EBay Reporting Sales Gains 23 comments
an article to
-
Font Size:
-
Print
- TweetThis
Bloomberg.com on Wednesday highlighted the turnaround in sales for Ebay's (EBAY) online marketplace in its Chart of the Day.
The firm that pioneered the online auction process has reported sales declines for fixed-price items for at least twelve consecutive months dating back to July 2008 (the first month it was tracked by ChannelAdvisor), but retailers selling their goods on EBay have seen sales tick up in the past two months. While this study is not comprehensive of all merchants on Ebay, it is representative of an important step in the progression of EBay from an auction house to a a site that sells fixed-price items as well.
Sales growth among the 3,000 merchants ChannelAdvisor tracks was driven by fixed-price sales, an area EBay Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe has emphasized as he tries to move the company beyond its roots as an auctioneer. EBay has reported three straight quarters of falling revenue as buyers and sellers fled to rival sites.
“It appears that EBay’s transition from a primarily auction format to a fixed-price format is finally at the point where the growth in fixed-price is making up for the decline in auction format, yielding an overall increase,” ChannelAdvisor CEO Scot Wingo said. — Bloomberg.com 10/7/2009 Chart of the Day
Consensus analysts’ estimates are calling for overall revenue growth from EBay of less than 1% in the third quarter. The rise of fixed-price items is an encouraging trend as EBay’s auction business has started to drift away to lower cost competitors. Whether this strategy will in fact be a winner for EBay is too early to tell, but analysts are becoming more bullish on the stock. According to Yahoo Finance, upgrades outnumber downgrades 6 to 0 in the last six months, and earnings estimates for this year and the next are both trending higher.
At Ockham, we continue to believe that EBay is Greatly Undervalued at the current price level. EBAY has been beaten down by the market, as there have been legitimate questions about the business model, but the company is starting to show that it is diversifying its business away from an auctioneer to a complete e-commerce powerhouse.
For some time now, EBay has seemed sort of adrift at sea. They undoubtedly have productive assets in the online marketplace and Paypal payment processing, as well as high-potential assets like Skype. Now, evidence has started to emerge that EBay’s somewhat painful transition is starting to work out, and that can only be good news for EBay investors.
Related Articles
|
-
The Seeking Alpha 100
See allThe top 100 stock
market authors
selected for publication
Seeking Alpha 100 » -
Fastest Climbers
Authors with the largest
increase in followers
in the last 7 days-
1
TraderMark
-
2
David Fry
-
3
Peter Schiff
-
4
Paco Ahlgren
-
5
Ashraf Laidi
Fastest Climbers » -
1
-
Top Commenters
Top commenters,See all
as ranked by their peers
Top Commenters » -
Top Instabloggers
The 100 most active
Instabloggers.-
1
David Fry
-
2
TraderMark
-
3
Don Dion
-
4
Cliff Wachtel
-
5
Mike Havrilla
Top Instabloggers » -
1
-
Top StockTalkers
Top
StockTalkers.-
1
David Fry
-
2
Cliff Wachtel
-
3
Mike Havrilla
-
4
David White
-
5
Hedged In
Top StockTalkers » -
1
He was all "And, And, And.....There's, there's, there's....if, if, if,.....it was, it was, it was......"
Holy Cow, this guy is a Walking BREAKDOWN.
He is in NO CONDITION to be out of the looney bin.
And, some more food for thought …
Shill Bidding on eBay: Case Study #2
Shining some light on the more sophisticated and therefore harder to detect shill bidding activity by some “professional” sellers on eBay auctions
This time a spreadsheet analysis of multiple auctions, from some "professional" sellers from the US and Australia. Needless to say the analysis demonstrates, once again, that, contrary to eBay's claims, shill bidding by many “professional” sellers is rampant on eBay auctions. The full comment and spreadsheet download links at:
www.auctionbytes.com/f...
And, the earlier case study of blatantly naïve shill bidding at:
www.auctionbytes.com/f...
And my even earlier ramblings on the matter of “hidden bidders”, “A comment on eBay’s introduction of absolute anonymity for (shill) bidders” at:
www.auctionbytes.com/f...
A most disingenuous, unscrupulous, criminal organisation—eBay that is.
www.cnn.com/2009/LIVIN...
