With the announcement yesterday that Doug Caffey, founder of GotAcres.com sold the 15,000th parcel of land in eBay Real Estate's land marketplace, questions were raised - how well is eBay Real Estate really doing?

According to an eBay spokesperson, eBay categorizes property sales four ways:

1. Residential - includes new homes, foreclosed homes, and resale homes
2. Timeshares
3. Parcels
4. Commercial real estate

"It's important to note," said the spokesperson, "that homes were selling at eBay before we set up eBay Real Estate. When we noticed that homes were selling, we decided to create a special section devoted to all types of real estate."

What makes eBay's announcement about the parcel sales reaching a watermark of 15,000 noteworthy is that the Parcel area is only two months old, which indicates a lot of traction in the sector. Are existing homes doing as well?

Getting an exact number by property category is a little trickier, says the spokesperson. First, property sales are divided into two types of listings - ads and auctions, and some properties may appear in both areas. Second, listings can be divided into 30-day, 60-day, or 90-day which also makes it tougher to nail down sales figures.

"What we can say is that through all four categories," said the spokesperson, "a property is sold every 34 minutes on eBay." That's roughly 60,000 homes a year, less the parcels."

Editor's note: An alert reader notes that two homes per hour sold X 24 hours/day X 365 days/year = 17,520 properties/year.

Why the boom in land sales compared to other categories? eBay's strength is consumer to consumer. "Most of the parcels are consumer to consumer," explained the spokesperson.

eBay Real Estate was formed in 2000. In August 2001, eBay announced the acquisition of HomesDirect, an auction facilitator for properties. Timeshares were added in January, 2002. In May, 2002, the site added New Homes through its partnership with Builder Homesites, a cooperative of some of the nation's largest builders. New homes also marks the companies venture into business to consumer sales. In the new home category, consumers can work directly with builders or their agents.

In eBay's residential area, there are currently 13,000 properties for sale, including over 10,000 new homes, and over 400 resale homes.

Published: August 14, 2002

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.