Are these really supposed to be so much rarer then the Andorian Sleigh Bells? I know random is random, but I seem to get 10:1 bells to beads, and the exchange price for beads is about 10x what it is for bells, which might indicate that is actually the case. If they are really supposed to be so much rarer then maybe you should make the blue quality for future years.

Um, they're not rarer. It's just that the RNG hates you. Sorry.

they are definately rarer, and there are many indications that support this:
everybody in zone chat asks for them or trades insane amounts of other stuff for them.
both fleets i'm in the bajoran things were the last to be filled up.
all across my toons i have 10+ of any other holidy stuff including the andorian bells, yet beads i only have 5 all together.

so they are definately rarer

Beads have been going for more than double, sometimes more than triple the cost of bells on the exchange. That alone should tell you the drop rate is slightly borked.

Yeah - it's a sneaky little con-job - compared with the Andorian Bells the Beads should be rare (blues) but then Cryptic would have to have reduced the quantity needed for the store items - they're definitely rarer than the Bells (in the Doff missions too).

my current numbers (-15 for all regular loot, and the necessary for the avalanche)

193 targ ear muffs
202 incense
221 candles
215 terran baubles
127 bajoran beads
107 andorian bells

Looks pretty much like a common-rare ratio
just i got more beads than bells ^^

This morning Beads were 1,000,000 EC each, and Bells were 160,000 EC each on the exchange, and as others have mentioned they seem to be the most asked for item.

It not really effecting me, I should be able to farm up enough to get all the items I want, just concerned that there is either a bug with droprate or they aren't marked as the proper quality.

Err.. I'm finding beads for only 60-80k on average. Are you putting in the name and typing uncommon in the "all" category?