eBay

It’s been a while since I looked at ebay to see what antiques were for sale. Back in November when I looked at the UK site there were 84,941, today there are 80,479 items for sale – a decrease of over 4%. On the US site the number of items listed as antiques has risen to 233,359 from 217,478, an increase of a little over 7%. Even though the UK figure is down it is still well up against September’s snap shot of 76,420 items.

What do you think drives the number of items on eBay. Has the recession got anything to do with it? A friend of mine thinks that now is the peak time for ‘gift’ items on eBay as the last day for first class posting in Britain to ensure delivery by Christmas is 20 December.

Whatever the case I’ll keep tracking eBay to see how things develop over the coming 12 months. I’ll also keep an eye out for interesting items. Do you sell on eBay at all?

A really fascinating item on eBay with less than a day to go.....This is the description

This "one of a kind" Frank Sinatra's First Holy Communion Book was given to me by his Mother "Dolly". In it, appears "Frank Sinatra--age 7yrs". It is an EXTREMELY unique item, as only one is issued to each Catholic boy at their time of First Communion.

 UPDATE Saturday Afternoon

For whatever reason the auction ended on Sinatra's Holy Communion Book without attracting a single bid. Considering the seller was asking so much they failed to furnish much information, nor did they show the inside of the book where it said 'Frank Sinatra - 7 yrs'.

Its been a while since I looked at ebay to see what antiques were fore sale. Back in September when I looked at the UK site there were 76,420, today there are 84,941 items for sale – a rise of over 11%. On the US site the number of items listed as antiques has risen to 217,478 from 189,086, an increase of a little over 15%. A friend of mine thinks this is happening in part because of the recession. Do you have any views?

After considerable pressure from The International Fund for Animal Welfare, eBay has said that it will ban sales of ivory products from January 2009. Apparently the IFAW's latest investigative report "Killing with Keystrokes" said that in a six-week period, IFAW investigators tracked 7,122 online auctions, advertisements and communiqus offering ivory trade.

The U.S. as responsible for more than two-thirds of the trade, nearly 10 times more than the two countries with the next highest volume, the United Kingdom and China. EBay said it will allow the sale of some antique items that contain a small amount of ivory, such as a table with a small ivory inlay or an antique piano with ivory keys. The company said it classifies "antique" as items that contain a small amount of pre-1900 ivory. The policy takes effect in December and will be enforced in January. Items that contain a significant amount of ivory, regardless of the age, such as chess sets, ivory broaches and ivory jewellery, are not permitted under the new policy.

There's an interesting article at TradingMarkets.com that looks at how live auctions in the USA are bouncing back after initially taking a hit after the advent of eBay. It could be that the affect of eBay is to give the market an overall boost as new people get the buying and selling bug. Anyone have any views on this?