Yes, I agree that figures can be 'glossed' or 'spun' to come to very different conclusions but in support of @litp*records interpretation I'd add my experience of selling on another site, much smaller and less well known than ebay.
After years of sales that rarely got above single figures a year, as my ebay sales declined I began to notice a corresponding increase in sales on the other site, slowly but surely over several years. (Admittedly not too difficult for a very low volume seller, selling collectables, which I regard as an erratic area anyway) At the end of 2019 I had sold 25 items on ebay and 5 items on the other site.
At the end of 2020, with lock-down and furlough from work reducing wages, sales on ebay were 16. Sales on the other site were 26. At the time I put this down to buyers, at home with time on their hands browsing more and different sites. But, apart from a dip in 2021, when things got back to something like normal, that reversal has continued every year since. 2023's ebay sales were 13, the other site 24.
So far this year, ebay 1 sale, the other site 18 so far. Admittedly I've more or less given-up on ebay this year and don't list much after the last two years dismal performance. I think something changed during Lock-down for many buyers. They had the time and evidently the inclination to start looking beyond ebay and they stopped automatically searching on ebay first.
Regarding ebays revenue and how it's remained consistent over the last ten years. It's been noted here by many that over those years that as sales fall, the percentage ebay takes in fees has increased, to prop up revenue.
While the revenue figures up to 2014 included paypal, subsequently they included revenue from MP. Which I remember the CEO at the time saying would increase ebays figures (I can't remember by how many billions).
Even within the last quarters' revenue figures and for a few more over the last couple of years, it has been noted that the only growth area has been PL fees and in his Last Quarter Report the CEO (I'm pretty sure) actually mentioned that PL was "propping-up" revenue.
All in all, to me, that looks like ebay has turned from a sales generating platform, deriving its main revenue from increasing sales. Into a fee generating platform, relying less on sales and more on MP, PL and all the rest of its fees to maintain its revenue in the face of falling sales.
And I have to say that with the increased complexity of using ebay, its anti-small time seller policies and above all, how expensive it now is to sell on, compared with the other site, I don't see the situation being reversed.
