Last summer, there was a seismic shift in the online-auction industry when eBay significantly increased fees for Store inventory and urged sellers to move items from Stores to the core auction platform. These moves came after eBay had heavily promoted Stores and had given Store listings more exposure on core early in the year, leaving many sellers confused and angry. There was a massive outcry with seller protests and strikes, and mainstream media picked up the story.

Anecdotally, we had been hearing that the fee increases came too close to the all-important fourth-quarter shopping season for sellers to adjust their sales strategies, but that they were considering developing a multi-channel strategy and opening their own storefronts, and perhaps even leaving eBay altogether - in the first quarter of 2007.

In an attempt to measure sellers' intentions, AuctionBytes conducted a survey in early September 2006 with over 1200 people responding (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y206/m09/abu0175/s02).

We asked people where they were currently selling, and where they intended to be selling in 6 months. So in March 2007 - 6 months after the initial survey - we conducted the same survey to see where people were selling and find out if they had followed through on their intentions. Over 700 people responded to the survey. One question we added to this survey was whether or not the respondent had participated in the September survey.

Methodology
AuctionBytes conducted an online survey of readers in March 2007. A request to readers to complete the survey was made in the March 4, 2007 issue of AuctionBytes-Update and in several issues of the AuctionBytes Newflash newsletter. The online survey form was live from March 3 to March 15. A total of 713 people completed the survey.

Who are the respondents?
Ninety-one percent of respondents were from the US, 3.2 percent were from Canada, 2.2 percent were from the UK, and 1.8 percent were from Australia. A small number came from France, Germany, New Zealand, Belgium and "other." It's interesting to note that in September, a slightly smaller percentage (88 percent) of respondents were from the US.

Twenty-two percent of respondents reported that they listed collectibles for sale most frequently, 13.5 percent listed books most frequently, 9.3 percent listed "clothing, shoes & accessories" most frequently, followed by Home & Garden (5.8%), Jewelry & Watches (5.3%), and Antiques (5.2%). The remaining sellers comprised other major categories, and no sellers reported selling Real Estate or Travel most frequently. There were a greater percentage of booksellers responding in March compared to September, otherwise the top categories were strikingly similar.

Seventy-nine percent of respondents reported that the value of all items they sold on online-auction sites in total in the last 12 months equaled $50,000 or less. Seventy-three percent reported that the value of all items sold online in total in the last 12 months equaled $50,000 or less. These results were nearly identical to September's results.

Thirty percent reported that they do consignment sales, and 15.3 percent said they are registered eBay Trading Assistants. Only 2.4 percent said they are a drop-off store with regular hours for walk-in trade. This is in slight contrast to September's results, where 34 percent of respondents said they did consignment sales and 16 percent said they were registered Trading Assistants. However, in September, 4 percent said they operated drop-off stores with regular hours for walk-in trade.

Where are sellers selling, and will this change in 6 months?
We asked sellers where they are selling now (on which sites they "regularly list items"), and whether they would be selling there in 6 months. We broke it into three categories: online auction sites, storefronts, and classifieds and other websites. Here are links to the results.

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/survey_03182007/survey_1

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/survey_03182007/survey_2

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/survey_03182007/survey_3

And here is a summary of results for the top three marketplaces along with results for sellers' own websites.

eBay: 92 percent of respondents sell on eBay, and 39 percent plan to sell on eBay in 6 months; 53 percent sell on eBay Stores, and 22 percent plan to sell on eBay Stores in 6 months.

Yahoo: 6 percent of respondents sell on Yahoo Auctions, and 11 percent plan to sell on Yahoo Auctions in 6 months; 1 percent sell on Yahoo Stores, and 6 percent plan to sell on Yahoo Stores in 6 months.

Amazon: 4 percent of respondents sell on Amazon Auctions, and 11 percent plan to sell on Amazon Auctions in 6 months; 14 percent sell on Amazon Marketplace, and 12 percent plan to sell on Amazon Marketplace in 6 months.

Own ecommerce-enabled website: 22 percent of respondents sell on their own ecommerce-enabled website, and 21 percent plan to sell on their own website in 6 months.

The responses to these questions were strikingly similar to the responses of the last survey, and tended to fall within 2-3 percentage points of September's results.

What are sellers' biggest concerns?
When asked to rank five concerns in order of importance, fees were ranked the number one "biggest concern about selling on online auction sites."

Fraud came in second, with non-paying bidders/buyers closely on its heals as third biggest concern about selling on online auction sites.

"Payment services" was ranked as the fourth biggest concern, and "Inventory and product sourcing issues" came in fifth.

While the percentages changed, the ranking was identical to September's survey results.

How many sellers have their own sites, and how significant are sales from those independent sites?

It appears sellers' own sites may not be performing as well as those responding in the last survey.

A large number of respondents (52 percent) have their own website or storefront; this is compared to 54 percent in September. For those who do have their own site or storefront, 15 percent said it makes up over 50 percent of their total sales - compared to 29 percent in September. And 26 percent said they made more sales in the past 12 months from their website/storefront than in the previous 12 months - compared to 50 percent in September.

What payment services do respondents offer?
Ninety-four percent of respondents accept PayPal, compared to 95.5 percent in September; 13 percent accept BidPay compared to 9.7 percent in September; 12 percent accept Mastercard/VISA via a gateway compared to 13.7 percent in September; and 9 percent accept Google Checkout compared to 8.4 percent in September. Link to full results:

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/survey_03182007/survey_4

Search-engine Marketing
When asked, "What kinds of search-engine advertising do you do to promote your online sales?" 71 percent said none, compared to 70 percent in September; 15 percent said Google AdWords, compared to 17 percent in September; 14 percent said eBay Keyword Program, compared to 17 percent in September; 5 percent said Yahoo Search marketing, compared to 6 percent in September; and another 5 percent said other, the same as in September.

Conclusions
Of the 713 people responding to the March 2007 survey, only 168 remembered having taken the survey previously, and 129 people didn't know. That means that of the 1225 sellers who took the survey in September 2006, up to 1057 of them are unaccounted for. Have they left the industry altogether? Were they simply unmotivated to take the survey in March? If so, was it because they had adjusted to and accepted the changes? Unfortunately, we don't have enough information to know the answers to those questions. And that means when comparing the two results, one must assume that the majority of respondents are different people.

Seller profiles and concerns are generally consistent with last those reported in last year's survey. The three charts that show where sellers are currently selling and where they intend to be selling in 6 months are quite interesting from both surveys, though there aren't necessarily obvious conclusions to draw about seller intentions.

You can review the results from last September's survey online here:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y206/m09/abu0175/s02

Please leave comments about these survey results on the AuctionBytes Blog:
http://digbig.com/4rxtd