Top 5 Music Artists Selling on eBay

Terapeak is like the Billboard of eBay thanks to its Hot Media search feature. Below is this month’s Top 5 Music list which you may find either outrageous or validating. That’s the beauty of this list, it’s based entirely on pure, unbridled sales without dwelling for a moment on what some hipster might consider “good.”

Rounding out the number five spot is arguably the most talented individual ever to wear a lampshade for a hat, the one and only Lady Gaga. She probably should have gone on Dr. Phil long ago but she sure can belt out a tune.

In fourth, Susan Boyle is the 49 year old contest winner who dreamed big and put on a jaw-dropping performance for British television. She sang her way to stardom without the typical sexuality angle played by most. Seriously, like none whatsoever.

Kidz Bop Kids sing their little hearts out in 3rd, and if that surprises you keep in mind that child singers have had a firm place in our world since The Jackson 5.

The boys from Sgt. Pepper’s are staying legendary in the number two spot and it should also be noted that they never drop below the top five. So if you ever swing by and don’t see The Beatles on our list you should look up – the sky might be falling.

Finally at number one is the incorrigible Eminem. You may find his subject matter to be in the absolute poorest of taste, but you can’t deny his success.

Retail store sales are one thing, but eBay is the biggest, broadest online marketplace on the planet and Terapeak is the score keeper. Items that are in high demand here are truly selling above the rest.

Post from the Terapeak blog.

Terapeak is an eBay Certified Provider and a member of the eBay Market Data Program. Terapeak 5.0 is a full, web-based solution providing real-time market research and data analytics on eBay. Terapeak 5.0 provides eBay sellers and buyers with two years worth of trending data.

eBay Sales for LeBron James Items Increase After New Team Announcement

After an incredibly successful 8 year career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James announced he would be changing teams. On July 1st James effectively became unemployed and held millions of basketball fans in suspense while he deliberated over which team – of the handful that were courting him – he would move to. On July 8th people finally got their answer, James will join the Miami Heat for the 2010-11 season.


For us, the effect of the decision is just as interesting as the decision itself. So how has the team change affected merchandise sales? Below is a trend of all the Lebron James eBay listings over the last 30 days – taken from Terapeak Marketplace Research. All seems normal until the day the news breaks and listings more than double in the aftermath.


Its fascinating to watch the market after a major event, and as the NBA raked in about $4 billion dollars this year – it’s safe to say this is big. In less than a decade, LeBron has become one of the most prominent players of his time – and he is certainly among the biggest player franchises.


According to Terapeak, eBay has sold nearly $5 million dollars worth of LeBron James merchandise over the last year. That’s a whole lot of jerseys, hats, and action figures. A trading card from 2003, James’ rookie year, sold one week ago for $30,000 dollars – not bad for a little piece of cardboard.

Blog post from Terapeak Blog.

Terapeak is an eBay Certified Provider and a member of the eBay Market Data Program. Terapeak 5.0 is a full, web-based solution providing real-time market research and data analytics on eBay. Terapeak 5.0 provides eBay sellers and buyers with two years worth of trending data.

World Cup Fever on eBay - Vuvuzelas and Can Jersey Sales Predict Who Will Win?

World Cup Fever on eBay - Vuvuzelas and Can Jersey Sales Predict Who Will Win?

It is interesting to find out what impact world events have on the eBay marketplace. We can look at the impact by researching the eBay marketplace and see where there is an increase in searches, sales and price of items related to a world event. Market research gives us the opportunity see the ecommerce sales reach of recent world events on eBay, almost in real time.

Let’s look at the World Cup. Obviously this is a huge event. I know this because most people I know have stopped working to watch or are Tweeting game results and Facebooking "Gooooaaaallll". It is easy for one to stay in touch with the event without actually being there or even watching the game thanks to social media. We can also stay in touch with the World Cup when we research the eBay marketplace and find out the impact here.

I will be using the Terapeak for eBay market research tool to look at trending and sales on eBay for World Cup related items.

