Aussies mourning the deaths of celebrity icons and the rise of m-commerce led the prominent trends of 2016 for online marketplace, Ebay.

Sale of Prince related items increased by 809 per cent after the news of his death, while sales of David Bowie items increased by 1375 per cent after news of his passing.

According to the e-commerce giant’s review of its 2016 data, 448 million hours were spent on its site, 122 million new listings were created and one in two Aussies bought something on the platform in 2016.

Continuing the thread of celebrity appeal translating to boosted sales, Harley Quinn was the supervillain on everyone’s lips in 2016, following the release of Suicide Squad, merchandise surged by 300 per cent year on year.

During Christmas, 2.62 million people visited the online marketplace with the busiest shopping hour between 9-10pm.

Monday 12th was the busiest online shopping day, a whole week later than previous years.

The rise of m-commerce continues with 1.69 million Ebay visitors coming via mobile devices – seeing 2. 3 items sold per second on mobiles.

Trending products for the year included half a million Lego items being sold; 115 per cent growth in Troll Dolls in November, in anticipation of the Troll Doll movie; and metallic home furnishing accessories seeing 163 per cent growth over last year.

Samsung stood its ground despite the Galaxy Note 7 recall, with smartphones growing 22 per cent through Ebay last year.

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