posted on May 12, 2001 09:02:25 AM new
According to medved quote traker, eBay listings peaked at 6.3 million about Dec 1 2000 (after several years of solid growth) and have been in a steady slide ever since. This week the peak was 5.5 million.
With yet another anti-seller policy announced this week, I'd look for a continuing slide.
posted on May 12, 2001 09:18:04 AM new
This is not all bad news over the winter Just before and after Xmas when ebay listing dropped to around 3.6 million my sales tripled.
after january when they started to rise again sales dropped off weekly the lower there count the better sales get for those who are listing.
posted on May 12, 2001 10:19:03 AM new
What is the ratio of listings that have bids on them though. That's what counts, not how many sellers are listing merchandise and funding ebay's whim today.
posted on May 12, 2001 06:14:47 PM new
Where did I see this folks? Here at AW I thought. A rating chart on Online auctions that had ebay rated a high 4 on available merchandise and a lower 3 on ....BIDS! Wrong numbers to have from a sellers standpoint me thinks!
posted on May 12, 2001 07:42:16 PM new
What were the listings a year ago? I would assume there is a cyclical effect in ebay listings, such that people "save up" listings for the holiday season (not sure about this, wonder if we can find some stats by month for the past year or so?).
If such a cyclical effect is real, then the "slide" from 6.3 to 5.5 might not be a "slide" at all.
It would also be interesting, if there is a slide in *listings*, to try and see where they are. With all the past year's fee increases, one wonders if the "$5 and under" category took a beating, and if so, how much profit ebay makes from this segment.
Of all the possible ways to measure an auction, the gross number of listings isn't that good. $ value, or # of items sold, would be a better gauge of health.
posted on May 13, 2001 02:13:10 AM new
If you look at the "All Data" chart on the website (URL above), you'll see that listings dropped substantially in December of '99, but picked back up completely in January '00. This past December 2000, listings REALLY, REALLY dropped, but when they picked back up in January, they never made it up to the pre-drop level....and they've been slowly declining ever since.
posted on May 13, 2001 06:34:33 PM new
I don't think the picture is as clearcut as perhaps it is being portrayed here.
For example, at the end of 1999, ebay listings dropped by a third (3.7M to 2.4M), before recovering about a month later.
At the end of 2000, listings dropped by no more than a third as well, same as the prior year.
In 1999, in the spring, there was a "mini-slump", where listings fell by 20% and didn't grow substantially above the inital level again until september.
It isn't clear to me that we aren't in exactly the same "mini-slump" (ebay has fallen more like by only 10%)...it certainly looks worse on the graph, but I think the scale of the graph isn't conducive to comparing year-to-year trends.
I do agree that there isn't much evidence of growth, but this generally isn't their period for growth. I think its too soon to tell.
None of which, of course, addressed my earlier point that "quality of listing" counts much more than quantity. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if "junk" was being squeezed out of the gross ebay listings due to the increase in fees.
Ebay could be making more money overall - losing some low-profit (or no profit) listings and gaining more profit on the remaining ones.
Of course, it would be hard for ebay to sustain their earlier growth, so falling growth is kind of to be expected, one way or the other, unless they start recruiting the larger sellers..which they seem to have.
Interesting numbers, it will be fun to watch them over the upcoming months!
posted on May 13, 2001 06:56:49 PM new
It would be interesting to know when ebay added various international sites. AND whether this chart includes international listings. If it does, IMO the current several month long drop is even more stunning.
I agree, cdn that it makes no sense to continue to harass, alienate and make it more difficult for sellers in the way ebay is doing. Of course, if the plan is to weed out low performers (profitability-wise for ebay), they're probably succeeding.
posted on May 14, 2001 12:45:20 AM new
The eBay listing count now also includes double-listed items (one item listed in two categories), so that fact should also be taken into consideration when evaluating the count. TAG estimates the double-category-items at 6% of the total auction, but I don't know if eBay has ever released the exact average figure to the public.
Common sense would tell you that less low-end items are being listed now, with higher listing fees, but the two MOST IMPORTANT figures are still unknown---the percentage of listings that sell successfully, and the average selling price. I also think very expensive items like Sun's servers and automobiles should not be included in those two figures, since they skew the results for the remaining 99.9999% of the Auction.
posted on May 14, 2001 08:43:18 AM new
Some of the decline has to do with the new restrictions on dutch auctions.
Spammers selling the BANNED CD to make a FORTUNE ON EBAY even though that seller has 2 feedbacks total lol.
Nobodies showing up with a new account on a bad credit card listing dozens of "featured auctions" for lose 30 pounds in 5 days potions among other shady items.
now that you need I think 50 positives?? to sell dutch auctions has detered some of the redundant spam.
At least I have noticed a nice DROP in those kinds of listings.
http://www.lovepotions.net
posted on May 14, 2001 09:29:52 PM new
granee- Right On! The link clearly shows a significant drop in listings, translation is lack of buyer bidding!!!
