Hey, big spenders!

SPRINGVALE and Dandenong residents outbid the rest of the nation during September in latest figures released by online auction website eBay last week.
Springvale took the number one spot with the average eBayer spending $274 per purchase, while Dandenong took second place with an average of $173 per eBayer.
By comparison, people living in central Melbourne spent just $83 per purchase during September.
Consumer trend expert from KPMG, Bernard Salt, said the figures showed that traditionally poorer suburbs were looking to eBay to save money on bigger purchases.
“eBay fills a niche in the Australian marketplace that traditional shops don’t seem able to fill,” he said.
“Even though many of the places where eBay’s most avid users live and work are already well served by existing retail facilities, for whatever reason these shops must not be delivering the value, the range or the exciting experience that many Australians are now demanding and getting from eBay.”
Of particular interest, according to Salt, is the fact that many of the top ranking eBay suburbs across the nation had high levels of migrant populations: Springvale, for example, is a community of 18,000 residents, three-quarters of whom speak a language other than English at home.
“Perhaps Australia’s newest residents prefer to buy their goods on eBay rather than have to negotiate the language barriers of traditional shopping centres,” he said.
“They could also be turning to Ebay as a way to make their dollars go further or to access the huge range of items they simply cannot get through retail stores in their area.”