eBay Claims Strong SDAR/GPS Sales

New York — Satellite radio and GPS, not surprisingly, were the top-selling categories on eBay for 2005, said the company, with both categories showing triple-digit gains.

Gross sales in automotive GPS soared 660 percent and satellite radio increased 125 percent in 2005 over 2004, said eBay.

In the fourth quarter of last year, eBay said 450 satellite radios sold daily and a GPS device sold every three minutes.

Satellite radio is also a strong seller this year. For a three-week period in April, six Sirius systems and receivers sold per hour, compared with 10 XM systems and receivers, according to technology and media senior director, Karl Wiley.

eBay says its trends loosely mirror the general trends in car audio. With the exception of CD player sales, the key car electronics subcategories grew in 2005, with car video and navigation climbing 52 percent. “The remaining categories grew at more modest rates led by subwoofers and enclosures,” Wiley said.

For the month of March, the most searched-for category was subwoofers and the most searched-for car audio brands were JL Audio, Kicker, Rockford Fosgate, Pioneer and Alpine.

Overall, eBay's fourth-quarter consumer electronics volume in 2005 was $4.4 billion, with another $1.5 billion in cameras and photo equipment.

eBay reported car audio volume in 2002 of $135 million, but has not divulged car audio gross sales overall sales since that time.