Amazon and eBay in Satisfaction Survey

Super busy this week but wanted to throw a couple of news items out there:

• Gene Munster @ PJC has an interesting piece out Wednesday on eBay (EBAY) (and Amazon (AMZN) - check amazon strategies for details on that one.). Every quarter they do a survey of ecommerce shoppers (315 in this survey).
• • This quarter, 13% of buyers said they like to buy with the auction format vs. 19% a quarter ago and 23% in Sept. of 2008.
  • 69% of eBay shoppers were 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied' with their experience vs. 71% last Q and 74% in Q408. FYI Amazon is at 83% in the survey.
  • If eBay were to get a DSR for this, by my calcs they'd get a 3.45 and have to kick themselves off the site ;-)
  • In all seriousness, these two data points are concerning on a number of levels, but primarily:
  • I've long posited that the eBay brand is synonymous with auctions. Thus auction fatigue = eBay fatigue. Also while eBay is transitioning to fixed price as quickly as possible, 40% of eBay's bottom line is generated from the auction platform that is rapidly losing interest with the consumer.
  • It's unusual that Gene's satisfaction levels are showing a decline, while eBay is out telling the world their NPS scores are on the rise and that sellers with DSRs > 4.8 are now a big chunk of the GMV.
  • It's a small sample size, but what do you guys think - are auctions dead in the mind of consumers? Are consumers increasingly dissatisfied with eBay transactions?
• eBay UK has put out their quarterly Online Busines Index where they survey sellers and give an update on the eBay UK market. I did a quick scan and this report makes seem pretty rosy in the ole' UK:
• • This report breaks down the EU (UK, DE, FR and IT) GMV for eBay which is the first time I've seen that in print. They say that DE is €3.1b/yr, UK is €1.9b/yr, FR is €341m/yr and IT is €273m/yr. Which pegs eBay's EU GMV At €5.7b.
  • 65% of UK retailers are expecting orders to be up this Christmas
  • Price pressure is off, margins are up and the sales outlook is bright
  • Maybe they did this survey during that week in the UK where it's actually sunny ;-)
  • Thanks to Mark@Dangleberry for the tip on this one.
• Finally, I love the Doors and have been a Weird Al fan (gosh should I admit this in a public blog?) since I was literally 15. Wel, Weird Al has a new song out called Craigslist that is a brilliant spoof of the Doors, but with a fun ecommerce twist. I mention this here because I'm sure in the eBay world we all remember the excitement when Weird Al captured the eBay phenomena with his song 'eBay' which was a parody of a backstreet boys song. I don't think the Weird Al eBay song is on youtube (that I can find), but here's a link to the new craigslist song.
• • Weird Al's move to Craigslist signals that the site is officially mainstream now and I believe has replaced that 'seredendipitous random stuff' buying/selling in consumers heart. I've long said that eBay faces a squeeze play from Craigslist at the bottom with the FSBO crowd and Amazon at the top. This is another datapoint that supports that.

Disclosure: I am long Amazon and Google. eBay is an investor in ChannelAdvisor.

Comments

[rrtzmd:]

..."the auction platform that is rapidly losing interest with the consumer."...I don't agree...what consumers are tiring off is Ebay's version of auctions...Ebay has mucked and muddled with the auction process so much -- tacking on more fees, adding more rules, making more demands...average individuals simply don't find it worth the effort to offer things at auction...those that stick with Ebay are mostly professional "auctioners" -- people doing it full-time listing mountains of junk and trying to extract retail prices...REAL auction consumers aren't interested in that...they enjoy the search for "treasure" as well as the opportunity to save significant amounts of money...Ebay isn't "fun" anymore...

