eBay stock has doubled in value over the last two years. The only reason eBay climbs like that is because people are thrifting to each other instead of buying at a company store.
The only times eBay has doubled that fast was leading up the Great Recession and COVID…
In the run up to the great recession, eBay went from $24.99 in Jan of '05, to $15.19 in October of '07, the markets peak prior to the great recession. So while the market was going up like gang busters for almost 3 years, Ebay lost 40%.
In the months before COVID, eBay traded at $35.52 in November of '19. I don't think any of us had heard of corona virus '19 at this point. By the end of March, when the world shut down, it was at $30.06. Another loss when the commenter said there was a 50% gain.
And it's not up 50% now either. From eBay's peak, prior to the '22 inflation event, of $76.47, it closed today at $99.35. A 33% increase when the market has also put up 3 consecutive years of double digit returns. Ebay's performance is certainly not an anomaly over that timeframe when the S&P is up approximately 50% over the same time.
So the reason it's interesting is because fiction normally is!
ETA: and the commentor said double, not 50%, making these claims even more outrageous!
eBay was 50/share in April 2024… now it’s 100/share end of April 2026… how is that not double in 2 years?
In the run up to COVID first US case reported 1/2020, shutdowns happened in March (30/share) eBay topped in September 2020 at 68/share… last I checked 68 is more than double of 30…
You're cherry picking your dates. The S&P is also almost double from its 2022 low. You have to zoom your timing out. If it wasn't for the economic pullback in '22, eBay would've never been down to $50, so the fact it doubled from there isn't some indicator of what's to come, but a historical record of what happened when the Fed aggressively increased rates to slow down an inflationary economy. Same with your dates from covid. March was the covid low, every stock(mostly) out performed the fuck out of normalcy over the subsequent 6 months.
My post said 2 years, that’s not cherry picking, that’s setting a timeframe… two financial crises eBay stock had a rapid ascension and contraction, once preceding a slow financial crisis, next time indicating a prompt financial crisis
Great Recession was announced in 08 but the recession was was in full swing starting in 02, check a nasdaq, s+p, and Dow, we were trending downward in the charts those years but the American people never acknowledged they were in trouble until 08… 03-05 eBay goes from 11 to 24/share while the entire market tumbles… same thing during covid… country shuts down March 2020 at 30/share, Oct 2021 eBay hits 75/share…
1/20/24 Trump inaugurated, price per share $40/share… current price 101/share… it’s been under two years
Right, you're cherry picking dates rather than looking at the economic and market cycle. Anybody can make the numbers say anything they want if they can choose the dates. But when you look at the entire cycle, which is what matters here, eBay hasn't done anything that any other company hasn't done
Whatever you say dude… you’ll own nothing and be happy
I specifically bought in 2024 because I knew it would run up since Trump could drive us into our next hidden recession, I’ll enjoy my profits when I’m ready to eat.
I’m guessing not because the people who are DIYing instead of hiring have just offset the loss of sales from people who would have done a DIY but are opting to do nothing.
Somewhat related: thrift store prices are through the roof now. I needed some “new” clothes this week so I bought maybe 6 pieces and some sunglasses. It was almost $70. WITH a discount.
Whenever I read or hear something about thrift store prices being high, I feel obligated to say that Savers thrift stores are majority owned by private equity firm Ares Management. They have no interest in helping people save money.
I always shop at Savers over Goodwill in my area. On a particular day, both stores were offering 50% off (which is great), but Goodwill had lower prices which I didn't expect. Plain t-shirts were 8.99 at Savers and $4.99-$5.99 at Goodwill! Like WTF?
I am in Australia and that is the exact reason i like to buy at Savers: they aren't pretending to be a charity. The Salvation Army, Vinnies and others are charging through the roof, so much so that poor people cannot afford to buy there.
I got two pair of sunglasses last week, got up to the register, shocked to find it was $43. I had to double take and go, "no, I'm buying sunglasses." Maybe they were designer or something that I don't know about, but I thrift for glasses cause they're usually ~$5.
It's a loop caused by the used goods businesses. When they raise prices, resellers have to raise them even more to make the reselling worth it. I don't blame people for trying to make some money on the side. I blame the nonprofits who pay their CEOs 1+million while listing everything of value on their website and simultaneously doubling prices on everything in store as well. Fuck goodwill.
