eBay reports revenue and earnings decline

Facing a tight economic climate and strong dollar overseas, eBay reported on Wednesday a 7 percent revenue drop in the fourth quarter and weaker net profits.

Shares of eBay, in after-hours trading, fell 6.25 percent to $12.45. The stock rose nearly 6 percent to close at $13.28 a share during regular trading.

The online auction giant reported revenue of $2.07 billion, down 7 percent from a year ago. That figure fell short of analysts' expectations of $2.12 billion in revenue.

eBay's net income, meanwhile, fell nearly 31 percent to $367 million in the fourth quarter, or 29 cents a share, compared with net income of $531 million, or 39 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding charges, the company posted non-GAAP net profits of $524 million, or 41 cents a share, beating Wall Street's expectations of 39 cents a share profit, according to Thomson Reuters.

eBay CEO John Donahoe said in a statement:

While the holiday season was tough and competitive, our overall results for 2008 were strong.

For 2008, we delivered double-digit revenue and earnings growth; made significant changes in our eBay business; and built a stronger, more diverse portfolio of leading e-commerce businesses. We will build on our strengths in 2009 while managing our business prudently in the continued challenging environment.

[Hep Cat]

Maybe it's because Meg Whitman decided to focus on screwing the small seller who made eBay great, then left the company? This won't look good on her "I wanna be governor" resume.

The fact is that hard times like this should be a boon for eBay, where people used to be able to find what they needed at a true market price. Now eBay has been taken over by the midmarket sellers, and Whitman's eBay was all too happy to cater to the cheapsters who sell out of shipping containers rather than a garage.

But hey - short term benefit at the cost of long-term growth. That's the Whitman mantra!

[SupplyIsUnlimited]

I knew John McCain was doomed in his bid for President when he held up Meg Whitman as someone he'd seek advice and council from as President. She's an idiot. Any eBay Power Seller can tell you that.

[jpmays]

I remember the day when eBay stock was selling for over $100 per share... what happened?

[Understarsidream]

Between ebay forcing out the smaller sellers who made ebay what it was and their total lack of concern with fraud, counterfeit product and horrible customer service they brought about their own downfall. I seriously doubt ebay will be any sort of force to be reckoned with in a few years.

[scottthesculptor]

they actively support fraud by
making it difficult to report
blocking users that "report too much"
and continually looking the other way, even when reported

forcing a dumbed down version of *my* ebay summary was the last straw
I closed my account

but all the walmart/dollar store shoppers will keep them afloat
anyone that really cares is a minority and beneath their arrogance
they'll blame any downturn from their stupidity on the economy

8 years, 100% feedback, green star - bye-bye
Where is Google Classified?

[studiodave56]

I have stopped selling on fee-Bay because they don't want me there anymore, telling me, how much to charge for items, and shipping, and how long I can take to ship, and how I must get paid. And to think, I thought it was my stuff I was selling.

[SupplyIsUnlimited]

I couldn't agree more. It is not only my stuff I'm selling, but my business I'm running. The website is just one avenue that I find my customers, and they find me. Too bad eBay doesn't recognize what we saw as sellers a valuable place to sell OUR STUFF and to do OUR BUSINESS. Oh well.

[EastSideEarl]

1999: eBay, the world's largest garage sale.

2009: eBay, the world's largest dollar store. Credit only, please.

[baisa]

2019: eBay? What's that?

[paul_swansson]

In other ebay news ebay has raised its fees by 7%

[SupplyIsUnlimited]

Not only that, but the pretended to actually lower their fees. Who do they think they are fooling? Certainly not their stock holders.

[zincmann]

I used to enjoy going to ebay for the best price. Frankly when youre buying online, there isnt much room or place for first place customer service, When I buy on Ebay i expect that I will get the item quickly, reasonable shipping etc etc. That was what I expected, now with Ebay everything seems to be priced in some cases as in a retail store depending on what youre buying. Personally I am glad that Craigslist did not sell out to Ebay, because that would even be fee based, what makes criagslist work is its free in most cases and its still a garage sale and there can be negotiations for items. Ebay well its just a losing deal, I want the lowest price, period, and Ebay seems to nto have that as much anymore, not many bargains to be had. What really blows me away it seems there still are schills out there that bid things close to or over retail so the item you thought you were getting at a steal is no more. Just my rant..