Jun 24 01:33 PM

[Vermonter43:]

I agree with rrtzmd. Auctions of the unique and interesting still bring out the "old" eBayers looking for treasure. Trouble with the "new" eBay is that the treasures sellers used to be happy to offer are now being stolen by scammers through PAYPAL. Scamming buyers bid on an item, win it, pay with PAYPAL, file a complaint (often before the item even arrives at the buyer's address), get a refund, and keep the seller's merchandise when it arrives. Buyer gets back his money AND keeps the item; seller loses the item AND gets a chargeback in his PAYPAL account. If eBay truly wants to see more and BETTER auctions, get rid of mandatory PAYPAL and bring back payment by check and money orders. By the way, June is fast disappearing and soon eBay will announce its 2nd quarter 2009 results. Donahoe will doubtless announce another "the dog ate my homework" quarterly results. It's always the fault of "macro economic" conditions. Bad, Bad dog "macro economics!" Come on, JD, bring back checks and money orders (at least in the "COLLECTIBLES" category) and watch what happens to auctions. Seems morally repugnant to me that people selling smut in "Adult" categories can accept paper payments, but a collector selling World War 2 medals, flags, and uniform patches can only accept PAYPAL or its clones. "Shop Victoriously !!"

Jun 24 04:59 PM

[KevinH:]

I totally agree with the previous 2 comments. I used to go look on E*Bay for just about everything that I wanted to buy online ... and usually found something that was competitive or better priced than I could find it on a online retailer. I've stopped this entirely for about the last year or so becasue I never find what I want on E*Bay anymore. I think this is becasue there has been a big drop off of sellers and goods due to the messed up business practices of E*Bay. It's both sad and ridiculous.

Jun 24 06:56 PM

[Here's How:]

Scot,
Sweetheart, Babydoll...
It is NOT AUCTION FATIGUE.
It's that People Do NOT want to be FORCED to used PayPal, which at this point, is the ONLY payment option on *bay.
Checks and Money Orders RULE.
When *bay made the decision to VIOLATE THE SHERMAN ACT in Disallowing Checks and Money Orders, the people went away.
Now, Start at the top of this entry and READ IT AGAIN and AGAIN until it Sinks In darling.
Now that folks have found my website, my business is on the way back up. I will Only accept Money Orders, Checks, and Western Union. ALL denied us by *bay.
*bay screwed itself to death.
No great loss. Now every dime is Profit for ME :o)
nymartsDOTcom

Jun 24 10:15 PM

[arlin:]

The Powers That Be at eBay are complicit in destroying the auction business,and are responsible for the current mess that is eBay.
eBay was never conceived to be another Amazon,another online site that sold the same stuff as all the others.eBay is rapidly loosing their "uniqueness",as well as those sellers who have contributed to it.It must not be forgotten that eBay did this to themselves.
All of the posts above are true and accurate,IMO.

Jun 25 09:18 AM

[fatseal:]

I love auctions, Love love love auctions, live auctions, silent auctions ebay auctions. The problem is ebay has no selection anymore, in their rush to be Walmartazon and their desire to sell the dregs of big box retailers overstocks, shelf pulls and crap, they want to be the down market Overstock of the world. Prices are high and selection is poor because small time sellers can pay less fees on craigslist or at a local auction, which is where I sell my stuff now. They want to be a liquidator, they want to improve, but they don't really monitor the complaints they receive, too many sellers have crappy feedback, bad service and even sell fakes, but if they are large sellers their auctions rarely get pulled and that leads to a lack of satisfaction with ebay. Too many fakes, hundreds of listings of the same low quality, low cost items, a lack of one of a kind items and an increase in fees for casual sellers has made ebay redundant. You can find cooler stuff for better prices on Amazon, Craigslist, or your local auction or flea market.

Jun 25 10:29 AM

[Patricia013:]

So the consumers are tiring of auctions LOL....THAT'S Ebay pap that they are smearing everywhere they go. Truth is Ebay is burying auctions and not giving them front and center exposure. They are making it so difficult for the small sellers who list their wares in auctions! They are hell-bent on making the site as boring and as unexciting as the dirty old Sears catalog that used to hang on a hook in the outhouse with most of its pages torn out! If that's what they want, so be it. They shouldn't cry when they see sales drop and see their business go down the drain!

Jun 25 11:45 AM

[jay dee:]

I sure agree with rrtxmd : Yes the endless frigging around on ebay's part the last few years has so disenabled ebay as an online selling medium that you just don't want to bother anymore.

The mandatory Pay pal extortion pretty well finished it off for me.

Right now ebay Canada has a monthly special : offering 5 free auction listings every 30 days - I CAN'T BE BOTHERED !!

