Overstock.com CEO Hopes eBay sellers will bring Customers

Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne has made some interesting comments today under a message board post titled "Stormy, Meghan, and Auctions".

"Listings have dropped almost as far as we wanted them to; we see that the sell through rates are many, many times higher than they have ever been on our site". At last count Overstock's total listing volume was down 90% since the site changes began.

" i know that I made a few abrupt moves on the controls some weeks ago, because we wanted to start off the new year right. I am sorry about that, but we are very glad we did, because every auctions metric that we care about has turned around sharply."

It would appear that Merchants and Overstock itself may be concerned about different metrics. Sellers have been attempting to increase profits while managing costs associated with listing on Overstock. Overstock is attempting to decrease listing counts while increasing revenue (Fees) from individual merchants.

Perhaps the most unusual aspect of Patrick's post:

"Here is a question: it is our hope that by getting conversation rates up as they are now, sellers will gradually realize that they can list more items (I think the average seller now lists more than a dozen at a time). I expect they will experiment, increasing the numbers bit by bit, to see what our traffic supports. I also expect, or at least hope, that as word starts getting out into the eBay community, a few more sellers may come try things. And lastly, I get the impression that some eBay groups are sticky, that is, that some sellers will bring dedicated buyers when they come. How realistic does this sound? "

Considering that Overstock Auctions has failed to deliver the "O-Outlets" promised to sellers at eBay Live, and cancellation of the subscription pricing sold to merchants at eBay live it doesn't seem very realistic at all.