The gross value of goods sold on eBay’s U.S. marketplace increased 7.2% year over year to $9.48 billion from $8.84 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, the online marketplace reported Wednesday.
Globally, total gross merchandise volume grew 12.9% to $23.59 billion in Q1, up from $20.90 billion a year ago.
Net revenue for eBay’s global marketplaces, which comes from the fees paid by eBay’s sellers, increased 12.0% to $2.580 billion from $2.303 billion a year ago.
“We’re still in this pattern of getting a glimpse of something good one quarter and then a big shrug the next,” said Josh Olson, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co. “Their strategy is right in terms of investing in their data and the technology running the platform, but I question the execution since we’re still in this period of fits and starts.”
EBay has been focused on adding brands to its marketplace, CEO Devin Wenig said on a call with investors discussing the quarter’s results. “We’re extremely pleased with the rate of brand acquisition,” he said, according to a SeekingAlpha transcript. “[Brands] get sales from multiple channels that may not be around in a few years and they’re looking at their alternatives, and eBay is one of the very few at-scale marketplaces in the world, and we don’t compete with our sellers.”
“That’s very rare and unique,” he added, making the point that eBay doesn’t sell its own inventory, unlike its U.S. marketplace competitors Amazon.com Inc. (No. 3 in the 2018 Internet Retailer Online Marketplaces rankings) and Walmart Inc. (No. 11).
For the first quarter ended March 31, eBay also reported:
- Net income of $407 million, compared with $1.04 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Last year, eBay’s net income figures included a tax benefit of $695 million related to a legal entity restructuring.
- The value of goods sold on eBay’s marketplaces, not including sales on ticketing marketplace StubHub, was $22.55 billion, up 12.9% from $19.98 billion a year ago. Revenue from eBay’s marketplaces was $1.79 billion, up 11.2% from $1.61 billion. 61% of eBay’s marketplace revenue is international.
- For StubHub, eBay’s concert and sports ticketing marketplace, gross merchandise volume rose 13.8% year over year to $1.04 billion. Revenue for StubHub was $231 million, up 12.1% from $206 million.
Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
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