AMERICANS PREPARE FOR WAR THROUGH EBAY

There has been a sudden rise in sales on Ebay, of products designed to protect against terrorist attacks and the threat of war.

As the US and British governments prepare to battle Iraq, hundreds of Americans have been turning to the giant, online auction site Ebay to prepare themselves. Sales of items like gasmasks and NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) suits, which normally only sell by the handfull, are selling in hundreds.

ProfitFacts.com (http://www.profitfacts.com) reports that sales of war and anti-terrorist products are escalating. ProfitFacts.com tracks Ebay sellers and closed auctions.

Rob Noble, the CEO at ProfitFacts.com said that Radiation detectors are leading the pack at the moment with sales of $11,000 over the past 30 days. One of the prime statistics that show the strength of the demand is the Sell Thru rate (ST) he said. The ST rate is the percentage of the total number of auctions that achieve a sale. Anything over 54% shows a very strong market, the ST for detectors is currently 69%.

Another strong seller are NBC suits. These ex British and US military suits made $5,500 in sales at an ST of 68%. Average price of a suit is around $20. Or you can buy a suit, gasmask, boots and gloves for around $89.

Gasmasks on their own are an item that has been in demand for some months and the demand is not so high now. 30 day sales are around $3,000 with a still respectable ST rate of 54%. These are being brought in from all over the world as US sources have been largely snapped up. A quick survey on Ebay produced gasmasks from Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Russia and China. Expect to pay between $20-60 depending on country of origin and quality of product.

But The biggest growth of all revealed by the data at ProfitFacts.com, is in the sale of anti-radiation pills. These are Potassium Iodide or Iodate pills which are claimed to protect people, especially children from developing thyroid cancer after exposure to radioactive Iodine during a nuclear event. $3,000 of these
pills were sold in the last 30 days with a Sell Thru rate of 68%.

There are 2 types of these pills KI and KI03, and there is some dispute over which is best. KI03 is said to lack the bitterness of the KI type and is clearly the winner on sales. Prices average around $15-18 for a bottle of 200 tablets.

Despite the concerns, sellers looking to offload plans for building your own nuclear shelter were
dissapointed. Some of these plans originate from the cold war period of the 60's and surely have value as collectors pieces. But there were only 17 buyers. Perhaps we are willing to prepare, but only up to a point!