Although sales growth on Amazon’s marketplace slowed to 32.4% in October from 37.9% in September, the rate is still twice the rate of the overall e-commerce growth of 15%, according to data from ChannelAdvisor clients who sell on the platform. And it’s more than seven times higher than the sales growth on eBay.

ChannelAdvisor produces monthly reports that compare its merchant clients’ sales through various online marketplaces   and marketing channels, including Amazon.com, eBay Inc. and Google Shopping.

In addition to the sales growth, Amazon’s fulfillment and shipping program Fulfillment by Amazon continues to grab a larger share of goods sold on Amazon. In October, 41.7% of gross merchandise volume sold on Amazon’s marketplace was fulfilled through the program. That’s an increase from 38.2% in October 2013.

In addition, some ChannelAdvisor clients are letting Amazon, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2014 Top 500 Guide, deliver orders they take on their own web sites. The percentage of gross merchandise value sold by ChannelAdvisor clients on their own sites and shipped through the Fulfillment by Amazon program was 1.4%, up from 1.2% a year ago. That was slightly down from 1.9% in August.

On the other hand, eBay’s same-store sales grew just 4.4% in October. That’s down from 8.9% growth in September. EBay’s fixed-price sales grew 2.6% in October compared to the same month in 2013. In September, eBay’s fixed-price sales grew 7.6% year over year.

The eBay Defect Rate, which penalizes sellers with high return rates in its seller performance rankings, has had a negative effect on sales growth, says Scot Wingo, ChannelAdvisor’s CEO, especially in the used electronics category. “It seems a consequence of this new system is that sellers of used/refurbished items are having to significantly reduce their inventory and it has created a headwind on same store sales,” he writes in a blog post. The eBay Defect Rate was introduced in August.

ChannelAdvisor also reported same-store sales for comparison shopping engines grew 4.2% in October, a decrease from September’s 6.6% growth rate. In that category, sales on Google Shopping were up 13.7% year over year, a decrease from September’s 45.2% growth. The conversion rate increased to 2.20% from 2.32% in October 2013, and average order value increased to $125.09, a 31.9% increased from $94.86 in October 2013.

 

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