Looks like there are plenty of Sellers stepping into the places of those who have left. eBay made a business decision to purge Sellers who represented a poor ROI, seems it's working for them.
You can't lie about Revenue with out serious consequences these days. eBay has a Golden reputation on the Street for their Accounting Practices. You people are really starting to have stretch your sob story. Oh and eBay stock is up yet again. 30 after earnings? Maybe....
Tell us baby cakes,
What do YOU sell on Ebay ?
hhmmMMMM?
On Oct 08 12:03 PM eBay +++ wrote:
> Oh, look at this someone is successful on eBay? It must be just
> SPIN right?
> www.cnn.com/2009/LIVIN...
>
>
> Looks like there are plenty of Sellers stepping into the places of
> those who have left. eBay made a business decision to purge Sellers
> who represented a poor ROI, seems it's working for them.
>
> You can't lie about Revenue with out serious consequences these days.
> eBay has a Golden reputation on the Street for their Accounting
> Practices. You people are really starting to have stretch your
> sob story. Oh and eBay stock is up yet again. 30 after earnings?
> Maybe....
I'm mostly a buyer on eBay and happen to be a big fan as I've gotten some very good deals, but I have sold too. hhmmMMMM?
Then Your NOT an Ebay Customer.
Your opinion on selling DOES NOT COUNT.
On Oct 08 11:10 PM eBay +++ wrote:
> NYM Arts,
> I'm mostly a buyer on eBay and happen to be a big fan as I've gotten
> some very good deals, but I have sold too. hhmmMMMM?
Amazon is up today.
eBay is down today.
Where is that expert eBay+++ to explain what is going on here?
Bob C, how much is eBay up this year?
> Bob C, how much is eBay up this year?
Everything is UP this year.
I can even stand to look at my 401k again.
Better dump those eBay shares soon.
Sure Babe, I can read just fine. Can You ?
I Refuse to sell on Ebay anymore.
Q: Do you prefer to buy items made in foriegn countries, or do you Prefer to support your fellow American ?
Q: Present Ebay Rules NOT withstanding, Would you skip any seller that only takes checks and money orders and does NOT offer PayPal? If so, Why ?
Q: Of the foriegn made items you buy, what percentage are from Asian or Substandard Countries ?
Q: Do you search for the Cheapest prices on your target items, or will you pay a Fair Price knowing the seller has a family to feed ?
See, The BOTTOM LINE is : Ebay purposely put HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Dedicated, Americans into poverty with the "New Rules".
These Ebay Sellers were Hard working, Disabled, Single parents, Elderly, and others that used this income to pay for Health insurance, the mortgage, the Heat, Kids College...All the major necessities of life YOU take for Granted.
Where I come from, any business that does that to people, Must die.
If you are Well Versed in the History of Ebay and the American Ebay Seller, You WILL NOT TOUCH Ebay stock. Exactly like Jews Shunning anti-semites. NO DIFFERENCE.
But if you're a cold- hearted bastard, none of what I just said matters to you.
You probably believe only you deserve to live well at the expense of everyone else. No one else but you and your kind deserves to make enough money to have a decent life despite all the Hard Work the Ebay Sellers do. You look at Ebay Sellers (and the rest of humanity) as your personal slaves. And you may even believe Poverty is a natural part of the "Landscape", which it is not. Poverty is Manufactured by Cold - hearted bastards.
Despite what CEO John Donahoe would have you believe, the Economy DID NOT bring down Ebay. He Did.
Now, Honestly, tell us why, after being enlighten with the FACTS, you believe as you do.
I'll be here for the Duration, as my Hard work, dedication, and Top Quality Invention are no longer needed in the Ebay arena.
Standing - by.....
On Oct 09 01:50 PM Bob C wrote:
> The market is up today.
> Amazon is up today.
> eBay is down today.
>
> Where is that expert eBay+++ to explain what is going on here?
"Bob C, how much is eBay up this year?"
Not nearly what it was before JD took over. A whole 21 months of going down and staying below what it was! Deal with it! Today it closed at 24.42 - I kinda remember it being about 33.00 when JD took over. So, you're celebrating the fact that its regaining some of its 21 months worth of losses??? LOL
eBay is doing fine now and will emerge a very strong Company, but I've said that before...
But I'll answer your questions for entertainment sake....
Q: Do you prefer to buy items made in foriegn countries, or do you Prefer to support your fellow American ?
