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If you've been having poor sales over the last 8 to 10 weeks, it could be the economy according to eBay - that is, if its CFO's assessment hasn't been influenced by downing too much NyQuil.

eBay has seen some discouraging signs in the U.S. economy and during its quarterly conference call on Wednesday, its Chief Financial Officer was pessimistic to the point that CEO John Donahoe felt the need to back-peddle (sort of) in an interview a few hours after the call.

I have been listening to eBay, Amazon and Overstock.com quarterly earnings calls for over a decade, and I was struck last week by Swan's characterizations:

"the U.S. ecommerce softened considerably"

"dramatically decelerating U.S. ecommerce growth rate"

"rapid deceleration" (referring to the U.S. market)

And as EcommerceBytes reported on Thursday, Swan said during the earnings call he was not expecting any improvement from what he's observed over the last 8 - 10 weeks. (Hmm, just a day before the earnings call, EcommerceBytes had published eBay Sellers Theorize on Reasons for Low Sales with an accompanying blog post, Tips for Getting over the eBay Sales Slump.)

Aside from the 2008 recession, I don't recall such pessimism from an ecommerce firm.

In an interview with the ATD blog later that day, eBay CEO John Donahoe said the news came across "more negative than intended" because he and Swan had head colds (Swan definitely had the sniffles during the call), but he reiterated eBay's cautious outlook on the fourth quarter and said, "I don't think we are seeing anything different than others are seeing; we just report first."

Of course, it's true that many of us are waiting with bated breath for Amazon's earnings report on Thursday to see if its CFO has any color on the prospects for this year's holiday sales.

The irony, as David reminded me, is that eBay used to be recession proof. When people's budgets were tight, they'd sell a few things on eBay to raise some cash.

Also perplexing are unannounced eBay crackdowns. We'd written about one in August, and again this month. This is striking a chord with readers, with close to 150 comments and 100 Facebook likes on the blog post. Let us know what you think by posting a comment on the EcommerceBytes Blog.

I'm writing today's editorial from Atlanta, where the Online News Association conference is taking place. Unlike attending an ecommerce event, I'm here to gather information I can use as a reporter, editor and publisher of EcommerceBytes rather than reporting on the event, and I will be bringing back some ideas to help me continue to bring online sellers compelling content.

In today's issue, Julia Wilkinson talks to some sellers about their favorite selling tools and asks you to share your favorites on the AuctionBytes Blog. Greg Holden has some photo tips, Michele Alice shares the story of interesting pottery in today's Collectors Corner, and we've got the ever popular letters to the editor.

Let's hope you're not experiencing a sales slump, and here's to accelerating holiday sales - thanks for reading!

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About the author:

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.

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