Let’s start with the Vuvuzela. What is it? The vuvuzela is a long plastic horn producing the annoying sound heard at soccer matches in South Africa. The noise or sound it makes is similar to a giant swarm of bees. One South African columnist even described it as "the horn from hell."

Where can you get one? Here in the States, it seems to be pretty hard to come by unless you go online, which is great for eBay sellers!

Look at the chart below, we can clearly see the rise in listings and sales for the vuvuzela around the time the World Cup started on June 11th. Although I am looking at this data on July 7th, this information is/would have been available to me to view back in June. An enterprising eBay seller with vuvuzelas to sell could easily have researched this information and potentially jumped on the hot sales trend. I am sure many eBay sellers did exactly this.

As the World Cup starts to come to a close and they enter the finals, vuvuzela sales do seem to be declining. Who is buying all the vuvuzelas anyway?


The majority of vuvuzelas purchased on eBay came from Germany. The German team is still in the World Cup (as of the time when this blog post is written) and their fans are rallying around and making noise with their vuvuzelas.

World Cup Team Jersey Sales. Can they predict who will win?

Looking at the charts below, we can see Spain has more World Cup jersey sales than the Netherlands. Could this be an indicator of who will win?

Team Spain

Team Netherlands

It will be interesting to see if these numbers spike in the next week or so, depending on which team wins.

Get to Know Your Business with Transaction Data from New Terapeak for PayPal

Recognizing the need for online sellers to better understand their transactional data, customers, and the effects of marketing and seasonal changes, Terapeak for PayPal was developed by Advanced.

Advanced, (Advanced Ecommerce Research Systems) recently announced in addition to their market research tool for eBay (Terapeak) they now provide analytics and data for PayPal (Terapeak for PayPal).

The new Terapeak for PayPal market research tool analyzes millions of raw PayPal transaction data to provide direct and relevant reports to an ecommerce merchant on their business and PayPal transactions. eBay sellers and ecommerce merchants of all sizes can use Terapeak for PayPal.

“...This new toolset allows sellers to put a microscope over their accounts and gain a thorough understanding of their customers...When used in combination with our Terapeak for eBay research, sellers can further increase the efficiency of their online stores.” - Fred Speckeen, Advanced/Terapeak CEO

Benefits of Terapeak for PayPal
Determine which platforms are most profitable - Compare your sales from eBay and other channels in a simple to read report. Evaluate taxes, net sales, fees, refunds and payments per platform and understand where your buyers are making their purchases.

Review your sales at the category level - Currency reporting, by country - understand which currencies are you receiving, and how much they cost in fees and conversion costs - Evaluate your global business and find opportunities to save money.

Get to know your customer - View sales, payments, average prices and sales growth by gender and target your demographic more specifically.

Marketing and selling strategy, have you made a change? - Try new marketing opportunities or change selling strategies and view the impact to your business as-it-happens for each platform. Evaluate the results of your marketing and strategy changes on sales instantly.

Performance and Benchmarking goal setting - Set a goal for sales, payments, refunds, and other metrics to track your company's progress. Determine the amount of sales, payments, fees, refunds, average price or taxes you wish to target, and receive to-the-minute updates on where you are en route to goals.

Check out Terapeak for PayPal now!

Terapeak for PayPal is an additional market research tool to Terapeak for eBay. If you are already subscribed to Terapeak for eBay and would like to add Terapeak for PayPal, you will need to sign-up for Terapeak for PayPal here.

Terapeak for PayPal has a “lite” version you can try for free.

Terapeak is an eBay Certified Provider and a member of the eBay Market Data Program. Terapeak 5.0 is a full, web-based solution providing real-time market research and data analytics on eBay. Terapeak 5.0 provides eBay sellers and buyers with two years worth of trending data.

New "Smart Lister" from inkFrog Combines an eBay Listing Tool with Research from Terapeak

Do you want to create eBay listings quickly while getting the research you need at the same time?

Then check out inkFrog’s new “Smart Lister” tool for eBay. Smart Lister combines inkFrog’s eBay listing tool technology with built in research data from Terapeak. The Smart Lister can provide the research a seller needs while they create their listing to determine the best listing strategy and pricing of the item.