[Noneyabeeswax]

If I want new items, I don't go looking at eBay. The loss of shipping costs to return an item is outrageous, and the sellers can't buy at a volume to compete with the prices that Amazon offers. eBay trying to compete with Amazon as a fixed price venue is ridiculous. If they continue on this path, I don't think they'll have many customers left. All the really neat and unique items are just about gone, and that's what I went to eBay to find in the first place. They're pricing themselves right out of business. I've had fun over the years at eBay, but their switch to a "New" style page, and the next thing is forcing a "New" search page on customers is the final straw. I'll go looking elsewhere for items.

[Seller101]

What eBay fail to analyze is that their policies and changes are not gear to help their core supporters, the sellers! We the sellers are the ones that make the money for ebay, the direct consequence is very simple we the sellers are no listing as many items as we once did, because the Sellers fees are used to staff programs geared to prevent sellers from selling on Ebay, the coveted Best Match search is fatally flawed, it list the most expensive items first ?hence making more money for ebay, if they sell- We can't believe that eBay is using Their coveted ?Best Match? search engine, As their vehicle for a better buyer experience! The reason most sellers are switching to fixed priced sales is because their merchandise is getting buried in the "Best Match" black hole.
The only reason auctions have gone out of favor is because ebay has relegated them to the bottom of the barrel and cater to big ticket uninteresting and overpriced things, which for the most part DO NOT SELL, but ebay still gets their insertion fee.
Ebay imposes a policy that cuts deeply into sellers pockets, violates the Bill of Rights, and makes it harder to do business, Sellers are only allow to leave positive feedback, turning feedback into a senseless, one way only, extortion ridden tool, the feedback, which sellers cultivate for years, means nothing now.
The new mandatory Paypal rules are so bogus-- and smack of restraint of trade. They tried this in Australia and lost. Who ever heard of a venue outlawing checks, MO or legal tender? Ebay owns Paypal and with listing fees, final value fees and Paypal fees it's double-dipping on a sale.

Take this mandatory Paypal rule. It has poor security, and now Ebay wants us to only use that payment system? It would be like going into a Sears to buy a lawnmower with cash or a check and told 'we only accept Sears credit cards.' It's madness.
Ebay flourished as people sold off Aunt Tilly's silver set or Uncle Waldo's Elvis records.
The Best Buyer Experience is coming to eBay To find great products at great prices! Buyers come to eBay to find a bargain, Buyers come to eBay to experience the eBay That wants to offers the best deals in the internet! But now eBay default search systems, List more expensive items first with total disregard of ending times or pricing These changes are causing a tremendous Decrease on sales with the direct consequence Of a decrease on the number of successful listings.
The DSR system is another failure, the feedback rating is not based on a 100 point scale, For example, from 1 to 5, 1 is poor, 3 is average and 5 is excellent. With ebay, 4,5 is average and 5 is good! Consequently making the seller looks bad, For this reason, good sellers offering great service and products are being suspended from ebay by record numbers, this cuts the core business at ebay Unfortunately, Ebay management become so enraptured with its tale of its own brilliance that they thought they could afford to batter and bleed the sellers over and over again, forever. Ebay Stock was $30-$32 less than a year ago and yesterday dropped to $11.67 Since the new management took over, it dropped every quarter as can be tracked from any stock quote chart. A year ago, EBay said it would reduce listing fees and make selling standards more stringent to attract buyers, on the contrary sellers are listing less not only that but the smart ones sold their ebay stock! It won?t be too long to see ebay stock fall to $6 or less, Ebay is pushing away its partners, sellers and buyers, it is only going to make profit softer and push away investors, as ebay CEO said ?We didn?t gain ground, but we didn?t lose any.? Let us see if he can say the same in this coming summer. I would also not want to answer to shareholders when they learn what long time sellers and buyers have seen in the past few months. No seller in their right mind would build a business on a platform that would suspend them with absolutely no warning at any time for poorly defined and implemented rules that change constantly.
Now, at least I know my experience is not a personal one. Ebay's own statistics show a thing no one would have believed 2-3 years ago: A decline!

[casper1n1]

Ebay is a rip off. If anyone wants a new place to sell or buy anything. Go to Aucsome.com, they are an auction site they doesn't charge any fees. I have posted lots of stuff on there, so lets all show Ebay we don't need them when they become this greedy!