As we’ve already economy in the States has slowed down. Naturally e-commerce has been affected by this downturn.
Meanwhile, Europe is in a much better situation as far as eBay is concerned. The first half of the year was somewhat dicey, but it has stabilised during Q3 according to Bob Swan, eBay CFO.
Nevertheless, he has other concerns about the fact that the value of the US dollar has weakened since July. This has also coincided with eBay’s recent purchase of Braintree.
It’s no secret situation across the Atlantic is in a mess with the recent Government shut down. US senators announced a deal to reopen Government, and missed defaulting on their national debt breadth. Nevertheless, this deal will only be in place until mid January. Will a second shutdown occur in the New Year? We’ll have to wait and see.
Possible issues in the UK: industrial action
Although we recently mentioned that consumers may have extra cash floating around in Q4, there are some potential issues. We’ve seen teachers striking so far, and the Royl Mail are planning to strike on November 4th if they can reach an agreement between the the Communication Workers Union (CWU)
Some people will lose a day’s pay if they choose to strike. However, when you take the teaching strike into account, it has a knock on effect. Many parents have needed to take time off to look after their kids. So, they may have lost out on pay too. Conversely, they may have had to pay more for the extra childcare for the entire day. So, this could cause many people to tighten their belts.
eBay is still maintaining its initial forecast for the whole of 2013, but they are predicting revenues coming in at the lower end of previous forecasts.
So, let’s see the figures:
· eBay predicts $4.5 billion and $4.6 billion revenue for Q4
· This means profits of 79 cents to 81 cents for each share
· Meanwhile, investors were hankering after for a revenue of $4.64 billion and 83 cents per share
· How eBay fares relies on Europe and the UK remaining relatively stable and good economic performance in the States
But enough about economics. How could this all effect your average UK seller? Hopefully it will be a case of business as usual. Generally we’re out to make money for our own businesses – not shareholders!
Nevertheless, there has been some discussion as to whether recent eBay updates have affected sales. This is highly subjective however. Some sellers are going great guns and seeing stable growth. If you’re not, your first call should be to check your listings and make sure they are visible to buyers.