“Let our Smart Lister optimize your listing to ensure it is listed with the optimal keywords, at the correct price point, duration, and time. Listing management is no longer just about templates and images. It's about using smart technology to ensure your items are found in searches and priced correctly.” – Greg Sisung, President of inkFrog

Smart Lister Features:

• Smart Category Suggestion (find the best category for your item)
• Title Optimizer (maximize the keywords in each item title)
• Prime Words (learn what the top keywords are for each eBay category)
• Takeoff Calculator (find the best date, time and duration to set your listing at for maximum exposure and profit)
• Elite Examples (research similar sold items and learn from your competitors)
• List to eBay.com, eBay.ca, eBay.co.uk, eBay.au, eBay.de and more
• Add an unlimited number of images to your eBay listings
• Choose a professional inkFrog template or use your own
• And more…

“The Smart Lister was created to empower you to sell more effectively and increase your sales. Our goal is to ensure inkFrog sellers are the most effective sellers online.” – Sisung

inkFrog’s Smart Lister is compatible and utilizes their other eBay centric offerings such as the prefilled profiles, image hosting and design templates.

Check out inkFrog’s Smart Lister today! Try it free!

Founded in 1999, inkFrog, inc. is an eBay Certified Solutions Provider that helps save online sellers time, money, and sanity through inventory management, eBay listing tools, image hosting, and more.

Smart Moves to Make This Summer to Put the Sizzle in Your Sales

Selling successfully on eBay means paying attention to the change in seasons, the change in what your customers are buying and making the right changes in your business at the right time to ride the wave of momentum towards future fortune.

In short, it’s all about timing.

When many people think about summer, the word vacation comes to mind. But if you’re an online entrepreneur, don’t plan on taking the entire summer off! The summer is a golden opportunity for you to make some smart moves that will set you up to make more profits the rest of the year.

Snap up the sumptuous samplings of available inventory. If you sell unique one of a kind items online, the summer is your oyster. Yard sales abound, flea markets are in full swing, and thrift stores are marking down their inventory. In fact some of my clients bring in a team during the summer, just to help them scour the city yard sales, estate sales and thrift stores several times a week. They do 60% of their product sourcing from May – Sept. With a team help them, they can cover 10 times the territory that they could cover on their own.

With the sunny summer weather comes the desire to clean out the house and have a yard sale. This makes for a product sourcing cornucopia.

Contact suppliers for sizzling hot deals. End of season merchandise, pre-season specials, you name it! Now’s the time to call and ask your supplier what summer deals they have available. Or take a trip and do some local product sourcing. Heading to hot Atlanta? Visit the AmericasMart merchandise mart while you’re there. Check with your accountant about writing off a part of the trip as a business expense.

Last call for holiday importing. Been thinking about importing new merchandise for the holidays? Better get the show on the road – because if you wait past mid-July it will be too late to get it in time for the holiday selling season. Use eBay market research to determine hot selling items and seasonal trends.

Retail resale is real swell during the summer. Lego sets at 90% off. Wet suits discounted 60%. Pre-back-to-school sales preview what will be the hot holiday products. It’s all there waiting for you at your local retail store. By July 5th, brick and mortar stores will be transitioning to their back-to-school inventory. You can pick up some GREAT deals in you local store and bring that inventory online for your global customer base.

Stock up now for the holiday selling season. Even though you’re wearing a bathing suit and sitting by the lake, your need to spend some time thinking, planning and sourcing for the holiday season. If you’ve been tracking the trends for 2010 in your category, you should already have an idea of what will be hot in your category for Christmas. And for some categories, especially the toy category, NOW is the time to head to your local retail store and stock up on those hot sellers you can’t get from a wholesaler.

Use eBay market research to determine hot selling items and seasonal trends.

Clean sweep your product line. Throw open the windows, let the sun shine in and dig in to those boxes of inventory that need to be listed and sold!

