As the US savings rate increases to an all time high since 1997, it seems that eBay is increasingly becoming a safe haven for various products including Dell technology.

For the fourth quarter, Dell has reported a profit of $351 million USD. This is a 48% decrease from their Q3 2008 profit of $727 million USD. Despite this offline decline in demand for Dell products and services, there has been a bright spot in eBay where it’s traded laptops and desktops have had a combined increase in net revenue and volume.

When compared to the third quarter of 2008, Dell experienced a 6% increase in revenue and a 13% increase in volume traded in eBay USA for combined laptops and desktops alone. Dell’s eBay revenue rose 9.4% of the total global net revenue for this quarter.

It would also appear that in 2008 eBay users have indicated an increasing preference for refurbished Dell items over new and used ones. In a Q4 08/07 comparison there is a 1.82% reduction in revenue and an 18% increase in volume on eBay for Dell laptops and computers. For refurbished Dell laptops and desktops, the volume rose dramatically by 36% and the revenue increased 18% to $14.1 million USD from $11.9 million USD.

Sometimes described as a venue for early technology adopters, it will be interesting to see how many more chose alternative venues such as eBay as the American consumption rate slows.