eBay traffic for the months of August and September were at 5-year lows when compared to those same months going back to 2005, according to data provided by Nielsen, which also shows a slight but steady growth trend in Amazon.com traffic over the past 2 years.

Unique Visitors
The number of unique visitors to eBay fell 3.23 percent year-over-year in August, and fell 3.17 percent year-over-year in September. Page views to the site fell 24.5 percent year-over-year in August, and fell 12.85 percent year-over-year in September.

In each month of the third quarter of 2009 (July, August and September), Amazon.com's unique visitor traffic rose year-over-year while eBay's declined. In fact, Amazon.com only dropped below 50 million once in 2009 when it dipped to 49.7 million in May.

It's also interesting to note that Amazon.com exceeded eBay in number of unique visitors in September 2009. We previously noted that Amazon's unique visitor traffic exceeded eBay's in November and December 2008 and again January 2009. The two were neck-and-neck until the spring and summer months when eBay surpassed Amazon, as can be seen in the chart.

Page Views
While eBay exceeds Amazon.com in number of page views, the gap has trended narrower since 2007, with Amazon.com page views generally stable and with eBay's declining.

The 2009 Holiday Shopping Season
Observers will be watching traffic trends and third quarter earnings, which eBay will release on October 21, for signs of what to expect for the 2009 holiday shopping season.

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