Sales Happen When Preparation Meets Opportunity

There’s a Chinese Proverb that says “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”

The same is true of your sales. If you use the dog days of summer like one smart puppy and do a little every day to get ahead of your competition. Come fall, when everyone wakes up out of the summer haze realizing that the biggest selling season of the year is right in front of them, and they’re not prepared… you’ll be sitting in your nice clean office, watching your products sell, calm and relaxed and excited about your sales figures this year…

This article has been condensed. Read the full article here.

Since 2004, Lisa Suttora of WhatDoISell.com has provided thousands of online sellers with the skills, knowledge and support they need to build a unique, thriving business on eBay.

Wondering What (or What Else) to Sell on eBay?

Blog Post by Lisa Suttora from Auctiva Education

Wondering What (or What Else) to Sell on eBay?

How to activate your product sourcing radar

Are you stuck in a product line rut? Are you selling the same things over and over again, but seeing little growth or expansion in your business? Are your product offerings stale and ho-hum?

Perhaps it's time to inject some life back into your business! After all, there are thousands of new products coming into the marketplace each year, yet all too often people find themselves at a loss for how to expand their business.

And without having the products buyers want, all the marketing, selling strategies and customer service in the world won't sell items people aren't interested in. Without enough inventory to sell, you won't see the revenue growth you desire.

So how do you figure out what to sell, or what else to sell?

1. Understand your customer first; then look at what they want to buy

When you understand who your customer is, answering the question of what to sell, or what else to sell, becomes much easier. Unfortunately, many sellers see their customers as "buyers" rather than people who have a reason behind every purchase they make. Taking the time to know your customer will go a long way in helping you figure out what else to sell.

Here are some questions to ask that will help you with that process:

• Who are your customers?
• What are their wants?
• What are their needs?
• What else are they buying?
• Where else do they shop?
• What are the top products they purchased from you and others last year?

For example, are your customers moms who are snapping up everything they can for their newborns? What are their favorite brands? What colors do they like? What new products are they reading about in parenting magazines? What are they talking about? It's the answers to these questions that will help you decide what to sell next.

Keep in mind that these questions apply to every market! Whether you sell baby products or bongos, you need to know who your customers are.

2. Live in the world your buyers live in
Read what they're reading; hang out where they hang out online. Can you name the top consumer publications in your industry? Online or offline, your customers read magazines, Web sites and blogs on a daily basis. Are you there, too? This is where shoppers are getting ideas about products to buy next. Can you list the top blogs or discussion groups that cover your niche market? That's where your customers are talking about their problems, wants and needs, and where they're discussing the latest gadgets and gizmos they want to buy. A client of mine who sells in the boating niche gets 80 percent of his business and his ideas for products to sell by participating in a top recreational boating Yahoo group.

3. What products are they searching for?
As online retailers, we live in a search-driven world. Fortunately, the answer to what products your customers are searching for can be found for free, and is as close as the Google Keywords Tool. Do a search using Broad Match and Phrase Match for your primary keywords and watch as hundreds of related keywords come up. Products you have never thought about selling will suddenly be displayed right before your eyes!

You can also leverage the marketplaces. Spend some time looking on eBay when you're in the product sourcing mindset and you'll find yourself with more ideas for products to sell than time to sell them!

4. Make it your business to be on top of industry trends
Staying on top of industry trends is a fun and exciting process and will infuse your business with ideas for products to sell. Unfortunately, it's one that I find e-tailers often neglect. Do you know about the latest and greatest new products in your market? Are you on top of what's new before your customer is? Do you spend time each week reading industry publications and consumer magazines, and talking to your suppliers about what's hot? Do you attend industry trade shows?

It's in these places that you'll get a plethora of ideas or products to sell and find out what's destined to be the next hot product!

5. Listen to your customers
How often have you received an e-mail from your customer asking if you carry a particular product? Many people might just say, "No, sorry, we don't carry that," and move on. But paying attention to what customers are asking for can be a clue into what you should carry next. WhatDoISell member and eBay seller E.J. Bantz gets some of his best product ideas from his customers.

"They often tell me what they want to buy," he says. "It's my job to then go and source it for them."

6. Get insights from Google Insights
One of my favorite tools for figuring out what to sell next is Terapeak. Terapeak's trending module will lead you to many different opportunities for new products to sell on eBay.

