Interesting AI overview of ebay

[animal-house-8]

Don't shoot the messager, I just thought it was interesting and maybe why traffic counts have be falling.

AI Overview

eBay has experienced a decline in both website traffic and active buyers in recent years. The mobile app, while popular, has seen fewer downloads since 2020. This trend is attributed to factors like high fees, slower innovation, and a preference for fixed-price listings on other platforms. 

Elaboration:

• Declining Traffic:

  Statista reports a decrease in website traffic on both mobile and desktop devices. 
• Fewer Active Buyers:

  The eBay Community indicates a drop in the number of active buyers. 
• App Downloads Decline:

  Business of Apps notes that while eBay mobile app downloads were high in 2020, they have since decreased. 
• Factors Contributing to Decline:

  • High Fees: eBay's reputation for high fees compared to competitors has led to dissatisfaction among sellers. 
  • Lack of Innovation: Some sellers perceive slower innovation and less attention to the platform's features. 
  • Preference for Fixed Prices: The decline in the popularity of auctions, with users favoring fixed-price listings on other platforms, has also impacted eBay. 

[paraquip]

There are many more moving parts to this is you looks at ebay's quarterly results that are published.

While the stocks have had its ups and downs Ebay is a profitable company. Their strategy is quite simple.

Sell car parts and sneakers that both have massive selling fees and 30% of ebay sales.   Some car parts like 50%.   Run sellers off the site that only pay selling fees with little to no advertising to focus on the higher profit seller.   While reducing sellers, cut staff and implement AI for customer support.

Perfect plan for them.

HK

[toysaver]

I seriously doubt eBay shares internal traffic reports with Statista or any business information with outside agencies.  Statista basically uses AI to generate their reports so this is a double dose of AI. 

[chapeau-noir]

I'm not sure how much auctions play into it, though - auctions are such a tiny slice of eBay's pie at this point.

Also, 2020 was when eBay started a big boom due to the pandemic so it's no wonder there were so many downloads of its app. Of course, the entire growth has been squandered and then some, but I believe Etsy hs kind of run into a wall, too.

I just think increasing competition and declining interest in online sales has something to do with it. Our stores locally are busy, and I know my young nieces and nephews prefer to go to physical stores to purchase, and I know that their generation particularly prefers in-store shopping.

[luckythewinner]

High Fees: eBay's reputation for high fees compared to competitors has led to dissatisfaction among sellers.

There are 1.5 billion listed here, and buyers do not give a hoot about "dissatisfaction among sellers". They care about items listed, of which there are oodles. I don't see the connection to website traffic and active buyers. 

Lack of Innovation: Some sellers perceive slower innovation and less attention to the platform's features.

Again, there are 1.5 billion listed here, and buyers do not give a hoot about "seller perception of innovation".  They care about items listed, of which there are oodles. Again, I don't see the connection to website traffic and active buyers. 

Preference for Fixed Prices: The decline in the popularity of auctions, with users favoring fixed-price listings on other platforms, has also impacted eBay.

There are 1.5 billion listed here, and almost 90% of them are fixed price. Once again, I see flawed logic. 

IMHO eBay is seeing a decline in users and traffic because of competition and the maturing of ecommerce. In addition to competing venues (Amazon, Etsy, etc.) and specialized niche venues (Reverb, Discogs, etc.) every company under the sun now has a website you can order from. That was not true a decade ago. 

[inhawaii]

This reminded me...

Did you see the recent video of the new Secretary of Education at a conference to discuss AI in schools?

She kept calling it "A-1" instead of "AI".   Hilarious.

[chapeau-noir]

A.1. immediately came out with a funny ad over that, too. Someone quipped that in education, there's a lot at steak.

She just kept nattering on and on about "A-1" - I expect the people she was talking to didn't know where to look. Like the person I recall once suavely discussing their high-end fashion abattoir - it was hard to keep a straight face - I recall my eyes were probably bulging, through.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Ebay is the best online marketplace for selling to collectors of most things that people collect.

There are fewer collectors today than there were in the past for many types of collectible.

Ebay is one of the worst sites for selling still in production consumer goods on the Internet. Between customer/seller trust issues, the lack of a real warranty honored by many manufacturers and higher prices, Ebay draws a small segment of buyers who are mostly clueless about what they are buying and what they should be paying for it.

Ebay has admitted to the drop off in its sales of these products, and its inability to compete with bigger e-commerce sites.

EBay was a major destination for internet users in its earlier years when there was far less to entertain internet users. The typical Ebay user spend far less time on the site, and we all see some symptoms of the lack of user engagement. These can include the sells on one big auction, less traffic to our listings or long delays between when a buyer gets his shipment and leaves FB.

I used to buy my cheap Chinese electronics on Ebay, it was cheaper than buying on Amazon. Now Temu blows Ebay prices away. These were products that were so cheap that a warranty didn't matter because if they failed after 30 days, I just ordered another. Temu sellers are fulfilling orders faster than Ebay sellers of this crud, and if the product is DOA getting refunded is a lot faster.

Does this mean Ebay is going to fail? Unlikely, but Ebay sellers who sell the wrong stuff will fail.

I am not claiming to know what sellers should sell. I sell what I like buying and usually meet my goals. But I do not need the money. I do it because some of the highlights of my month are the time I spend buying. I buy from people I like, who know me and it is a social as well as a business activity.

Ebay shareholders are not making a lot of money on me, I am not making a lot of money, nor need I.

As for AI and Ebay. The old saying "Garbage In/Garbage Out" applies. Most of the data other than Ebay quarterly reports are second hand refuse.

[tarotfindsandmore]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

A.1. immediately came out with a funny ad over that, too. Someone quipped that in education, there's a lot at steak.

She just kept nattering on and on about "A-1" - I expect the people she was talking to didn't know where to look. Like the person I recall once suavely discussing their high-end fashion abattoir - it was hard to keep a straight face - I recall my eyes were probably bulging, through.

---

??? The first thing that comes to mind is the DVD cover of the first season of American Horror Story.  Or  maybe something more Texas Chainsaw Massacre with a chic pair of overalls and leather apron...

What was the person trying to say?

[tarotfindsandmore]

I don't think we can reasonably compare anything to 2020.  I feel bad for folks who thought they were going to strike it rich here based on 2020-2022 sales.

[mam98031]

Compare anything to the Pandemic years and your numbers will be wrong.  Even AI will be wrong.

As to fees.  It is likely saying that because it will find so many posters saying that all the time.  While Ebay is not the cheapest site like this, it also is not the most expensive.  But if fees are important to you, you can find other sites to sell on for a lower fee.  You may or may not get the same or more sales, but the sites do exist.

Auctions on this site are between 15-18% of the couple Billion active listings.  So sellers are well aware that fixed price listings usually work better.  There are however a few categories where auctions still work well in.

[chapeau-noir]

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@tarotfindsandmore wrote:

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

A.1. immediately came out with a funny ad over that, too. Someone quipped that in education, there's a lot at steak.

She just kept nattering on and on about "A-1" - I expect the people she was talking to didn't know where to look. Like the person I recall once suavely discussing their high-end fashion abattoir - it was hard to keep a straight face - I recall my eyes were probably bulging, through.

---

??? The first thing that comes to mind is the DVD cover of the first season of American Horror Story.  Or  maybe something more Texas Chainsaw Massacre with a chic pair of overalls and leather apron...

What was the person trying to say?

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Atelier.