BY NANCY KELLY

Kings County Register

According to the recently released eBay “Canada Community Counts” census, the Kingston area is a hot-bed of online buying and selling activity.

By analyzing eBay activity within individual Canadian postal codes, eBay Canada identified its top online buying and selling communities based on the number of individual users over the past year.

Kingston was ranked ninth out of the top-10 busiest trading communities in Canada. The top buying category was NFL football cards - 660, and the top selling items were plant seeds and bulbs.

The news comes as little surprise to staff at the Kingston post office.

“We handle a tremendous amount of mail here,” says senior assistant Muriel West. They send and receive parcels from all over the world for the eBay network.

“It’s not uncommon for us to get people coming in with laundry baskets and garbage bags full of items to send,” said West, adding the post office receives eBay packages every day. Most come from the U.S. or other foreign countries: each one generates its own customs documentation at the point of receipt.

“Unfortunately, revenue derived from the buying side of eBay doesn’t accurately reflect the time it takes to do the corresponding volume of work,” explains West.

She hopes Canada Post will pay attention to the eBay census, released March 27.

“We service 16,000 people at 4,400 points of call here,” says West. “Our post office has a bright future, but we could use more hours to get the work done and maybe the eBay story will legitimize the fact that we work hard here.”

Local eBay trading may keep staff busy at the post office, but Central Annapolis Valley Chamber of Commerce president Byron McDonald says that is about all eBay does for a community.

“Buying and selling on eBay doesn’t contribute to commercial growth in any way,” commented McDonald.

The only other Maritime community to make the list was Cornwall, PEI at number eight for its sales of NHL items.