Tracking thread - let's see just how much the eBay boycott affects listings

seanq · February 11, 2008 1:33PM

I figured tonite would be the last night anyone who is participating in the boycott next week would want to list any items, as a seven day auction would close on the evening of the 18th, and the boycott is to begin on the 19th. I want to see if the boycott has any teeth, so I went through and found the current number of auctions as of 11:30 EST this evening in a few categories (coins and others). I'll try to watch these numbers and see if they track dramatically downward as the boycott approaches:

Monday Feb 11, 11:30 PM

numismatic categories
Coins & Paper Money: 245,472 auctions
US Coins: 125,303 auctions
Morgan Dollars: 15,749 auctions
Error coins: 1780 auctions

non-numismatic
Jewelry & Watches: 1,106,537 auctions
Sports cards: 395,712 auctions
DVDs & Movies (DVD only): 232,297 auctions
Apple iPods: 10,717 auctions
eBay motors, all Hondas: 1,977 auctions

Feel free to add more to these lists, especially if you've heard of specific categories talking about participating in the boycott.

Sean Reynolds

tmcsr69 · February 11, 2008 1:47PM

This could be interesting, depending on the results. Is there a way to also track sales during this same period?

sonofagunk · February 11, 2008 10:35PM

Numbers might be a little hard to measure since there are a lot of 30 day auctions. Maybe someone can do some kind of search based on listing date?

DenverDave · February 11, 2008 11:12PM

Very interesting, I had a thought along the same lines...

Did an "advanced search" for the word "description" in title & description...

Since all auctions have the word "description" in them, this gives us a total auction count...

I will post totals everyday, we will see...

I think this time it's different...

Last years boycott was just a price increase, so had very little support...

This year it's a Price Increase and much more...

02/12/08 @ 7am = 3,043,907

rgCoinGuy · February 11, 2008 11:17PM

Clothing, Shoes & Accessories (2145494)

Collectibles (1554531)

Just these two categories alone have more than 3M listings, so I don't think the description deal works..... Sorry

DenverDave · February 11, 2008 11:27PM

Wow... guess I will have to rethink this...

I was just using common since, I should know that dose not work with Ebay..."-)

sinin1 · February 11, 2008 11:39PM

a lot of 30 day auctions

actually there are no 30 day auctions on eBay

1 day, 3 day, 5 day 7 day, 10 day are only auction frames available

30 day fixed price store listings (buy-it now with some best offers)

airplanenut · February 11, 2008 11:42PM

<< Wow... guess I will have to rethink this...

I was just using common since, I should know that dose not work with Ebay..."-) >>

You can only search the text inputted by the seller, not what's in the general eBay template.

seanq · February 11, 2008 11:48PM

I had another thought last night - I wonder how many sellers are going to start 10-day auctions the day or two before the boycott, so their items close the day or two after it ends. Seems like it flies against the spirit of the boycott, but then again it might be nice to have a bunch of stuff closing the day the cork comes out of the bottle.

Sean Reynolds

291fifth · February 12, 2008 12:23AM

The "boycott" will probably prove to be mostly a myth. The sellers on eBay make their decisions based on economic factors. Sellers in categories that typically realize less than $25 per lot are going to be the most likely to cut back, not because they are boycotting, but because they feel the return is no longer worth the effort. I am finishing up the last of 57 auctions that have closed over the past three days. Nearly all of these lots (none coin related) are low price items. I had thought about selling these items for some time but didn't because the return is so marginal. When eBay announced the rate increase I finally decided to go ahead and list all of them in order to beat the rate increase and get some money out of them. I have no immediate plans for any more auctions on eBay, but it is not because I am boycotting. I have no more auctions because I have nothing more that I am interested in selling at the moment.

seanq · February 14, 2008 1:03AM

Well the $.20 fixed listing day seems to have done a nice job padding the numbers, except for the eBay Motors category everything else is up somewhere between 20-25% over Monday. Here's how things look today:

<< 
Monday Feb 11, 11:30 PM

numismatic categories
Coins & Paper Money: 245,472 auctions
US Coins: 125,303 auctions
Morgan Dollars: 15,749 auctions
Error coins: 1780 auctions