7. Test, test, test!
Before you invest your inventory capital in unproven products, you'll want to test-market new inventory in small quantities. This will allow you to quickly distinguish the winners from the losers. A lot of people source products seasonally. But product sourcing isn't something you can do once a month.

One of the most important steps to being in the Product Sourcing Mindset is to have at least 10 new products in the pipeline at any given time. What you focus on expands, and being in the mindset will ensure you'll have a constant stream of new products flowing into your business.

This blog post has been condensed. Click here to read the full article.

Use Research to Understand Your Competition and Improve eBay Sales by Vendio

Article from Vendio's Vendable Blog

Understand, then Challenge your eBay Competition

Recent eBay changes are now including eBay Store inventory in the main or core search. With this change, it is much more important to understand your competition on eBay. Remaining (or becoming) competitive is truly the only way to achieve success when selling commodity items.

For one-of-a-kind items, auctions still remain the best bet, but for commodity items, you’ll need to stand out from the crowd.

To understand your competition, it's all about research..research and research.

Vendio Research provides competitive data on a seller or product level and it’s a great place to start when developing your competitive strategy.

On a product level (researching by product), you’ll be able to view at a glance all the pricing data and recommendations for listing successfully. In addition, you can view keywords that should be used to drive a products success (what terms are buyers using to FIND the product) and on a competitive level, you’ll be able to see the top sellers by product and view the details on what makes them successful. This will give you great insight. Find out when and how they are listing their items and at what price. Do they charge shipping or offer free shipping? Use the information to create a listing strategy that really works for your product.



In addition to product research, you can type in your competitor’s eBay user ID to get the same great information on a seller level (vs. a product level). You can view their overall strategy and see what’s really driving their success.

I can’t show all the graphs that are available (or this blog post would be loaded with Images). However, you can see from the image that you can view the graphs and trends for many different areas (average selling price, keywords, time of day, categories, etc.).

While Research gives you the “numbers and data”, it does not account for the other reasons a seller may or may not be successful, such as customer service, attractiveness of the listing and policies.

Use Research to actually look at the successful listings and determine how you can improve on what you see.

Can you make your policies friendlier? Can you make your ads more readable? Can you make your ads more attractive. Go into your competitors ads with a “red pencil” and then do the same for you own ads.

There is always room for improvement and better methods to convert browsers to bidders and buyers; it just takes a bit more work than it used to.

And one final recommendation, if you go through the process of researching and understanding your competition – don’t stop there. Make it a part of your normal weekly, bi-weekly or monthly process. Doing it once is great, doing it regularly ensures you can always stay ahead of the “next” curve.

Happy Selling!!

An eBay Certified Solutions Provider since 2004, Vendio provides an ecommerce solution for eBay sellers of all sizes. Vendio offers a series of applications which can be installed on a standalone basis or used to extend the functionality of the Vendio's eBay listing and inventory management solution.

eBay Sellers Can Find Additional Inventory with Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool

Article by Worldwide Brands - this is a series of 14 blog posts providing information on how to find inventory and products to sell on eBay from wholesalers with Worldwide Brands and their Product Sourcing Tool for eBay.

Article #12 - Multi-Level Product Sourcing

As a new eBay seller becomes more successful with their eBay auction listings and first eBay Store sales, you will be able to fund more growth in your business. You can expand your offerings within your first niche by leveraging additional wholesale suppliers and drop shippers with complimentary products to those you are already selling on eBay.

So how do you select new niches and products, and how can you determine what works best without taking too much risk in inventory?

Market Research is the key. eBay Sellers need to identify products with demand and supply. Not all products can be sold on eBay. Some manufacturers have strict requirements. Start with your existing niche and expand the product choices. For example, tailor your eBay Store brand around your niche. Use the existing traffic to your eBay store to identify new top sellers in your Store.

The Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool in eBay’s Apps Center can be very helpful to eBay sellers looking for additional product sources to help grow their online business. Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool for eBay will research online to establish current demand and pricing on the internet and for testing different products, categories, niches and demand.

