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As recently reported on this blog, HP had impressive results on the eBay USA platform during Q3 2008. What has happened since then? Last month, HP posted a 13% loss in profit for its fourth quarter and Dell reported a 48% decline in profit for the same period.

Despite the downturn in offline sales for both HP and Dell, HP’s online sales have seen a different trend. In Q4 08, there was an 89% increase in new HP laptop sales on the eBay USA platform over Q4 2007, a rise from $5.29 million USD to $10.01 million USD. Once again, HP surpasses Dell in this category for sales of this new products. Dell product sales on eBay for this category dropped 10% from $18.14 million to $7.32 million USD during this same period.

The popularity of new HP laptops is continuing into the first quarter of 2009. Our data, updated daily, shows that HP’s sales exceed that of Dell by 78.4% from January 01 to March 10 2009; and that HP has already surpassed its own Q1 2008 eBay revenues by 8%.

Will HP’s success on eBay be mirrored in offline retail? The answer will become clear when the first quarter reports are released.

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.

Recently, IBM reported 12% profit increase for 2008 although its quarter over quarter revenue has decreased. In the real world, IBM has been able to attract demand in other areas such as contracts and consulting.

In the world’s largest virtual marketplace, new laptop sales for both IBM and HP reflect the global increase in demand during the year of 2008. For IBM/Lenovo, the 2007/2008 year over year rise in revenue on eBay for the second quarter is 52.88%. The growth rate slowed down sharply to 5.18% for the third quarter and 1% for the fourth quarter.

In Q4 2008, sales of new laptops on eBay USA increased from Q4 2007 by 40%. The overall gross sales for 2008 exceeded those of 2007 by nearly 30%- going from $3.25 million USD to $4.16 million USD. In contrast, new Dell and Compaq laptops have experienced declining eBay sales since April 2008.

Steadily increasing average sold prices for all HP desktops on eBay USA are demonstrating consumer preferences. Desktops sold for an average of $510 USD per laptop in June 2008. By November 2008, that value had peaked to $760 USD. Although Dell saw a similar climb, it was nowhere near as drastic-ranging from $440 USD in April 2008 to $580 USD in November 2008.