Thursday Feb 14 11:00AM

Coins & Paper Money: 306,179 auctions
US Coins: 158,689 auctions
Morgan Dollars: 19,617 auctions
Error coins: 2185 auctions

non-numismatic
Jewelry & Watches: 1,106,537 auctions
Sports cards: 395,712 auctions
DVDs & Movies (DVD only): 232,297 auctions
Apple iPods: 10,717 auctions
eBay motors, all Hondas: 1,977 auctions

Thursday Feb 14 11:00AM

Jewelry & Watches: 1,278,663 auctions
Sports cards: 498,097 auctions
DVDs & Movies (DVD only): 302,697 auctions
Apple iPods: 12,175 auctions
eBay motors, all Hondas: 1,900 auctions

>>

Sean Reynolds

rgCoinGuy · February 14, 2008 1:06AM

How funny, I was just doing an update for you on this and noticed yours just hit!

Zoins · February 14, 2008 1:07AM

Would it also be useful to keep track of all auctions, in addition to categories?

What if there are more auctions but fewer sellers? Is there any way to capture that?

BAJJERFAN · February 14, 2008 1:09AM

call it FLEEBAY today.

seanq · February 14, 2008 1:28AM

<< Would it also be useful to keep track of all auctions, in addition to categories?

What if there are more auctions but fewer sellers? Is there any way to capture that? >>

Probably, but not in the ten minutes every few days I'm willing to devote to this.

Sean Reynolds

Russ · February 14, 2008 2:04AM

<< Well the $.20 fixed listing day seems to have done a nice job padding the numbers >>

Yeah, it always does.

Russ, NCNE

TwoSides2aCoin · February 14, 2008 2:14AM

I wonder how this will affect worldwide beanie baby sales.

291fifth · February 14, 2008 2:21AM

I wouldn't be surprised if a large percentage of the .20 listings were scheduled for 5 rather than 7 days. 5 day auctions would end before the rate hike kicks in.

FLBuffaloHunter · February 14, 2008 2:41AM

<< 

<< Well the $.20 fixed listing day seems to have done a nice job padding the numbers >>

Yeah, it always does.

Russ, NCNE >>

Found this online

seanq · February 17, 2008 12:14PM

Tomorrow is the "big day," here are the current auction counts heading into the boycott. There is a definite downward trend showing, but the counts are still above the levels from the beginning of the week. The eBay Motors number is kinda curious, I'll be watching that one closely:

<< 
numismatic categories

Monday Feb 11, 11:30 PM

Coins & Paper Money: 245,472 auctions
US Coins: 125,303 auctions
Morgan Dollars: 15,749 auctions
Error coins: 1780 auctions

Thursday Feb 14 11:00AM

Coins & Paper Money: 306,179 auctions
US Coins: 158,689 auctions
Morgan Dollars: 19,617 auctions
Error coins: 2185 auctions

Sunday, Feb 17 10:00PM

Coins & Paper Money: 277,223 auctions
US Coins: 140,785 auctions
Morgan Dollars: 17,156 auctions
Error coins: 1836 auctions

non-numismatic

Monday Feb 11, 11:30 PM

Jewelry & Watches: 1,106,537 auctions
Sports cards: 395,712 auctions
DVDs & Movies (DVD only): 232,297 auctions
Apple iPods: 10,717 auctions
eBay motors, all Hondas: 1,977 auctions

Thursday Feb 14 11:00AM

Jewelry & Watches: 1,278,663 auctions
Sports cards: 498,097 auctions
DVDs & Movies (DVD only): 302,697 auctions
Apple iPods: 12,175 auctions
eBay motors, all Hondas: 1,900 auctions

Sunday Feb 17 1 0:00PM

Jewelry & Watches: 1,218,424 auctions
Sports cards: 446,774 auctions
DVDs & Movies (DVD only): 268,953 auctions
Apple iPods: 10,384 auctions
eBay motors, all Hondas: 1,230 auctions
>>

Sean Reynolds

Mar327 · February 17, 2008 10:06PM

ttt

rgCoinGuy · February 17, 2008 10:24PM

Interesting, there seems to be more auctions in all coin categories than a week ago, even though this is 24 hours earlier than the Monday check last week.

bushmaster8 · February 17, 2008 11:42PM

Well there certainly seems to be lots of folks looking for coins. I have only one auction running- a 10 day with 5 days to go- and it already has 450 visits, and that is for an ANACS coin!!

