eBay 2Q 2019 results are in: Marketplace Sales down 1% for the second quarter in a row

[orangehound]

eBay's financial reports are here:  https://investors.ebayinc.com/financial-information/financial-summary/default.aspx

For those who want a quick summary, eBay reported that the second quarter sales on the eBay marketplace are down 1% (when you account for foreign exchange rates) when compared to the same period in 2018.  

That was similar to what was reported in the first quarter of this year ... that is, sales down 1%.

So, while other marketplaces are seeing year-over-year increases of 20-50%, eBay treads water.   This means eBay is losing market share.

[greg5000]

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@orangehound wrote:

eBay's financial reports are here:  https://investors.ebayinc.com/financial-information/financial-summary/default.aspx

For those who want a quick summary, eBay reported that the second quarter sales on the eBay marketplace are down 1% (when you account for foreign exchange rates) when compared to the same period in 2018.  

That was similar to what was reported in the first quarter of this year ... that is, sales down 1%.

So, while other marketplaces are seeing year-over-year increases of 20-50%, eBay treads water.   This means eBay is losing market share.

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Sounds about right.

[orangehound]

There are some other numbers in this report that may have impacts on sellers:

1. While sales levels are nearly stagnant, the user base continues to grow at 4% year over year ... that is, active users are spending less per capita.   I'm assuming this is because the China seller base with its lower prices is increasing their share of the sales ... I am curious how the USA portion of GMV is doing.
2. With stagnant revenue growth, this is going to put more and more pressure on eBay to milk sellers for more money ... keep in mind, eBay's corporate agenda is to grow profit, not necessarily sales.  So if sales are flat, and they want to increase profit, this tells us that eBay will be seeking more ways to increase their profits from our sales ... hopefully, this will come from increasing participation in managed payments and promoted listings (and not fee increases).

[luckythewinner]

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@orangehound wrote:

This means eBay is losing market share.

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It also means that the argument that eBay as a venue is seeing a huge drop in sales is just not holding up, and sellers will have to look elsewhere for an explanation.

[membersinceaug2001]

I suppose every seller could be seeing less sales, but with the mass amount of sellers overall, ebay isn't affected as much.

[laurabeardsley]

Smoke and Mirrors

[nc-daydreamer]

I'm afraid that eBay has put on cement shoes and a weighted diver's belt - then jumped into an ocean off of a boat that was floating well - and then has the nerve to be surprised when they begin to drown.  I wonder if they were to start listening to sellers instead of the money grabbers in the board room, if they can be resuscitated? 

[pburn]

In regard to your #1, I want to clarify that your phrase "user base" was reported as "buyers" in the pdf, not a mix of buyers + sellers:

"In the second quarter, eBay grew active buyers by 4% across its platforms, for a total of 182 million global active buyers."

So, rather than buyers deserting eBay like rats, etc., global active buyer numbers have actually increased by 4% for two quarters in a row: 179 million buyers reported at the end of FY2018, up to 180 million at the end of 1Q-2019, and up to 182 million at the close of 2Q-2019. Global active buyers are reported as up from 175 million since June 30, 2018.

I'm clarifying only about the number of active global buyers, not about any other figures in your post or in the release.

[klhmdg]

If eBay listened to the sellers and backed them, also got rid of the Chinese scam sellers..they would have more profits.

Sellers should be able to run their stores as they see fit. If the seller says no returns, eBay should not override unless it comes from eBays pockets.

If a buyer wants the option to return.... choose another seller.

If a seller doesn’t have a store they are stuck with whatever new rule eBay trots out.

Think if the people signing up for a store.

There are so many ways they could have grown this platform and all I see is they keep trying to take more from sellers.... if there are no small to midrange sellers... eBay will soon be like AOL

[m60driver]

The report shows  US GMV is stagnant, down fractionally, and down 5% year to year. 

[mam98031]

Which clearly shows that the change in listing formats did not have the disastrous affect on sales as many expected.  So that is at least some good news.  

Some of the issues with sales could be Ebay's curbing advertising.  Our GMV and Ebay's sales do not have a big difference between now and this time last year.  And we are up a bit from 2017 and 2016.

So while we still have a whole lot of room for improvement, it isn't as awful as some were predicting.

[threshold.sales.group]

+1, Yes exactly. 

Plus, in context the e commerce segment as a whole is still growing at double digits.  

[uncseniorsportsfan]

The key word is "global" when it comes to increase in buyers.   eBay has been putting a lot of effort in India recently.   Many US sellers aren't interested in going global.   

[coolections]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@orangehound wrote:

This means eBay is losing market share.

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It also means that the argument that eBay as a venue is seeing a huge drop in sales is just not holding up, and sellers will have to look elsewhere for an explanation.

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You are exactly right. In fact 1% drop is peanuts. Tomorrow will tell as the pre market is up 6% for tomorrows opening bell.

[uncseniorsportsfan]

In addition, over 940,000 sellers leveraged the company’s first-party advertising to promote over 250 million listings, yielding $89 million in revenue.   

Plus Stub Hub and classified revenues were both up as was revenue from managed payments.   

Marketplace breakdown details don't seem to be available yet.  As a US seller I am very interested in the GMV and sales breakdown by US vs other countries.