Stats that might be of interest to you

[goldenwonders]

Morning, I have often looked at the statistics of listings on here to make comparisons and try and formulate some sort of strategy to gain sales.
I wrote them down but rarely dated them in any way - but this weekend came across these figures which can't be sure but think they were written around late January 2025
It gives comparison figures - on very basic searches that I did both here and Obey around that time - it was due to the release of news of SD and BPF over on the other side. I was also interested in just how big Ebid were - in real terms of some items that I had interest in.
I did half a dozen searches here and there - very basic search terms - to give me an overall picture.

Guinness (UK) - Obey 59,000 listings TODAY 34,000
Guinness (UK) - Obey (Advertising) category 4,100 TODAY 1,800
Guinness - Ebid 214 listings TODAY 376 listings


Stamps - Obey 11 million+ TODAY 11 million+
Stamps - Ebid 863,000 listings TODAY 907,000

Pottery - Obey 6.1million+ TODAY 3.5 million+
Pottery - Ebid 1464 listings TODAY 1507 listings

Postcard - Obey 23+ million TODAY 23+ million
Postcard - Ebid 549,000 listings TODAY 945,000

HRC - Obey 160,000 TODAY 42,000
HRC - Ebid 19 listings TODAY 69

Matchbox Car - Obey 59,000 TODAY 57,000
UK Only search Obey 55,000 TODAY 50,000
Matchbox Car - Ebid 82 TODAY 107


Overall it shows that there have been drops in all of these categories on Obey (barring stamps and postcards). There have also been increases in the number of listings here in all the searches I did.
The only two categories where there were sizeable increases on Ebid were stamps and postcards.

This all fits in with the SD destruction that's going on over there which especially effects small inexpensive items like stamps and postcards more than any other category.

Draw your own conclusions, mine are that of the searches I did there is not enough overall growth to conclude that we are really picking up the number of new seller/buyers that we need to take it to another level. (However other basic searches - in differing areas could show differently?)

I also study the daily number of listings shown bottom right on any general search - its slowly increasing today showing 4,886,071. It does drop and then moves up again, how this differs from the worldwide figure given(Today 5,489,958) I'm not sure? Are there really only 700k more listings worldwide - always question that, is there an overlap of listings whether available to UK only or worldwide?

[theElench]

Hi.

HRC = Hard Rock Cafe?

[goldenwonders]

Yes - should have explained that one. That search is quite an odd one as the drop in numbers is quite dramatic and the only one that does not make sense to me. HRC pins are far more likely to be found in the States than in the UK and especially in those sort of numbers - do wonder if I made an error with that one??
They were all searches that related in some way to interests or what I had to sell.
Generic searches based on simplicity to give an idea of what was out there.

[johnwash1]

Thanks for some very interesting stats.

Of course, they're very easily explained. The number of current listings on obey are plummetting because those items are selling SO FAST that sellers are having difficulty relisting quickly enough to keep up with their sales. It's not at all surprising, obey has made quite a number of changes over the past 6 months, all contributing to the fantastic success over there, enthusiastically greeted by all the sellers in their community forum. For years they've been making incremental improvements, getting rid of payment methods like PayPal, which everyone hated, constantly improving the search, fixing every glitch on the website... but the recent improvements are even better than anything they've ever done before.

Do I need to add /s? Is there anyone who'd be fooled for even a moment?

[goldenwonders]

Yes I can smell the BS that's coming out of there as easily as I can see those that are clearly in Obey's employ.
They are always lauding the success of business and tell everyone that the NEW BPF tax is essential to protect buyers from 'private selling crooks' - because as we should know all business sellers are as honest as the day - .....still laughing !
Obey has become a joke and when they get 1.2 on Trustpilot - says it all, please remember 1 is as low as you can get !

[theElench]

Perhaps you didn't make any mistake. Whenever I've done this sort of thing on obay there are always that sort of inexplicable apparent glitches in the numbers.
Like you I started trying to get a feel for what was going-on in one of my Saved Searches. Normally there should be between 150 - 200 live listings and one or two sales almost every day. I started on 3/4 noting live listing numbers (col.2) and sales (col.3).

