eBay.com.au and Australian/Kiwi women’s sport

This entry was posted by Laura on Saturday, 27 November, 2010 at

eBay is an extremely popular site in Australia. Alexa pegs it as the 6th most popular in the country. It is similar to a digital garage sale, only there is an economic incentive to only submit items that the seller things can actually sell. If they don’t sell, the seller makes no money and may be subjected to additional eBay related fees.

Sport related goods are a huge part eBay. For men’s Australian sport, there is a category for the AFL and one for the NRL. On November 27, there were over 42,643 items in the AFL category alone. On a page of auction only AFL results, 12 of the 50 items listed had bids. People might not be buying everything but over 20% had bids, which seems really good.

Given all this, it seems to be a fair assumption that the volume of items related to a team or athlete indicate a certain level of popularity.

The tables below are sorted by league/federation and can begin to give an idea of relative popularity of a team or player. As other networks have demonstrated, the volume around a player/team increases during periods when they are in competition. The level of merchandise available for the AFL suggests that this pattern may not hold. A variety of factors clearly influence when items are listed. Until more data is available, it be likely best to assume that merchandise will be available at all times, with volume peaking around important sport related events or major news stories.

ANZ Championship

There is some merchandise available for ANZ Championship teams. It does not appear like there is consistently merchandise of some available for all teams. In this case, it seems likely that there would be an increase in items during the season.

Team Search All Items Checked
Adelaide Thunderbirds Adelaide Thunderbirds 1 16-Nov-10
Adelaide Thunderbirds Adelaide Thunderbirds 0 27-Nov-10
ANZ Championship ANZ Championship 0 16-Nov-10
ANZ Championship ANZ Championship 0 27-Nov-10
Melbourne Vixens Melbourne Vixens 0 16-Nov-10
Melbourne Vixens Melbourne Vixens 0 27-Nov-10
New South Wales Swifts New South Wales Swifts 4 16-Nov-10
New South Wales Swifts New South Wales Swifts 1 27-Nov-10
Queensland Firebirds Queensland Firebirds 1 16-Nov-10
Queensland Firebirds Queensland Firebirds 0 27-Nov-10
West Coast Fever West Coast Fever 0 16-Nov-10
West Coast Fever West Coast Fever 0 27-Nov-10

Athletics Australia

Despite recent appearances at the Commonwealth Games by many of these female athletes, it does not appear to have translated into people selling merchandise featuring them. Additional visibility of these athletes because of their Twitter presence also appears to have failed in generating interest. This suggests that there is a lack of die hard fans around Athletics Australia’s female athletes.

Team Search All Items Checked
Lauren Boden Lauren Boden 0 16-Nov-10
Lisa Weightman Lisa Weightman 0 16-Nov-10
Melissa Breen Melissa Breen 0 16-Nov-10
Petrina Price Petrina Price 0 16-Nov-10
Shannon McCann Shannon McCann 0 16-Nov-10
Lauren Boden Lauren Boden 0 27-Nov-10
Lisa Weightman Lisa Weightman 0 27-Nov-10
Melissa Breen Melissa Breen 0 27-Nov-10
Petrina Price Petrina Price 0 27-Nov-10
Shannon McCann Shannon McCann 0 27-Nov-10

Australian Rugby Union

Earlier this year, the Wallaroos competed in the Women’s Rugby World Cup. They did fairly well. Women’s Rugby Union has also been given a boost by the inclusion of Rugby 7s in the Olympics. These two events do not seem to have resulted in any merchandise related to the team being available on eBay.

Team Search All Items Checked
Wallaroos Wallaroos 0 16-Nov-10
Wallaroos Wallaroos 0 27-Nov-10

AWIHL

The AWIHL season is currently underway. Still, ice hockey is a niche sport in Australia and there is unlikely to be much merchandise available. Given these two factors, it is not surprising that nothing is listed for the AWIHL.

Team Search All Items Checked
AWIHL AWIHL 0 16-Nov-10
AWIHL AWIHL 0 27-Nov-10

Basketball Australia

The Opals are the Australian women’s national team. They have the problem of their name being a common phrase and a market for stones like opals existing on eBay. While there are search results for the team’s name, looking at the results, none of them appear to be for the team.

