EBay Feels Effects of Economy

AOL article: EBay Profit Plunges 31 Percent. http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/bbdp/ebay-profit-revenue-fall-amid-recession/313720

EBay's quarterly earnings have fell 31 percent showing that the rough economy is also hurting Internet auctions as well as other online retailers and traditional retail stores. Chief executive John Donahoe blames the loss on the macro-economy. Despite the loss, the number of active users has rose almost 4 percent.

This surprises me. I would have thought that Internet auctions would have done well during the economic downturn. I would think that people would be selling more of what they didn't need anymore, and others would want to buy items possibly cheaper or used. It's also weird that the number of active users has rose, but the sales have fallen significantly. Also, instead of blaming the loss on the macro-economy, maybe Ebay should look at their selling practices. They ended up charging the sellers more money for the convenience of using their site. Some of the loss of sales could be part of that. I don't think they should hastily jump to the economy as an easy blame of their problems.