Access can be purchased to the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool. Through use of this tool, eBay Sellers will be able to drill down their options to find wholesale products in demand within a niche. The tool provides the contact details of drop shippers and wholesale suppliers willing to work with eBay sellers.

Drop shipping is most commonly used for testing new product ideas. When you notice an increasing trend in sales for one of the drop ship items, you can then start buying that item in Light Bulk (minimum wholesale orders less than $500). Of all the Light Bulk items, some will sell faster than others. Once you identify those, you can invest in volume inventory at even better wholesale prices allowing you to make more profit per item, or compete more aggressively. This is called multi level product sourcing.

Check out Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool for eBay today! A 7 Day Free Trial is available.

Worldwide Brands is an eBay Certified Service Provider, providing product sourcing access and information for eBay sellers. They are the publishers of an extensive directory of legitimate, fully-verified ecommerce wholesalers and manufacturers.

New! Terapeak Collectibles Application Provides Extensive Research for Antiques and Collectibles

Have you ever cleaned out the attic and wondered what an old collectible is worth?

Have you been to a garage sale and wondered if there is money to be made in antiques?

Now eBay sellers can easily determine the value of antiques and other collectibles items with the new Terapeak Collectibles market research tool.

With just a few simple clicks, users can research multiple years of data to find out how much an item is worth and how best to sell it. The Terapeak Collectibles database accesses both online and live auction houses, and also allows users to view photographs, descriptions, and other antiques and collectibles data.

• Search and browse multiple years of antiques and collectibles data
• Price antiques and collectibles based on what they have sold for in the past
• View data, descriptions and photos from both online and live auction houses
• Access fast, reliable customer support and video tutorials
• Never have to leave your My eBay page!

Terapeak Collectibles is a brand new application allowing users to research antiques and collectibles data from eBay, other online marketplaces, and real-life auction houses. Terapeak has partnered with WorthPoint, whose "Worthopedia" database houses data from more than 10 years of live and online auctions. WorthPoint's database combined with eBay market data by Terapeak, creates an extensive and powerful research tool for antiques and collectibles sellers.

Available only in eBay's App Store, Selling Manager Applications.

To access Terapeak Collectibles (try it free for 7-days), sellers will need to subscribe or currently be subscribed to eBay Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro. Once subscribed to Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro, sellers can add Terapeak Collectibles at this link.

Sales of Disney Items on eBay Increase During the Holidays

Article by Terapeak

A week ago, we blogged about the holiday toy racket, which year after year provides one of the more reliable markets on eBay. But what if you were to boil that phenomenon down into one single brand? (Perhaps in a wicked witch’s cauldron, or as part of a poisonous apple?)
That brand would be Disney.

For more than 85 years, The Walt Disney Company has been one of Hollywood’s biggest money-makers, and a source for some of the world’s most sought-after merchandise. And, naturally, that fervor tends to reach its peak around the holidays.

For starters, here are Terapeak’s current top 5 Hot DVDs on eBay:



Those numbers, of course, come on the heels of Disney remastering several of its classic animated films this year, and sales have continued to rise since October. Also in the Terapeak top 20 Hot DVDs on eBay are: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Alice in Wonderland.

How about a Terapeak product report? Well here is a 90-day All Sites search for “Disney” total sales:



Now that’s an extremely broad search, but you can see how the demand for just one keyword rises!

Finally, to show just how annual “Disney Demand” is, here are a pair of two-year category trends. First is a total sales trend for the Collectibles > Disneyana > Contemporary (1968-Now) category:



And second, a total sold listings trend for Toys & Hobbies > TV, Movie & Character Toys > Disney:



Those are some pretty serious peaks and valleys, and it’s easy to see how they match up with the holiday season. So with close to a year before next December rolls around… imagine all the Disney schwag you’ve got time to collect!

Terapeak is an eBay Certified Provider and a member of the eBay Market Data Program. Terapeak 5.0 is a full, web-based solution providing real-time market research and data analytics on eBay. Terapeak 5.0 provides eBay sellers and buyers with two years worth of trending data.

