20+ eBay Stats To Confirm The Marketplace’s Popularity in 2023

eBay may sound obsolete to Millennials and Gen Z… and even though it seems the online marketplace is indeed losing its popularity, it’s still actively used by older customers.

In this article, we’ve collected a number of eBay stats (you probably haven’t heard of) proving the platform’s popularity in 2022. Read our list to find out more!

Riveting eBay Facts (Editor’s Choice):

• Initially launched in 1995, eBay’s original name was “AuctionWeb.”
• 182 million people use the ecommerce platform globally.
• As of January 2022, there are 19 million sellers on eBay.
• Users in the 35-64 age group make up 61% of eBay’s audience.
• In 2019, the worth of transferred goods was over $22 million.
• The gross merchandising volume on the online marketplace reached $100 billion in 2020.
• Two billion transactions are made on eBay every day.

eBay Users

Now that you are familiar with some general eBay stats, it’s time we got into the specifics. First, we’ll dive into the company’s user base and reveal how many people still use eBay actively.

1. As of March 2021, eBay has 182 million active users.

(Source: Oberlo)

The number has increased on a yearly basis, marking a seven percent growth from March 2020.

2. Most eBay sellers are from the US.

(Source: Statista)

Statistics on eBay’s demographics show that 31% of sellers are located in the US. The next five on the list are the United Kingdom with 29%, Germany (15%), China (12%), and Australia (4%).

3. The US accounts for the highest number of visits as well.

(Source: SimilarWeb)

In January 2022, 78.61% of eBay visits came from the US. The States were followed by Canada with 1.49%, Russia (1.42%), the UK (0.96%), and Mexico (0.95%). The remaining 16.57% of the traffic came from the rest of the world.

4. eBay operates in 190 different countries.

(Source: Oberlo)

eBay has spread across almost all countries around the globe. It’s one of the leading ecommerce platforms, so it probably won’t come as a surprise that 57% of its revenue comes from international operations.

5. In 2021, eBay was downloaded 599 million times.

(Source: Business of Apps)

eBay downloads continue to grow with each passing year. In 2017, the platform was downloaded 347 million times. Just three years later, in 2020, their number reached the 500 million mark. By now, they’ve most probably surpassed 600 million.

eBay Buyer Stats

eBay has millions of active users buying, selling, browsing through its selection of goods. Let’s dive deeper into their consumer behavior and learn more about how they use the website, where its actual traffic comes from, and so much more.

6. As of Q2 2021, there are 159 million buyers on eBay.

(Source: Statista)

Their number has been dropping since Q4 2018 when the total active buyers were 179 million. Even though there was a slight decrease, a vast majority of people still use eBay. A 2017 survey amongst eBay users has found that 16% of them place at least one order on the platform every week.

7. eBay got 829.5 million visits in January 2022.

(Source: SimilarWeb)

According to eBay traffic stats, the online marketplace has been getting more than 800 million views in the last three months. The average visit duration is six minutes and 45 seconds, while the pages per visit number is 6,88.

This puts eBay 33rd in the “most visited website globally” ranking. However, the company is 14th in the US and second in the category eCommerce and Shopping > Marketplace.

eBay Sales Stats

We have become familiar with most of the important demographic eBay facts, so we would now be moving forward to the eBay selling stats. Some of them will surely surprise you, so make sure to stick with us!

8. The first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer.

(Source: eBay)

When creating the website in 1995, Pierre Omidyar listed a broken laser pointer as its first item. The person who bought it for $14.83—the first eBay buyer ever—was Mark Fraser.

9.  The most expensive item sold on eBay is a yacht.

(Source: KHAOS CONTROL)

The 405-foot super yacht designed by Frank Mulder was sold for $168 million, making it the most expensive item sold on the online marketplace. It was bought by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

10. As of 2021, there are 19 million sellers on eBay.

(Source: Business of Apps)

The highest number of sellers was hit in 2014—25 million people were selling on eBay then. However, they have been continuously decreasing for the past years, reaching 19 million in 2021.

11.  80% of items sold on eBay are new and unused.

(Source: Business of Apps)

Contrary to popular belief, most items sold on the online marketplace are new. At the beginning, eBay was more of an auction place but it has changed its approach over the years. Interestingly enough, eBay stats show that old items sell at higher rates than new ones. In general, 40% of listed items get sold on eBay.

