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“This high-value segment represents approximately 20% of our buyer base, and they purchase around 75% of our GMV. High-value buyers grew in Q2, as did the spend per buyer. Low-value buyers on eBay are approximately half of our buyer base but they only purchase, about 5% of our GMV.”
(High Value Buyers are defined by ebay as buyers who sell, or who buy at least 6 times a year, or who spend over $800 a year.)
So, low value buyers (not sure how they are defined) make up about 50% of the buyer base but they only purchase about 5% of GMV. HVBs make up 20% and purchase about 75%. That leaves the other 30% in the middle to account for about 20% of GMV.
No wonder ebay over the last couple years has been focusing more on increasing HVBs instead of just increasing the sheer number of buyers.
And, in a similar vein, ebay’s program to authenticate luxury watches: The average luxury watch buyer buys not only a watch, but spends $8,000 on more than 50 items in other categories…
ebay also mentioned that the average ASP is higher for Consumer to Consumer transaction than for Business to Consumer transactions, another reason why they are focusing more on small sellers of used items etc.
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we launched a price guide feature, which eBay has this treasure trove of data in the 25 years of history. Nobody has the data that we have it’s a really great asset for us, so I’d say that area and those sellers that join in particular were really excited by the innovation that we’re making.
I think Mr. Iannone is overstating the importance of this 25-year run of data. If someone gave me a 25-year run of Judith Miller’s price guides I’d ask them to help me load them in the car so I can take them to the recycling depot. Admittedly they’re like any other price guide- a work of considered imagination- whereas eBay’s trove is actual data. But is it prices achieved or prices asked?
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Yeah, not sure why he mentioned the 25 years worth of data, except that it might be useful to indicate long term trends (ten years ago, so and so was a hot seller, today, it isn’t…etc….
But the price guide thing he’s actually talking about is exclusive to trading cards, and I’m pretty sure is using very up to date pricing based on actual sales. I don’t sell trading cards, I don’t know how good the info is, I’ve seen one guy say its terrible and another guy say it’s very , very good IF you take the time to drill down. I can’t comment because I haven’t looked at it and don’t sell in that category anyway.
For most of what I sell, ebay solds, Terapeak and/or Worthpoint, plus occasionally a few other sites, do an adequate job. That and my gut feeling. But trading cards , at least some, have become more like buying and selling stocks, short term price fluctuations can be very important.
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eBay already has a really good built in price guide for trading cards, and it’s Terapeak. Their collection / price guide beta isn’t refined enough to differentiate between the minor differences in cards that make them so valuable. It also uses eBay listings to populate its price guide values, which is a problem because lots of sellers game the system with titles that use keyword spamming.
For example, Mike Trout’s 2011 Topps Update rookie (one of the more valuable modern baseball cards since Trout is one of the best players) has an average sales price in the price guide feature which is far below what a Trout rookie would typically sell for. This is mostly because the card has been reprinted in various sets in the last ten years. These reprinted cards, which aren’t 1/10 as valuable or desirable as the true rookie, are often listed by sellers with a title like “Mike Trout Topps rookie reprint.” Technically true, but something that most knowledgeable collectors filter out of searches.
Unfortunately the price guides aren’t able to do this yet. Maybe two or three versions from now, this feature will be useful. Right now it’s not.
A lot of the short term price fluctuations which happen with cards are because of the prevalence of auctions in the category. Auctions are so unpredictable and a poor way of determining “true” value of something, especially when you also add in the standard errors which happen with listings. In the case of cards, sometimes they sell less because a player’s name is spelled wrong, or the team name is missing from the title, or a key feature of the card is not attributed properly. For example, autographed cards are most frequently titled as “auto” but some sellers use a synonym like “signature” or “autographed” which almost always results in the card selling for a lower price than it could.
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