013

@femmefan1946 wrote:
Apparently you are not a woman, dipmicro.
We revel in that kind of search.

You. Male. Hunter.
Me . Female. Gatherer.

Too droll! LOLOLOLOLOLOL

Which is why we women can spend 4 hours in the lingerie department of a big store pawing over a seemingly endless array of similar merchandise while our menfolk doze off in hidden corners.

I always thought The Bay should put in a few of those lazy-boy type chairs and a TV screen in the aforesaid corners for our male companions to find respite. Probably a cold beer or two wouldn't hurt either...I think those chairs have slots for beer cans???

thebarterersdog · ‎10-18-2013

Competition is healthy. I've heard competitors finish that statement with "as long as it's on a level playing field...." I suppose 'what" is considered level could be debated until the cows come home. My greater eBay wonderment is about these larger company sellers that eBay is enticing here lately, and if their presence here is shoving the small store seller out the door or perhaps, at least to the end of the search lists conducted by buyers looking for similar products offered by both.

If so, then I would guess that this factor plays a substantial part in eBay's 'booming' profit margins and why sales are slow for the latter seller. Hard to compete with these giants when you are on page 20 or higher compared to pages 1 to 10.

In the end, all sellers must do and operate their stores the best way that serves each individual's purposes, be it a full or part-time occupation on eBay. But with restrictions on small sellers' budgets, it's tough to make a living against these giants on eBay lately. Perhaps, why many sellers have other avenues for revenue while selling on eBay.

It would be nice if you would see the little sellers at the front of the search lists as they do not have the $$ to afford the same marketing and advertising budgets that the giant sellers do. Perhaps this is what is meant as "levelling the playing field?"

Janet and Paul

art-in-the-making · ‎10-18-2013

re dipmicro's point about Alexa ratings...

Alexa being part of Amazon makes it extremely hard to accept what they say about ebay, paypal or amzn for that matter.

pierrelebel · ‎10-18-2013

"was there any breakdown given for the broad categories these 1/2 billion listings comprise"

No.

However, going from memory, in 1998 there were about 2,200 (that is two thousand two hundred) auction listings for Canadian stamps. Total you find over 133,000 listings (over 86% at fixed price)

At that time, eBay offered 2,500 stamp listings under British Commonwealth. Today you find 319,000 listings (over 89% at fixed price).

As stated earlier, the main reason for the huge increase in the number of listings is the relatively very low cost to list today compared to five, ten or fifteen years ago.

While it is not always possible to look in the rearview morror, Make a note today of listings (both auction and fixed price) in some sub-categories of interest to you. Look at these numbers a year, two years. five years from now and compare to what you find at that time.