Team Search All Items Checked
Australian Opals Australian Opals 928 16-Nov-10
Australian Opals Australian Opals 28 16-Nov-10
Australian Opals Australian Opals 178 27-Nov-10
Australian Opals Australian Opals 1 27-Nov-10

WNCL

The women’s cricket season is underway in Australia. The Breakers and Spirit are very active on Twitter in terms of promoting their team. These two factors likely account for the availability of merchandise on eBay. The Victorian Spirit’s name means that not everything in the search results relates to the team, which becomes apparent when the word cricket is put into the search.

Team Search All Items Checked
DEC Spirit DEC Spirit 73 16-Nov-10
DEC Spirit DEC Spirit 0 27-Nov-10
DEC Spirit DEC Spirit cricket 0 16-Nov-10
DEC Spirit DEC Spirit cricket 0 27-Nov-10
DEC Spirit Victorian spirit 34 16-Nov-10
DEC Spirit Victorian spirit 1 27-Nov-10
DEC Spirit Victorian spirit cricket 0 16-Nov-10
DEC Spirit Victorian spirit cricket 0 27-Nov-10
New South Wales Breakers New South Wales Breakers 0 16-Nov-10
New South Wales Breakers New South Wales Breakers 2 27-Nov-10
New South Wales Breakers NSW Breakers 2 27-Nov-10

Cycling Australia

Cycling Australia is represented by a number of female cyclists. These cyclists are all on Twitter. There does not appear to be much available related to them on eBay. What is available appears to be biographies about the athlete. The lack of merchandise may be related to the cycling season being over in the northern hemisphere; it may be possible that there could be an increase during that period.

Team Search All Items Checked
Amber Halliday Amber Halliday 43 16-Nov-10
Amy Gillett Amy Gillett 1 16-Nov-10
Anna Meares Anna Meares 1 16-Nov-10
Bec Domange Bec Domange 0 16-Nov-10
Bridie O’Donnell Bridie O’Donnell 0 16-Nov-10
Kirsty Broun Kirsty Broun 3 16-Nov-10
Nikki Butterfield Nikki Butterfield 0 16-Nov-10
Rachel Neylan Rachel Neylan 0 16-Nov-10
Rochelle Gilmore Rochelle Gilmore 0 16-Nov-10
Sara Carrigan Sara Carrigan 0 16-Nov-10
Sarah Kent Sarah Kent 19 16-Nov-10
Amber Halliday Amber Halliday 0 16-Nov-10
Kirsty Broun Kirsty Broun 0 16-Nov-10
Amber Halliday Amber Halliday 2 27-Nov-10
Amy Gillett Amy Gillett 1 27-Nov-10
Anna Meares Anna Meares 1 27-Nov-10
Bec Domange Bec Domange 0 27-Nov-10
Bridie O’Donnell Bridie O’Donnell 0 27-Nov-10
Kirsty Broun Kirsty Broun 0 27-Nov-10
Nikki Butterfield Nikki Butterfield 0 27-Nov-10
Rachel Neylan Rachel Neylan 0 27-Nov-10
Rochelle Gilmore Rochelle Gilmore 0 27-Nov-10
Sara Carrigan Sara Carrigan 0 27-Nov-10
Sarah Kent Sarah Kent 1 27-Nov-10
Amber Halliday Amber Halliday 0 27-Nov-10
Kirsty Broun Kirsty Broun 0 27-Nov-10

Football Federation Australia

The Matildas are on their way to the Women’s World Cup in June/July 2011. They recently completed their qualifying in the AFL. Their players are much more visible right now because of the start of the W-League season. These things don’t appear to have created interest in people to list items for sale on eBay. The one item currently listed is a 2000 nude calendar.

Team Search All Items Checked
Matildas Matildas 149 16-Nov-10
Matildas Matildas soccer 0 16-Nov-10
Matildas Matildas football 0 16-Nov-10
Matildas Matildas 79 27-Nov-10
Matildas Matildas soccer 1 27-Nov-10
Matildas Matildas football 0 27-Nov-10

Football New South Wales

The Flying Bats are a local lesbian soccer team based in Sydney. There is no merchandise relevant to them on eBay. Given that this is a club side, this makes sense. At the same time, there is often a lot of lesbian merchandise on eBay and it often sells pretty well. It seems probable that some one might have been willing to exploit that to make a few dollars, and yet no one has.