Unrelated question: If you started your auction during the "old rates", and in ends after the transition to the "new" rates, do you pay the old or new final value fee?

FLBuffaloHunter · February 17, 2008 11:46PM

<< Well there certainly seems to be lots of folks looking for coins. I have only one auction running- a 10 day with 5 days to go- and it already has 450 visits, and that is for an ANACS coin!!

Unrelated question: If you started your auction during the "old rates", and in ends after the transition to the "new" rates, do you pay the old or new final value fee? >>

Any lising started prior to midnight February 20th will be charged the old FVF no matter when it ends. Same goes for store inventory that is renewed prior to that date. When you renew or list new items after February 20th the new FVF will be in effect.

291fifth · February 18, 2008 12:13AM

Just what alternatives do the small sellers of lower priced merchandise have? Virtually none. There may be a drop-off in some categories for week or two, but then they will come back. An example: plastic models kits. Very few of these bring over $50 on the secondary market, most don't bring $25. The few hobby shops that will buy older kits pay virtually nothing (much like used book stores) so the sellers of such merchandise will have no choice but to return to eBay.

tmcsr69 · February 18, 2008 12:16AM

<< Just what alternatives do the small sellers of lower priced merchandise have? Virtually none. There may be a drop-off in some categories for week or two, but then they will come back. An example: plastic models kits. Very few of these bring over $50 on the secondary market, most don't bring $25. The few hobby shops that will buy older kits pay virtually nothing (much like used book stores) so the sellers of such merchandise will have no choice but to return to eBay. >>

Easy to understand why one might have to look world wide for a customer wanting this sort of item. I'll stick to coins.

291fifth · February 18, 2008 12:24AM

<< 

<< Just what alternatives do the small sellers of lower priced merchandise have? Virtually none. There may be a drop-off in some categories for week or two, but then they will come back. An example: plastic models kits. Very few of these bring over $50 on the secondary market, most don't bring $25. The few hobby shops that will buy older kits pay virtually nothing (much like used book stores) so the sellers of such merchandise will have no choice but to return to eBay. >>

Easy to understand why one might have to look world wide for a customer wanting this sort of item. I'll stick to coins. >>

While it is a worldwide market, high shipping costs pretty much limit the secondary market to domestic sales.

seemyauction · February 18, 2008 12:31AM

According to compete.com their traffic is going the wrong way.........The graph below shows the number of visitors per month

VicThrust · February 18, 2008 12:45AM

I saw a similar downward trend on alexa.com for Ebay. The downward trend has been ongoing for the last two years plus. On the internet traffic = money.

bestday · February 18, 2008 12:47AM

<< According to compete.com their traffic is going the wrong way.........The graph below shows the number of visitors per month

>>

Good graph.....explains why the ebay yoyos are figuratively crapping in their pants ....less visitors= less revs = less profits = lower stock price , and then, lower growth premium in the stock price
SELL !!!!! the stock

Zoins · February 18, 2008 12:54AM

If eBay traffic is going down and people aren't flocking to any other sites in a major way, does that mean general interest in auctions is in decline?

bestday · February 18, 2008 12:59AM

<< If eBay traffic is going down and people aren't flocking to any other sites in a major way, does that mean general interest in auctions is in decline? >>

It spells RECESSION....this chart offers a clue why Washington acted so fast with the free money checks. The usuallly slow Congress seemed like the devil was on their rear end...

Newcomp103 · February 18, 2008 1:05AM

<< 

<< If eBay traffic is going down and people aren't flocking to any other sites in a major way, does that mean general interest in auctions is in decline? >>

It spells RECESSION....this chart offers a clue why Washington acted so fast with the free money checks. The usuallly slow Congress seemed like the devil was on their rear end... >>

Recession: A decline in a country's gross domestic product or negative real economic growth for two or more successive quarters of a year.

We are not there yet...although the doom and gloomers in the media throw the term around without even understanding economics! The "free money checks" as you call them was your money in the first place...they are just giving it back to you temporarily!

VicThrust · February 18, 2008 3:57AM

Gainesville usually has about 800 plus items listed - they are currently at 214 - could it be or is it the holiday?

aficionado · February 18, 2008 5:52AM

<< 

<< 

<< If eBay traffic is going down and people aren't flocking to any other sites in a major way, does that mean general interest in auctions is in decline? >>

It spells RECESSION....this chart offers a clue why Washington acted so fast with the free money checks. The usuallly slow Congress seemed like the devil was on their rear end... >>

Recession: A decline in a country's gross domestic product or negative real economic growth for two or more successive quarters of a year.