3/4 171 - 2.
4/4 166 - 2.
5/4 169 - 1.
6/4 169 - 0.
7/4 168 - 0.
8/4 172 - 2.
9/4 171 - 0.
10/4 170 - 0.
11/4 170 - 2.
12/4 172 - 2.
13/4 175 - 4.
14/4 193 -4.
15/4 178 - 1.
16/4 178 - 2.
17/4 181 - 0.
18/4 178 - 0.
19/4 179 - 0.
21/4 184 - 2.

Sorry I can't get these columns to come out right!

The 20th is missing as I was away. I've often wondered if these sudden ups and downs are evidence of their famous ON/OFF switch. The jump to 193 being a few more lucky sellers having their items shown to buyers for a day? This search is for a popular and collectable German glass maker and the search results and sales have been stable for years. Apart from a cluster of 0 sales days(around 6 - 10th), the results look as I'd expect.

I can also say that in my little niche here there hasn't yet been any noticeable increase in listing numbers. Although that's disappointing, I don't think this will be a one-off event.

I was reading the obay boards earlier particularly one about small/ medium parcels now that SD is making itself felt. I can't remember the new RM prices but it seems that obay is charging all small/medium parcels at the same price and that's the medium parcel rate. If that's not a glitch there will be a growing perception that buyers are being over-charged on obay compared to what they would be charged here. ATM I'm charging £3.50 RM Small Parcel and have no intention to change that until the price goes over £4. The identical item on obay would now cost whatever the price is for an RM Tracked Medium Parcel. Probably a £ or two difference?

[goldenwonders]

Just noticed that total amount of listings in UK(?) has risen through 4,906,601- still rising overall weekly. It does as I say drop back (it was 4,881,??? this morning so had dropped slightly) but keeps moving up overall.
Sooner it reaches 5million the better for all. More items = more potential sales = more sellers = more buyers.

Still 658 stores - that's pretty static, always been around 648 - 658 which is not huge. But growth is something and as I said a month ago - could ebid cope with a sudden large influx of listings??

[theElench]

Here's a couple of numbers I found today while looking back at my jottings re. GS that might interest you. Like you I didn't date them at the time but they are right next to my notes for a Davidson Cloud Glass bowl that I listed on ebid on 12/3/23, so are from just before that date probably from consecutive days.

UK 2,899,140. WW 3,642,139.
UK 2,899,220. WW 3,642,071.

Does that show that the more or less continuous 'improvements' to obay over the past few years have led to a slow increase in listings here over several years, not just this recent jump ?

Just a thought on why the number of shops is not increasing as quick as the increase in listings might seem to need.

Some sellers who have been here for years have opened shops and stocked them with items from their different interests, as their listing numbers increased.
Sellers who have joined more recently don't need to do that yet. They might have opened one shop with a mixture of items to test the water? Or even just adding RUS listings scattered through various categories. Would shop numbers lag behind listing numbers until newer members start to separate one shop into two (or more) as they list more (say) magazines and postcards and only then feel the need to open a shop or another shop to separate the two?

[johnwash1]

You have to be careful about reading too much into the numbers, I feel. When I dug into this a few months ago, doubtless the numbers were increasing through new sellers starting listing a few items, perhaps even working away and listing a few hundreds. And I'm sure that's ramped up recently with the dissatisfaction amongst ebay private sellers.

But part of the jump was due to a few MAJOR sellers, who had recently listed hundreds of thousands of items. For example there's (or was) an antiquarian book trader from Belgium. Serious money too. The cheapest item was around £80.

Presumably such sellers are doing a mass import and also have these listings elsewhere or on their own web sites. In which case they'll need to be careful, because the duplication will mean they don't get the exposure they'd wish on Google. Google doesn't like duplication.

[Stnenopmoc]

But part of the jump was due to a few MAJOR sellers, who had recently listed hundreds of thousands of items. For example there's (or was) an antiquarian book trader from Belgium. Serious money too. The cheapest item was around £80.

.

Both Argos and Curry's used to list there - not there now