Major Paradigm Shift in eBay Buying Patterns

Over the past several weeks we have noticed a major shift in the way people buy on eBay, which we believe reflects the bad economy in which we are all involved.   While the President claims this is simply a slowdown and not a recession ask any eBay Power Seller if they are experiencing changes in the patterns of buyers.   From our perspective there are three major things happening that tells us at Con$ign-Net that the nationwide slowdown of the economy has reach the eBay market big time.  Specifically:

1. There are many more watchers per successful auction than ever before.   Whereas in the past we could count on an item selling if it received five or more watchers during the course of the auction, this is no longer the situation.   Our judgment is that this number is now closer to ten, as people are doing more shopping around to ensure that they get the best deal possible.

2.  There are fewer bidders competing for items, which results in lower final pricing.   The dream of the bidding war for an item among two or more people is now the exception rather than the rule.   Most items tend to sell with one or two bids, rather than 3-5 as was the situation several months ago.

3.  There are more questions than ever before about an item as prospective bidders want to be sure that the item meets all their specifications and is exactly as described in the listing.  It is now commonplace to get a few questions about every item being considered, whereas only a few months ago questions were rare as people take the listing at face value.   Whether this is a function of the maturation of the buyer or an increase in the distrust of the sellers is not clear, but there definitely is a change.

A major challenge to Power Sellers in the coming months is to see how they can adjust to the changes in buying behavior , so the eBay marketplace can be restored to the vitality that it used to have only 6 -12 months ago.