Web Retailer has updated its Top 1000 eBay Sellers report for 2015 and it makes for some interesting reading. You can find the full list here.
A key finding regards the extent to which Chinese sellers continue to exploit the eBay UK marketplace.
Here is a verbatim extract from Web Retailer’s findings regarding cross border trade:
“Over 35% of the top 1,000 eBay sellers are serious cross-border traders – they are based in one country, and have a Premium (or Featured) eBay Store in another. That’s up from 31% in 2014.
Of those international eBay traders, 89% are based in China or Hong Kong – 315 sellers in total, up from 281 in 2014. To put it another way, 34 of the new sellers on the list are Chinese exporters – which accounts for most of the increase in cross-border trade overall.
Over half of all cross-border traders are Chinese sellers exporting direct to the US. In fact, 18% of all the top 1,000 eBay sellers are based in China with eBay Stores in the USA. That’s the same as in 2014.
A further 135 sellers –14.6% – are based in China or Hong Kong and export to other countries in the West. That’s up from 102 in 2014. So most of the increase in cross-border trade is businesses from China and Hong Kong selling to countries other than the US, particularly the UK where the increase is from 33 to 59 sellers.”
So this evidence is quite clear, as many eBay traders who have been commenting here on Tamebay say, there is growing competition from Chinese sellers.
So how are Top Sellers defined?
As Webretailer says: “they have gained the most positive feedback in the last 6 months, and they are all Premium Store owners (or the international equivalent such as Featured Shops in the UK).
Webretailer is extremely clear on the methodology, but it is worth noting that this is based on feedback. That’s information freely available from eBay and whilst not sales data, it’s a good indicator.
You can find the full list here.
31 Responses
Ebay’s USP was the unique and unusual products from a wide range of goods, the highlight being collectible, antiques, coins etc. This coupled with the auction style made ebay unique and fun. Now, when you talk to someone about ebay they talk about cheap tat for 99p that often breaks. They never mention an auction they are following and hope to win…. Ebay have forgotten their USP big time and the shrinking marketplace is a result; why else would JD and others be dumping their stock……
what this tells us is that ebay has lots of buyers
and the Chinese are good at selling to them,
nobody to blame but ourselves, were not grabbing our share
they have gained the most positive feedback ‘
eBay should encourage feedback to be given 30 days after they have bought the product, when it has failed because the build quality is rubbish.
Better yet, introduce a product feedback feature like Amazon has, given buyers the opportunity to actual know what they are buying.
What makes me laugh is Babz manage to feature twice in that list
Babz
bargain-bonanzaa
Ebay the place for cheap toot, I wonder if they have sorted out their accounts yet? time to take a look
I was thinking about Chinese Sellers on ebay the other day and if they could be the cause of their downfall and sliding results.
If we sell an item for say £6.99 with free delivery and I can bet the same items is available from a Chinese seller for .99p with free delivery, how many more of the .99p items have to sell to pay the same fees as I would for selling a £6.99 item.
Perhaps ebay should really think long and hard about clearing this clutter and focusing on selling the more expesive items? (by expensive I mean not .99p from China).
Ebay go on and on about buyers and great experiences, well waiting 3 weeks for your .99p items to arrive is not a great experience.
TRS status doesn’t seem to overide Chinese sellers either, they just flood the marketplace with products and over run categories.
Does this include chinese sellers using fake UK addresses and drop shippers, fake companies and vat numbers ? Because these are indeed a massive proportion.
Its not ebays fault, even if people consider it an ebay problem.
Its the failure of central government policy and HMRC to act that’s to blame.
Those moaning about VAT dodge, and the heavy cost of accounting for vat.
Consider a 1500 sqft space outside shanghai can be had for around 260-300 usd a month, no rates bills tiny compared to the UK. But don’t forget most chinese will laugh at you stating ‘ HA HA rich foriegner want such small warehouse’.
If you think its bad here, think how the amercians must feel.
Of course we won’t do anything about it untill they do.
could anyone let me know how chinese sellers can sell items of jewellery as stirling silver when it is only silver plated and after many negative feedbacks carry on selling and and come in tiffany blue boxes ?
I’m in the lucky position where I sell FAR more to China than I buy from China (I’m figuring that my Chinese buyers are marking up my goods at 3x the price when they arrive and are selling them locally, but I don’t care).
They may be sellers of tat now, but give it 5-10 years and they will be major buyers of EU and US goods.