I have often wondered why Ebay hasn’t become the place to be to list real estate. It seems natural to me that their huge audience would be drawn to a real estate section the way that they are with the Ebay Motors product. I never think to look to Ebay when it comes to real estate because the listings are just not there. Sure, there are some, but for the most part, listings are scarce.
Here is a sad example. In New York state, there should be thousands of real estate listings. In fact, a quick search of a rival “classified” type site named Oodle.com turns up 2,262 listings in Buffalo, NY alone. Not the whole state of NY as I pulled on Ebay, just Buffalo New York. On Ebay, the entire state of NY returned 14 listings! That’s right, 14 listings. Who would even bother to go there. Visitors will move toward the listings when searching for real estate.
Ebay Listings in New York:
Ebay real estate
Oodle.com Listings in Buffalo NY:
Buffalo Real Estate on Oodle
Why isn’t Ebay able to generate real estate listings at their site? There are a number of reasons, but here are the two primary ones:
- Price
To list a property on Ebay, it is expensive (Fee table below). Expensive is relative, but based upon the options out there for someone looking to sell a property, the cost outweigh the potential reach. I can only assume that the reach is poor based solely on the listing results. - Audience
If they are heading to Ebay as one of the top few listing sites, I don’t care to be there at their price. When you search for real estate, you probably find yourself hitting a few sites and quickly realize that you are seeing the same listings across multiple sites. Because listings are scarce in Ebay Real Estate, they don’t have an opportunity to capture audience during the short window when someone is searching.
Ebay Real Estate Listing Fees:
Ebay Real Estate Listing Fees
I hope Ebay’s leadership takes a long look at their real estate category. As with EbayMotors.com, they could be a dominant force in this space.
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