We are not there yet...although the doom and gloomers in the media throw the term around without even understanding economics! The "free money checks" as you call them was your money in the first place...they are just giving it back to you temporarily! >>

It doesn't have to be the quarters that are reported, like Jan - March. It can be Dec - Feb.

We had under 1% growth for Oct - Dec., so theoritically, Nov. and Dec. could have been negative with October being enough to keep the quarter positive. Likewise, January could be negative and then Feb. and March positive, which would lead to another less than 1% growth. Eventhough it appears there was no negative growth, there may have been three months worth.

droopyd · February 18, 2008 6:29AM

<< Recession: A decline in a country's gross domestic product or negative real economic growth for two or more successive quarters of a year.

We are not there yet...although the doom and gloomers in the media throw the term around without even understanding economics! >>

Actually, we may be there already. We don't really know what GDP is for a quarter until about 6 months after the quarter ends. Assuming that 4Q 07 was already down, which we won't really know until late spring of 08, and 1Q of 08 continues the downward trend, were in a recession before it's "officially" noted. And if 2Q 08 is up, the recession is over before we've "officially" noted that it began!

seemyauction · February 18, 2008 6:33AM

<< If eBay traffic is going down and people aren't flocking to any other sites in a major way, does that mean general interest in auctions is in decline? >>

No, quite the opposite. AuctionZip is to live auctions what ebay is to online auctions.

Moki · February 18, 2008 4:17PM

Taken by itself, this graph does show a drop in traffic, how do these statistics compare with other years? Are there seasonal variables which affect these numbers? Has eBay somewhere provided an analysis of what their take is on these figures?

Just curious . . . there may be other information we are not privy to which would be perntinent in understanding this data.

BECOKA · February 18, 2008 4:27PM

This is spring break for my kids, I would imagine listings are down typically this week of the year. Is there a way to track if listings dropped this time last year?

Zoins · February 18, 2008 4:28PM

<< 

<< If eBay traffic is going down and people aren't flocking to any other sites in a major way, does that mean general interest in auctions is in decline? >>

No, quite the opposite. AuctionZip is to live auctions what ebay is to online auctions.

>>

It's not exactly the opposite. The chart shows eBay going from a high of over 86 million to 73 million. The high for AuctionZip is still under 500k. Overall auction participation can still be going down even if AuctionZip doubles their traffic.

bestday · February 19, 2008 9:23AM

<< 

<< If eBay traffic is going down and people aren't flocking to any other sites in a major way, does that mean general interest in auctions is in decline? >>

No, quite the opposite. AuctionZip is to live auctions what ebay is to online auctions.

>>

I wonder..The New ebay honcho..stated "that ebay traffic growth had fallen off in the last quarter "..I would follow his guidance along with the lower Ebay stock price

lloydmincy · February 19, 2008 10:17AM

I still find it strange anyone actually buys coins off e-Bay.

MadMarty · February 19, 2008 10:22AM

<< I still find it strange anyone actually buys coins off e-Bay. >>

Why? There are still some nice buys to be had. You just have to know what you are buying!

Bochiman · February 19, 2008 10:24AM

<< I still find it strange anyone actually buys coins off e-Bay. >>

Why? It's actually quite a nice place to buy widgets and lower priced items. Where would you have folks buying common coins they want for their collections? I like buying on ebay for my $20-$200 coins/sets. Just have to be smart doing it (ie....good seller, return period, good photos, etc)

TwoSides2aCoin · February 19, 2008 10:25AM

<< I still find it strange anyone actually buys coins off e-Bay. >>

I spent months trying to steer Laura to my brown wheaties. She knows what you mean by strange.

tmcsr69 · February 19, 2008 10:26AM

<< I still find it strange anyone actually buys coins off e-Bay. >>

Are you saying you think ebay is the absolute best place to purchase coins?

