There are 34.1 million active eBay user accounts and 110,000 eBay stores worldwide. During the 3 month period of April, May and June, there were 225 million items listed on eBay, and eBay sellers sold $5.6 million worth of items (Gross Merchandise Sales) for those 3 months. (Wow, you sellers are busy!)
CORRECTION: eBay sellers sold $5.6 billion worth of items in the 2nd quarter of 2003.
eBay released these figures on Thursday in regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announcing at the same time a two-for-one split of all outstanding shares of the company's common stock http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y03/m07/i25/s01.
Other interesting statistics from the filing are that eBay buyers purchased 16% of items using "Buy It Now," and purchased 11% of items using pure fixed price (non-auction) format. eBay has nine categories that deliver more than $1 billion in worldwide annualized GMS, with "eBay Motors" leading the pack at $6.3 billion. Interestingly, the collectibles category (the roots of the site) weighs in at seventh place with $1.1 billion annualized GMS worldwide.
eBay did not break out number of listings in each of these "billion dollar" categories. The bottom line is the total value of goods sold - that's where eBay makes its money - on Final Value Fees.
Many people are looking for inventory to sell on eBay, convinced they can make money hand-over-fist if they can just figure out what to sell. Venturing into new and unknown territory can get sellers into deep trouble. When purchasing inventory for resale, sellers can be scammed and defrauded like any consumer. In this issue, I write about the importance of doing your homework when dealing with suppliers and include some useful resources for finding and researching businesses.
Karen Thompson, our auction friend from the U.K., writes about beginner basics - things you should know before you even begin to sell your first item on an auction site! We've got some other great stories lined up as well.
The Antiques Roadshow is up for an Emmy, competing against (are you ready for this?): the Osbournes! And speaking of television, eBay is producing a second pilot for its TV program and is planning a new "eBay Magazine" http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y03/m07/i23/s01.
I caught a segment on the Bloomberg TV channel this morning featuring Scott Kirsner. Kirsner wrote an article about Jay Nelson, who is in jail for committing online auction fraud. Here's a link to the article if you haven't read it ("Catch Me If You Can," by Scott Kirsner, Fast Company, 8/2003, http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/73/kirsner.html).
Summertime is in full swing here in Natick (outside of Boston). Maggie the Auction Hound has been enjoying the nice weather - while it lasts. Hope your summer is going well. Thanks for reading!
About the author:
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