Team Search All Items Checked
The Flying Bats The Flying Bats 20 16-Nov-10
The Flying Bats The Flying Bats lesbians 0 16-Nov-10
The Flying Bats The Flying Bats 3 27-Nov-10
The Flying Bats The Flying Bats lesbians 0 27-Nov-10

Hockey Australia

The Hockeyroos recently appeared in the Commonwealth Games. They did a great job. They have also played in a few internationals since then. Despite this, there does not appear to be a large amount of merchandise available related to them on eBay.

Team Search All Items Checked
Hockeyroos Hockeyroos 2 16-Nov-10
Hockeyroos Katie Hollywood 0 16-Nov-10
Hockeyroos Hockeyroos 1 27-Nov-10
Hockeyroos Katie Hollywood 0 27-Nov-10

Netball Australia

Netball Australia’s national team is coming off the Commonwealth Games and are currently playing a number of friendly internationals. The team’s name makes it hard to separate out the team from diamonds that are from Australia when looking at lots on eBay. This means that Netball Australia as a search is likely more accurate in terms of gauging interest.

Team Search All Items Checked
Aussie Diamonds Aussie Diamonds 310 16-Nov-10
Netball Australia Netball Australia 26 16-Nov-10
Aussie Diamonds Aussie Diamonds 142 27-Nov-10
Netball Australia Netball Australia 28 27-Nov-10

Netball New South Wales

Team Search All Items Checked
Netball New South Wales Netball New South Wales 4 16-Nov-10
Petersham RUFC Netball Club Petersham RUFC Netball Club 0 16-Nov-10
Netball New South Wales Netball New South Wales 4 27-Nov-10
Petersham RUFC Netball Club Petersham RUFC Netball Club 0 27-Nov-10

Netball Victoria

Team Search All Items Checked
Netball Victoria Netball Victoria 0 16-Nov-10
Netball Victoria Netball Victoria 2 27-Nov-10

Skate Australia

Team Search All Items Checked
Cheltzie Breanna Lee Cheltzie Breanna Lee 0 16-Nov-10
Sophie Muir Sophie Muir 0 16-Nov-10
Cheltzie Breanna Lee Cheltzie Breanna Lee 0 27-Nov-10
Sophie Muir Sophie Muir 0 27-Nov-10

Ski and Snowboard Australia

There was increased interest in these athletes in response to their performances in the Winter Olympics. In the case of Torah Bright, she won a gold medal and was put on a stamp.

Team Search All Items Checked
Aimee Watson Aimee Watson 0 16-Nov-10
Sami Kennedy Sami Kennedy 1 16-Nov-10
Torah Bright Torah Bright 46 16-Nov-10
Aimee Watson Aimee Watson 0 27-Nov-10
Sami Kennedy Sami Kennedy 0 27-Nov-10
Torah Bright Torah Bright 22 27-Nov-10

Association of Surfing Professionals

Team Search All Items Checked
Claire Bevilacqua Claire Bevilacqua 1 16-Nov-10
Jess Miley-Dyer Jess Miley-Dyer 0 16-Nov-10
Laura Enever Laura Enever 0 16-Nov-10
Layne Beachley Layne Beachley 28 16-Nov-10
Rebecca Woods Rebecca Woods 22 16-Nov-10
Sally Fitzgibbons Sally Fitzgibbons 0 16-Nov-10
Rebecca Woods Rebecca Woods 3 16-Nov-10
Claire Bevilacqua Claire Bevilacqua 0 27-Nov-10
Jess Miley-Dyer Jess Miley-Dyer 0 27-Nov-10
Laura Enever Laura Enever 0 27-Nov-10
Layne Beachley Layne Beachley 10 27-Nov-10
Rebecca Woods Rebecca Woods 3 27-Nov-10
Sally Fitzgibbons Sally Fitzgibbons 0 27-Nov-10
Rebecca Woods Rebecca Woods 0 27-Nov-10

Triathlon Australia

None of the search results for this athlete are actually about the athlete. Rather, they are books about astrology.

Team Search All Items Checked
Shelly Wu Shelly Wu 10 16-Nov-10
Shelly Wu Shelly Wu 6 16-Nov-10
Shelly Wu Shelly Wu 5 27-Nov-10
Shelly Wu Shelly Wu 3 27-Nov-10

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