MadMarty · February 19, 2008 10:28AM

<< 

<< I still find it strange anyone actually buys coins off e-Bay. >>

Are you saying you think ebay is the absolute best place to purchase coins? >>

Depends on what you are looking for. For widgets, yes. For CAC slabs, no.

baddogss · February 19, 2008 10:51AM

<< 

<< 

<< I still find it strange anyone actually buys coins off e-Bay. >>

Are you saying you think ebay is the absolute best place to purchase coins? >>

Depends on what you are looking for. For widgets, yes. For CAC slabs, no. >>

being new here I have to ask (duck and run) ... what are some other options for buying coins?
I have bought from e-bay, DLRC, Gainsville, US Mint, FUN Show, a coin collecting buddy here in town, and some of the ebay store guys over the past year.
I live in a rual area so my options are limited. BTW I recently setup a TeleTrade account.

I'm just try to get some smarts. I recently bought some books; Scott A. Travers, Coin Collectors Survival Manual and Michael F. Moran, Striking Change (The Great Artistic Collaboration of Theodore Roosevelt & Augustus Saint-Gaudens).

Dave99B · February 19, 2008 1:38PM

I like widgets.

Dave

seanq · February 20, 2008 1:55PM

Most of the 20 cent listings have ended today, so it's time for another update:

<< 
numismatic categories

Monday Feb 11, 11:30 PM

Coins & Paper Money: 245,472 auctions
US Coins: 125,303 auctions
Morgan Dollars: 15,749 auctions
Error coins: 1780 auctions

Thursday Feb 14 11:00AM

Coins & Paper Money: 306,179 auctions
US Coins: 158,689 auctions
Morgan Dollars: 19,617 auctions
Error coins: 2185 auctions

Sunday, Feb 17 10:00PM

Coins & Paper Money: 277,223 auctions
US Coins: 140,785 auctions
Morgan Dollars: 17,156 auctions
Error coins: 1836 auctions

>>

Wednesday, Feb 20 11:30 PM

Coins & Paper Money: 240,177 auctions
US Coins: 123,368 auctions
Morgan Dollars: 15,430 auctions
Error coins: 1569 auctions

<< 

non-numismatic

Monday Feb 11, 11:30 PM

Jewelry & Watches: 1,106,537 auctions
Sports cards: 395,712 auctions
DVDs & Movies (DVD only): 232,297 auctions
Apple iPods: 10,717 auctions
eBay motors, all Hondas: 1,977 auctions

Thursday Feb 14 11:00AM

Jewelry & Watches: 1,278,663 auctions
Sports cards: 498,097 auctions
DVDs & Movies (DVD only): 302,697 auctions
Apple iPods: 12,175 auctions
eBay motors, all Hondas: 1,900 auctions

Sunday Feb 17 1 0:00PM

Jewelry & Watches: 1,218,424 auctions
Sports cards: 446,774 auctions
DVDs & Movies (DVD only): 268,953 auctions
Apple iPods: 10,384 auctions
eBay motors, all Hondas: 1,230 auctions
>>

Wednesday Feb 20 11:30 PM

Jewelry & Watches: 1,098,093 auctions
Sports cards: 368,527 auctions
DVDs & Movies (DVD only): 209,259 auctions
Apple iPods: 10,238 auctions
eBay motors, all Hondas: 1,063 auctions

Everything but the cars is right back to pre-sale listing numbers, and nothing fell appreciably below the baseline of Feb 11. I'm starting to think the initial auto listing number was inflated because of Presidents' Day sales. Regardless, there's not a lot of evidence of any boycotting going on by any folks listing in these categories.

Sean Reynolds

seemyauction · February 20, 2008 2:13PM

<< 

<< 

<< If eBay traffic is going down and people aren't flocking to any other sites in a major way, does that mean general interest in auctions is in decline? >>

No, quite the opposite. AuctionZip is to live auctions what ebay is to online auctions.

>>

It's not exactly the opposite. The chart shows eBay going from a high of over 86 million to 73 million. The high for AuctionZip is still under 500k. Overall auction participation can still be going down even if AuctionZip doubles their traffic. >>

AuctionZip is a lot younger company, maybe 4 years old.....what was ebay's traffic when they were 4 years old ???

Another major difference, AuctionZip is free for auctioneers to list their auctions with pictures & discriptions. Its also free for auction goers to search the data.

ebay charges a fee to list items....and a fee if it sells....a fee to look at more that 30 days of data....a fee....a fee....a fee....

Tracking thread - let's see just how much the eBay boycott affects listings

Comments

Leave a Comment