eBay Seller Strike: 3% Decline in Listings by Mid-Week - SendMeRSS
Posted by elveston priory at 10:25 pm
We're smack dab in the middle (figuratively, not literally, of course) of the eBay seller strike. And what began Monday, February 19 (and is intended to push through a 5-day stretch) has caused the online auction giant to see the number of its listings drop from 14.5 million to a (mere) 14 million, according to Brandi Stewart of Fortune Small Business. That amounts to a 3% decline, which, if eBay fails to account for the hit in the weeks and months ahead, may register as more of a scar than a shallow bruise.
At first glance, it seems that a decrease of a half-million listings over the course of 2-3 days is likely to be a non-issue for eBay. But perception is often conferred as reality in the modern corporate jungle, and because the number of listings is likely to continue dropping several points further by the end of Friday, the company may have to tend carefully to a PR image that shows noticeable damage. The company declined to verify the accuracy of the aforementioned estimate, which was determined by the third-party sites PowerSellersUnite and medved.net, among others.
The auction giant chose last week to preempt the planned seller strike by offering a one-day promotion, on February 13, involving deep discounts in listing fees. It is too early to tell if eBay managed to diminish the impact of ensuing strike to any large degree. Several industry experts, including David Steiner, president of AuctionBytes, explained that as more listings expire in the last days of the week, "the real evidence of the boycott effect…will be clearer."
Visit here to subscribe to these commentsUser comment: By: Randy SmytheIt is a little more comlicated than that. Typically eBay has around 12 million listings on a daily basis; according to Medved and PowerSellersUnite.com With the 20 cent listing promotion last week, listings increased by nearly 4 million to 16 million and typically auctions run 7 days so those 4 million listings would normally come off the site today. But it appears a large number of the promotion listings were scheduled for just 5 days because on Monday Medved was reporting listings around 14.5 million. Today, as of this post Medved is showing 13.5 million listings. Here is the scorecard: If Thursday's numbers are back to the 12 million range than the effect of the boycott may have served to dampen the bump eBay expected from the new fee structure. If Thursday's numbers are in the 13 million range than the boycott had little to no effect. If the listings are in the 11 million range or lower than the boycott has had a big impact. See you Thursday.