When are these ebay lackeys (financial analysts) going to get it through their heads that EBAY IS AND HAS TOTALLY F'D UP and that the economy excuse blah blah is just unbelievably convenient for Teflon Donahoe to get himself off the hook for creating this situation.


On Jun 24 01:33 PM rrtzmd wrote:

> ..."the auction platform that is rapidly losing interest with the
> consumer."...I don't agree...what consumers are tiring off is Ebay's
> version of auctions...Ebay has mucked and muddled with the auction
> process so much -- tacking on more fees, adding more rules, making
> more demands...average individuals simply don't find it worth the
> effort to offer things at auction...those that stick with Ebay are
> mostly professional "auctioners" -- people doing it full-time listing
> mountains of junk and trying to extract retail prices...REAL auction
> consumers aren't interested in that...they enjoy the search for "treasure"
> as well as the opportunity to save significant amounts of money...Ebay
> isn't "fun" anymore...

Jun 25 12:44 PM

[Philip Cohen:]

Shill Bidding on eBay: A Case Study

For anyone who buys on eBay, a detailed case study of a classic instance of blatant shill bidding and the abuse of eBay’s proxy bidding system—all exacerbated by eBay’s introduction of “hidden bidders”—and a detailed comment on eBay’s attitude thereto, at www.auctionbytes.com/f...

Jun 25 06:31 PM

[Philip Cohen:]

I think that the only real question is, can the "turkey," Donahoe, possibly survive another Xmas?

I look forward to the June quarter financials!

Jun 25 06:45 PM

[JHTcycles:]

So negative, ya'll!! I score deals on ebay CONSTANTLY! Examples: needed welding regulator last week, $60 to $90 locally; $35 to my door from ebay seller. Adjustable shocks for my truck? $480 locally, $330 to my door...you know where! I wanted to try the new "fat skiis" earlier this year; $600 Black Diamonds for $190, and they came to my door! In 3 years only 1 deal gone bad, and Pay Pal covered the cost completely...ya'll can go elsewhere if you want...more deals for me!
JHT

Jun 26 12:07 AM

[Tony P.:]

Scot,

You've used the site since its heydays, you know that ebay has done this thing to Auctions, themselves.

For example, an upcoming "seller perk" is the inability of a non-payer to leave feedback. But, it's only going to be implemented for Fixed Price. ONLY FP.

Exactly what logical reason could be behind excluding auctions from that small degree of protection for sellers? There isn't one. And this is just one example of many more to come.

It's called Steering. Ebay is good at it, too. It's the MO behind the "paypal is the safest payment method" baloney. (aka vertical antitrust violation)

The categories enjoying the highest STR - coins, antiques, electronics - some hitting over 70% - do IT with auctions. That clearly shows the viability of the auction format - almost every dammed thing thrown out there is scooped up!

Meanwhile, all of the BIN/FP listings "enjoy" a miserable STR - most hover around 15-20% , with a high in the 30% range for just a couple of categories.

The only reason that FP constitutes appr. 60% of revenue is due to the volume of FP. It takes 25 FP listings to equal the revenue generated by a single auction listing, on average.

Just imagine how much better things would be if Auction sellers were to get a perk or two, every once in a while. While ebay does everything within its power to undermine the auction format, they run around with this perplexed look on their faces, claiming that auctions are dying.

No, they're not dying, not with a 70% STR rate they're not. JD is killing them and hiding the knife behind his back.

Jun 26 11:49 AM

[Patricia013:]

"No, they're not dying, not with a 70% STR rate they're not. JD is killing them and hiding the knife behind his back. "

Doesn't take much brain power to realize if JD wants to change Ebay's business model to one that is more retail/liquidator fixed price listings then he's going to do all in his power to discourage auctions...and to heck with the money he's losing on them. I just have to wonder where the board of directors is in all this. If they're eating up JD's baloney then there is no hope for Ebay.

Jun 26 06:58 PM

[jay dee:]

JHT, yep ebay is good for some of you buyers, certainly not the saps (ebay sellers) who get the "fun" of giving stuff away and paying up the whazoo for that "opportunity" that ebay provides them with.
You ain't going to get to put it up my butt like ebay would like you to believe - just so ebay can shylock their cut out of me also.

Jun 27 12:44 AM