The big bet for the apparel merchants is not how Easter sales will shape up in April but how the weather acts.

Bad weather's really been an impediment for apparel sales. This is the time when people want to buy shorts and shirts for spring. They're not going to be doing that when there's two feet of snow out.

This isn't a rosy time for anyone. The economy is not great, consumer confidence is down, and war is a distraction. People are spending more time watching TV and less time at the malls.

To talk about [sales tax rates] independent of what we're currently facing is slightly unprofessional.

Were the sales in January created by a tax motive? Probably,

We're not trying to displace (offline sales); we're trying to offer another channel. Our goal is reaching out to the community and understanding what it is that eBay can do to help keep interest in collecting alive. That's really important to us.