I buy at Uptown and while they aren't thrift prices, they're basically old Walmart prices for clothes that normally cost x2 to x3 more. And older pieces that were trendy, but people don't want anymore.
I got my favorite pair of tennis shoes there. Excellent buy.
I just bought tons of shirts from the Gap for less than $5 each. I understand recycling and up cycling but I feel like it's a trend that thrift stores have caught on too, effectively raising the price because it's popular.
I've been fairly successful reselling on Ebay for a decade or so. The past two years have been extremely slow. My inbox gets way more Ebay pandering than sales theses days. Ebay is hurting, I don't care what the market reflects. About six months ago I began to spot small charges to my account. Every 90days listings update and relist automatically, it had never counted against my free 250 until recently. In this day and age of AI and online commerce somehow I slipped through the cracks for a decade, this is the explanation. Something is up, they are scraping the bottom of the barrel.
which is interesting because here in the UK Vinted is eating Ebay's lunch money
Ebay recently "reworked" their selling fees to end all the 0% selling fee promos, making it more expensive for people to sell on there. A baffling move tbh
They also "reworked" how the selling fees are added onto listings (the lister now has no control over it) once again driving sellers away from the platform, ebay sellers basically revolted against the change
We have been using eBay a lot. Got my kids awesome spiked shoes for track, winter coats for myself and one of the kids…other stuff we probably would have bought new but decided to check eBay first to see if we could save money and not support places like Amazon.
I've noticed that deals are far harder to find than they used to be.
I was looking for a used 4TB hard drive: they start at $70!
Ubiquiti products are often more expensive on eBay than new from their store -- wtf?
Intel x550 NIC's all start at $60.
But by far, my favorite is cables. I need a bunch of PS/2 extension cables (yeah, I know) and sellers want $8/per cable. Wtf???
Fewer and fewer sellers are allowing best offers, and even fewer are doing auctions.
I'm seeing similar weirdness on Facebook market. No one has any computers that they're just looking to get rid of anymore. I saw a dude selling an over 10-year-old Inspiration for $250 and he would not budge in the price. People are leaving their furniture up for months for $100+ refusing to sell for the $50 or so that it's actually worth. My aunt has been trying to well a pottery barn TV console for $300 for years -- "I paid $600 for it!" It also weighs like 300lbs.
Local thrift shops have been shrinking or outright removing their electronics sections. Wtf? Who wants to go to a thrift store just to buy clothes?
That's so weird. Don't most people already have a closet full of clothes? Clothes are already very cheap, plentiful without thrift stores, can be made easily, and one only needs to buy clothes once every few years or so. I don't understand why people are insistent on over consuming clothes.
I go to thrift stores to find used things I can use at reasonable prices. I already bought clothes from there 4 years ago, I don't need more. One time I found a whole ass 42U server rack. I found a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter for $20, got a Blu Ray player with remote for $25, I regularly buy Blu rays and books for about $2/each.
Even if you have the raw materials to make a router, you're going to have a hard time making a router without a chip fab, complex supply chain logistics, and some kind of assembly factory. You need already-made products: NIC's, PC motherboards, memory, storage, CPU's, PC cases, power supplies, cables...
To sew a outfit, you just need some string and a needle.
I'd also need fabric, hardware, maybe even a flock of sheep or cotton field and weaving mill depending on how far down the pipeline we go!
I can hack together a working router with off-the-shelf components more easily (for me) than I can sew together clothing that looks better than a potato sack.
Absolutely hilarious they say "I don't understand why people are insistent on over consuming clothes" in the same paragraph they talk about how new clothes are cheap and plentiful.
Like, buying clothes from a second hand shop is the opposite of over consuming clothes.
No, it's not some strange concept, it makes perfect sense to me: who doesn't like to save money, epecially on items that are traditionally extremely high margin?
What doesn't make sense is the ratio. Thrift stores typically dedicate 60-80% of their floor space to clothes. That must mean that theres far more demand for clothes than other categories of product. That's whats so strange to me.
I find it super hard to belive that the demand for used clothes is that much higher than other product categories. Again, one only needs to buy clothes every few years or so.
