Data Beam --
A Tale of Sales Rates

EBAY IS NOT some sort of vast plain, nor does it provide a level playing field.

Sales rates, number of sales, total value of sales, average sale price and number of sellers can vary greatly from eBay category to category.

This month the eAuctionTimes.com Data Beam illuminates the sales rates of four very different eBay sub-categories: cross stitch crafts, Dell laptops, Montblanc fountain pens and Timeshare condos.

All four are robust -- with above average sales rates -- but take a closer look at Timeshare condos and Montblanc fountain pens.

Who would have thought that Timeshare condos, with a sale price thousands of times higher than Cross sticth crafts, would have a higher sales rate too?

Meanwhile the fountain pen is the technological equivalent of the appendix, right? Wrong, at least from what you can tell from the Montblanc fountain pen sub-category on eBay.

For the six week period in February and March 2004 examined in this Data Beam, Montblanc fountain pens chalked up both higher sales numbers and a higher sales success rate than the red hot Dell laptops.