Consumers cut back on internet selling

HOUSEHOLDERS are reportedly turning their back on the internet for selling unwanted goods, despite Ireland being home to website auction giant eBay.

New figures show the numbers of consumers using the internet to sell goods and services over the past three months tumbled almost 10% to 92,900 compared with the same period in 2006.

Dublin is home to the European headquarters of the world’s biggest internet auction site, eBay, which employs 1,200 staff in Ireland.

Figures released yesterday indicated the most popular online activities among Irish consumers last year included researching goods and services, along with spending money.

Flights and holidays were the most popular online purchases, followed by tickets, films and music.

Last year consumers bought 529,700 flights and holidays online — with the total number of purchases up 17.7% on 2006.

The number of online purchases of tickets for music and sporting events rose 11% to 303,200 transactions last year.

Consumers went online to purchase films and music on 262,900 occasions in 2007 compared with 221,000 the year before.

Ireland’s most popular online activity was emailing, with 1,277,100 consumers saying they had sent or received emails within the past three months.

Almost all online activities, including liaising with public bodies, showed an increase in popularity within the past three months. The only exception was the “selling goods and services” category, which saw a 10,200 dip in the number of householders shifting unwanted goods online on auction websites like eBay.

The figures, published yesterday by the Government’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), show lots more householders have a broadband line, which allows computers to send and receive information faster on the internet.

In 2006 just 13% of homes had a broadband connection yet last year the percentage jumped to 31% while the numbers of businesses with broadband rose from 61% to 68%.

Overall the percentage of Irish households with dial-up, broadband or other internet connection was 57% last year. This put Ireland marginally ahead of the European norm of 54% but way behind table-topping Holland at 83%. The figure for Britain and the North was 67%.

Of Ireland’s 1,525,100 households, 65.4% have a home computer and of these nearly 87% are linked up to an internet connection.

The CSO also found 1.92m men and women — or more than half Ireland’s 3.38m adult population — have used a computer during their life.

Almost three-quarters of men and women in the 25 to 34 age bracket had used a computer, compared with 25.9% of those aged 65 to 74.

Almost 63% of adults residing in the southern and eastern regions had used a computer at home, at work or elsewhere compared with 56% in the border, midland and western counties.