The number of eBay.com auction listings rose over 56 percent in 1 day this week due to a post-Christmas promotion for sellers. According to MedVed data, there were fewer than 9 million listings (derived by counting auction category totals on eBay.com) at the start of day December 27, 2006, and by the end of the day, there were 14 million auction listings, with listings continuing to rise the following day. MedVed has tracked eBay auction listing data since 1999. It does not track sales, nor does it track eBay Store listings.

eBay ran a 15-cent 1-day listing promotion on December 27 to boost listings. The question for some is whether the slump in listings in the days around Christmas is due to sellers' belief in a sales slow-down or whether sellers hold back in anticipation of eBay's annual post-Christmas listing sale.

Here's a look back at eBay post-holiday promotions for the past five years:

December 26, 2002: Free listing day
December 26, 2003: Free listing day
December 27, 2004: 10-cent listing day
December 27, 2005: 10-cent listing day
December 27, 2006: 15-cent listing day

As noted by an eBay seller on the Vendio discussion boards, it appears last year's promotion gave a larger boost to listings than this year's holiday promotion (http://www.vendio.com/mesg/read.html?num=2&thread=653717).

On December 27, 2005, eBay auction listings rose from 9 million at the start of the day to 16 million by the end of the day, a 78 percent increase.

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?EIND