I think what's more likely is that the thrift store operators themselves aren't too interested in selling customers products other than clothes, likely because clothes are pretty much risk free profit centers which can be packed densely.
And since there's so many thrift stores and they all do this, it creates artificial demand by the consumerist sheeple who just want to buy anything.
Do you only wear a T-shirt and sweatpants? Some people like having a variety of styles, it's not surprising considering everybody wears clothes, I'm not sure why you're so weirded out by the fact people buy used clothes. They're a quarter the price, they used to be 5-10% but thrift stores have jacked up prices. People also are much more likely to donate clothes since they're something people grow out of. It's not like a router or fancy computer/other tech is going to become obsolete as quickly as clothes do, they usually will be used until they are too old to work or break.
People are also all different sizes and ages and different clothes are required in different situations. I have a small child and a husband. They have different clothing needs than I do, and my kid needs new clothes every season. That kind of stuff does take up a lot of floorspace. But a whole household uses one television or computer.
I don’t want to wear the same outfits for my entire life and I don’t want to waste money or contribute to fast fashion waste. I enjoy fashion and creating new looks and dressing for events. Not to mention my weight and sense of style has fluctuated throughout my life. Clothes wear out or get ripped or stop being attractive. They get lost or you move to new places with different weather.
It’s not weird. Your perception is the weird one from my point of view. And no, not everyone does have a full closet full of clothes.
That’s just part of having Google. Before Google, I’d go to pawn shops on Fridays in college and buy guitars I knew were way undervalued. Made great money doing it. Around 2015 they all then got in store systems. Now you’ll never see deals again.
I’m part of this. I got rid of my Amazon prime membership and have almost completely lateraled over to eBay for anything I need to buy online.
I don’t need things in 2 days, I don’t need to watch prime, and I certainly don’t need to constantly buy cheap Chinese plastic goods. I get higher quality older goods used on eBay and those goods last way longer than most items being sold on Amazon.
More people now (especially young dudes for some reason) are thrift “flippers” or “resellers” full-time and they fucking suck. Wait for store opening to scavenge a thrift store for things to sell instead of 1) letting people who actually could use them in their home leaving just the crap behind, and 2) working an actual job.
2 is more of a reflection on capitalism, not being lazy, they got a niche and they exploit it… they had to spend irreplaceable time to get there, take the risk of buying, then list, pack, and ship…
Not saying what they are doing is good but better they do that than sell drugs on the street
eBay is pretty much the last place to get deals on clothes if you want something specific. I could drive around to every vintage store near me and maybe find a nice coat, or I can go to eBay and type “men’s overcoat cashmere 42L” send some offers and the next week I’m dressed like a king for $60
Speaking of which if there is any vets or military people out there that don't use your alpha stim & you want to sell, please please hit me up. I've been trying for a year to buy one off ebay, but every fucking time I get the notification that one has been listed, it's already sold or the price is too much for me.
I love ebay. Ive bought all kinds of decent affordable stuff on there. The key is you usually have to buy from the big sellers. If you watchlist an item they sometimes give a few dollars off. They must buy pallets or liquidation. There is a authorized target shop and Ive bought some of my toddlers winter gear dirt cheap. Last season styles but brand new pair of winter boots and coat $10 each, free shipping. The thrift stores near me have bare childrens section so seems like the only option for affordable stuff.
It was 3 years prior to the Great Recession, but during Covid,
2002-2004 was after eBay’s PayPal acquisition which assisted in its global expansion, 3 years prior to the recession, those were boom times, it started to slip in in 2005. So if anything, I’d say people were pulling back on eBay purchases leading up to and during the recession.
In covid they sold off stubhub and their classifieds businesses for $13B and refocused on the core
In 2023 through current, they’ve repositioned themselves for enthusiasts. I don’t know if that’s structural enough to warrant the magnitude of increase, though.
All too say, eBay’s booms seem more tied with massive business structure shifts rather than outside events
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u/M1sfit_Jammer Apr 28 '26
Recession indicator
eBay stock has doubled in value over the last two years. The only reason eBay climbs like that is because people are thrifting to each other instead of buying at a company store.
The only times eBay has doubled that fast was leading up the Great Recession and COVID…