(I believe in a World economy, best Product at best Price wins. Never try to inflate something that will not survive, adapt fast or move on. Hope you can make sense of that, but I think you'll struggle)
Q: Present Ebay Rules NOT withstanding, Would you skip any seller that only takes checks and money orders and does NOT offer PayPal? If so, Why ?
(I only buy through Paypal, it's safe and extremely fast, efficient, and convenient. There is No better way to purchase on the internet. I have never had an issue with them in 5 years of using their Service, for me they are Outstanding.)
Q: Of the foriegn made items you buy, what percentage are from Asian or Substandard Countries ? (I've made several purchases from China, have yet to have any issues with the products I received. Very inexpensive, not Top quality, but for the things I purchased I didn't need Top quality. Takes about a week longer than purchasing an item in the US, not problem for me)
Q: Do you search for the Cheapest prices on your target items, or will you pay a Fair Price knowing the seller has a family to feed ?
(I don't care about a Sellers need, I have my own needs. If the item comes from a reputable Seller, cheapest Wins)
NYM I think you really need to get in touch with what your Buyers want, from your questions it’s obvious your more concerned with your own needs. That’s a losing strategy. You have to adapt to changes, if you can’t you'll lose. Yes, eBay has changed and it’s not going back, time to change too.
You have no place here.
On Oct 09 07:52 PM eBay +++ wrote:
> NYM, you sound delusional. eBay put them into poverty? Wow really
> off the Deep End.
> But I'll answer your questions for entertainment sake....
> Q: Do you prefer to buy items made in foriegn countries, or do you
> Prefer to support your fellow American ?
> (I believe in a World economy, best Product at best Price wins.
> Never try to inflate something that will not survive, adapt fast
> or move on. Hope you can make sense of that, but I think you'll
> struggle)
> Q: Present Ebay Rules NOT withstanding, Would you skip any seller
> that only takes checks and money orders and does NOT offer PayPal?
> If so, Why ?
> (I only buy through Paypal, it's safe and extremely fast, efficient,
> and convenient. There is No better way to purchase on the internet.
> I have never had an issue with them in 5 years of using their Service,
> for me they are Outstanding.)
> Q: Of the foriegn made items you buy, what percentage are from Asian
> or Substandard Countries ? (I've made several purchases from China,
> have yet to have any issues with the products I received. Very inexpensive,
> not Top quality, but for the things I purchased I didn't need Top
> quality. Takes about a week longer than purchasing an item in the
> US, not problem for me)
> Q: Do you search for the Cheapest prices on your target items, or
> will you pay a Fair Price knowing the seller has a family to feed
> ?
> (I don't care about a Sellers need, I have my own needs. If the
> item comes from a reputable Seller, cheapest Wins)
>
> NYM I think you really need to get in touch with what your Buyers
> want, from your questions it’s obvious your more concerned with your
> own needs. That’s a losing strategy. You have to adapt to changes,
> if you can’t you'll lose. Yes, eBay has changed and it’s not going
> back, time to change too.
"Patricia, the economy fell off the cliff last year, did you miss that? "
Not likely - I was lucky to unload all my stock and roll over my 401K into a nice safe IRA before the big fall. I'm retired so somebody up there was definitely watching over me. BUT almost every other company has recovered nicely. In fact, I'm watching my company stock rise to the highest its been in the past 7 years! Ebay is being dragged up and down by the mood of the stock market. Its making no such large leaps and when the next quarter report comes out there will be a bit of a surge because the numbers will look fairly good...until the analysts start digging and see the declines in core ;-) A company can't continue to manipulate its sellers and hide listings and confuse buyers without it harming their bottom line. What they're doing is madness....like going into Walmart and finding a few things on the shelves with everything else hidden out in the stockroom. Makes absolutely NO sense. So, we'll see my friend...we'll see...
The CEO of eBay is the glue sniffing freak who obviously wanted to be a tech geek instaed of a professional business person who can be responsible for ethical practices/best practices that the sellers on eBay are being held to. It all seems too fixed, with volume dropping off it does not take more than maybe one or two 1,2 ratings to cut a low volume seller off all together. The question is WHY? The answer is that there is no way eBay can afford the money that it takes for real time process to run all of the auctions. The geniuses just decidedto make it a game instead of keeping it real.