What’s more, most of the items listed on eBay are shipped for free. In 2019, 71% of sold products had a shipping fee of $0.

12. 1.7 million items are listed on eBay.

(Source: Oberlo)

“Electronics” and “Accessories” are eBay’s top selling categories. In order to help sellers decide what to offer, we created a useful guide on how to sell better.

This leads quite logically to the fact that one of the top sellers on eBay in 2022 will be Mobile Phone and Accessories. The category has been out in front for quite a while now. In terms of brand, customers look mostly for iPhone cases.

Predictions suggest other categories will also make profitable eBay sales in 2022. They will likely include “Health and Beauty,” “Home and Garden,” “Computer and Tablets,” etc.

13. The average eBay seller earns around $35,000 per year.

(Source: Small Business Trends)

Some people manage to make as much as $70,000 a year. Naturally, the amount of money you earn depends on several factors such as how much inventory you sell, the price of your products, and if there are any extra expenses.

14. A Californian town was listed on eBay twice.

(Source: KHAOS CONTROL)

Bridgeville is a town in California, which has been listed for sale on eBay not once, but twice! In 2002, it was almost sold for $1,77 million but the buyer gave up the offer at the last minute. Bridgeville’s actual sale happened in 2006. The price? Around $1,400,000!

eBay Revenue

The number of eBay users and sellers might be substantial still but as we have seen, has been slowly decreasing nevertheless. Did this have any impact on the company’s revenue or its market share? Let’s find out!

15. In 2020, eBay’s annual revenue was $10.2 billion.

(Source: Business of Apps)

The company’s highest reported revenue was in 2013 ($16 billion). However, this also included income from PayPal since the latter was acquired by eBay on October 3, 2002. Their split was completed on July 20, 2015.

16. As of February 2020, eBay holds 4.7% market share.

(Source: pattern)

When ranking ecommerce sales share, eBay stands at third after industry giants Amazon (38,7%) and Walmart (5,3%). The other seven forming the top 10 list are Apple, The Home Depot, Wayfair, Best Buy, Target, Costco, and Masy’s.

17. In 2020, eBay’s net income was $5,6 billion.

(Source: Business of Apps)

eBay’s profit varies each year—it has no linear increase or decrease. In 2020, the platform had the highest net income ever, though probably that’s due to the pandemic outbreak in February of the same year.

18. eBay’s GMV (Gross merchandise volume) reached $100 billion in 2020.

(Source: Marketplace Pulse)

The Gross merchandise volume shows the total value of all successfully closed transactions on the online marketplace. The last reported quarter was Q1 2021 with a GMV of $27,46 billion.

19. eBay still offers free listings in 2022.

(Source: eBay)

By having free listings, you will get the chance to list items for sale in a variety of categories without an insertion fee. However, it is still possible for other fees to be applied.

People with “No Store” and “Starter Store” packages receive up to 250 free listings every month. Sellers with a higher eBay Store will get more.

20. eBay processes around two billion transactions per day.

(Source: BigCommerce)

If you are wondering whether eBay is still popular in 2022, then this will probably answer any doubts you might have. Two billion transactions per day is a huge number and probably the reason the company is still leading the ecommerce platforms chart.

21. Pierre Omidyar founded eBay.

(Source: Investopedia)

The French-born Pierre Omidyar founded then-called AuctionWeb in 1995. He started the company on Labor Day weekend with the idea to bring buyers and sellers together.

Omidyar hired his first employee in June 1996 in order to receive help in managing AuctionWeb’s drastic growth. The company was renamed eBay a year later, in September 1997.

22. Different funds and shareholders own eBay.

(Source: Investopedia)

The founder Pierre Omidyar is still the company’s largest shareholder, owning around 45 million shares. 

However, eBay has other shareholders as well. The other three largest are John Donahoe, Devin Wenig, and Michael Jacobson, while the five biggest institutional ones are Benchmark Capital Management Co. LLC, The Vanguard Group, Icahn Associates Holding LLC, SSgA Funds Management, Inc., and The Baupost Group LLC.

Wrap Up

Even though we can definitely see a decline in eBay’s users, people still buy and sell a lot of goods on the marketplace. After all, eBay is still the third biggest ecommerce platform in the US, and as such, it sure looks like it’s going to keep its leading position… at least for now.

Do you have any predictions for how these eBay stats will look in the rest of 2022?