In a sign of the times, mega web auction site Ebay.com has seen what could be called a massive decline in visitor traffic.
The Biggest Online Winners And Losers For 2009: EBay Traffic Collapse:
Some of the largest websites in the country had extraordinary swings in their audiences in 2009. Many of the most well-known web destinations lost large portions of their traffic
Based on data from Hitwise comparing US traffic market share from January to figures from November Ebay (NASDAQ:EBAY) lost 37% of its visitors. Craigslist lost 43% of its traffic, making it the largest loser among the top 25 sites. Neither number is surprising. Ebay’s earnings have been lackluster. Classified postings for apartments and jobs at Craigslist may have been hurt by the recession.
In addition to declines on the main ebay.com web site, Ebay Motors, the car sales wing of the online giant, saw a decline of 43% over 2008. Paypal, which is closely tied to Ebay.com, but also allows merchants from other web sites to process online retail transactions, lost only 23% of their traffic.
Though some online retailers and auction sites are losing traffic, some notable gains were experienced by other well known names:
Amazon.com                   +26%
Walmart.com                   +64%
Target.com                     +69%
Bestbuy.com                    +23%
Three of the four online web sites above also have brick and mortar stores throughout the country. It is still unclear whether or not these retailers lost foot traffic, which may have been made up in online traffic increases.
The data provided does not disclose online sales figures, so while traffic is up, it is unknown how much of that traffic converted to purchases.
We should find out more in January/February of 2010 as most retailers release their 4th Quarter 2009 sales numbers.
sellers don’t like ebay because ebay and paypal kill sellers with fees and suspensions for no reason. And now people need allot of info to join. You will spend many month to get your $ from them for the product you sold long time ago. to join they need your soul…          more info … http://www.paypalsucks.com/
Im an ebay power seller since yr 2000…Im now seeing pennys on the previous dollar, starting since Oct 2008, for same items Im selling. In additoon to this, paypal linking directly to ebay has left many buyers looking elsewhere, not wanting to be forced to use paypal. I wonder why this has never been challenged legally, being forced to accept ONE form of payment and cannot even list as accepting others. Us sellers had to accept it as a means of doing business, however about 5% of my buyers simply ask to send cash/money order, which I happily accept. This manditory paypal has left many sellers moving to thier own web sites and off ebay entirely..Ebay has never has given a damn about its sellers, no matter what level, with the link to paypal..its has simply gotten worse.
Ebay will survive, as will paypal, but in this economy, when 2nd hand/thrift and similar stores are booming, Goodwill alone showing drastic increase in floor traffic & sales…ebay should be doing much better, but it wont, because it continues to listen to corp types that really only run meetings & never a real business, rather then the mom & pop sellers that put them on the map to begin with.
As for me, sadly my days there (and as an online ebay seller) are clearly numbered, I can no longer sustain a viable business, which at one time grossed $70+k yr, with fees at every level (list,insertion,pic,title,paypal %, final value, rising shipping cost,..etc) and a declining customer base. I had a good run, but then again so has many companies who are no longer around.
I’m not surprised. EBay’s web traffic will continue to decline. Sellers have absolutely no rights when it comes to ebay. If a buyer doesn’t pay, the seller can’t leave negative feedback, but ebay will gladly let the buyer leave the seller a negative for filing a non-paying bidder dispute. If a package is lost in the mail, ebay blames the seller and not the post office, even though the seller has absolutely no control over the postal service. Increases in fees, PayPal fees and postage going up…it’s absolutely ridiculous. I’m closing my account and switching to Amazon.