Toys, Toys, Toys: Santas Worldwide are Buying on eBay by Terapeak

Article by Terapeak

This is not exactly the hardest time of year for us to find visually-dramatic sales trends — in fact, it’s almost certainly the easiest. A majority of all two-year Terapeak trends will show peaks and valleys in correlation with the holidays, and there’s no better category for that than eBay’s Toys & Games.

We have seen time and time again how certain toys will blow up for one season (Furby, Tickle-Me-Elmo, Cabbage Patch), while others will continue to sell year after year. Today, we’ll look at a few examples from 2009 — though of course there are hundreds more.

First is Leapster, an educational handheld game console that teaches kids the alphabet, phonics and basic math (among other things). First released in 2003, there’s been a recent spike in demand for Leapster 2, released last year. Here’s a 60-day total sales trend for “Leapster”:

Next is a classic: Lego. Dating back to the 1930s, the little building blocks are a big-time seller all year round… but rarely to the scale that the holidays provide. Here’s a 60-day sales trend for “Lego” (which, last Sunday, totalled more than $1.5 million in eBay.com sales!):

And finally, here’s this year’s phenomenon: Zhu Zhu Pets. You may have read about them already — robotic hamsters! — but if you have yet to believe the hype, check out this 60-day trend for “zhu zhu pet”:

It’s a prosperous venture, this toy racket. Here’s to guessing what next year’s craze will be!

Terapeak is an eBay Certified Provider and a member of the eBay Market Data Program. Terapeak 5.0 is a full, web-based solution providing real-time market research and data analytics on eBay. Terapeak 5.0 provides eBay sellers and buyers with two years worth of trending data.

New eBay Research App for the iPhone from Terapeak

New! eBay sellers can easily determine their products success rate on eBay (and more) with their iPhone! Terapeak just launched their new eBay market research app for the iPhone.

“The Terapeak iPhone app has been in the works for a long time, and it's a tool we feel will add a whole new dimension to conducting market research. Now you'll be able to take Terapeak with you wherever you go -- to garage sales, trade shows, thrift stores, and more!” - Terapeak







Terapeak helps answer the questions:

• What is the value of my item?
• Will my items sell?
• When should I list my item?
• Which features should I use to list my item?

• Similar to the web version of Terapeak, the new iPhone app will enable eBay sellers to see average prices, listing totals and sell-through rates for each search they perform.
• Results are viewable and sortable by end price, start price and number of bids. The results can also be filtered by category, minimum end price and maximum end price. All of this eBay data is easily accessible with your iPhone.
  
  Tereapeak’s iPhone app will be available free to anyone with a paid Terapeak subscription. Also, anyone who signs up for Terapeak before the end of December can take advantage of this offer.
  
  To access the application and get started, all you'll need to do is download it from the iPhone App Store and enter your Terapeak username and password.
  
  Terapeak is an eBay Certified Provider and a member of the eBay Market Data Program. Terapeak 5.0 is a full, web-based solution providing real-time market research and data analytics on eBay. Terapeak 5.0 provides eBay sellers and buyers with two years worth of trending data.

New to eBay Selling Manager Applications is Research for eBay by Vendio.

New to eBay Selling Manager Applications is Research for eBay, by Vendio.

Selling more profitably is simple with Research for eBay. For nearly 8 years

Research for eBay from Vendio has given smart sellers the upper hand in the eBay Marketplace. Now eBay sellers can access this powerful research tool within their eBay account! Research for eBay is an application sellers can subscribe to and add to their "My eBay" as part of Selling Manager Applications.

With Research for eBay, eBay sellers will know which items to sell, when to list them, how to list them, and which keywords to use in the listing.

Benefits of Research for eBay:

• Know what, when, and how to list items to for the best sales
• Retrieve accurate data from proprietary clustering technology
• Determine which keywords drive the highest amount of traffic to your listings
• Watch your competitors and stay ahead by learning their strategy
• eBay Motors and Parts and Accessories data included at no additional cost

Research for eBay can increase the sales volume of your eBay listings and reduce relisting costs. Know what to sell, how much it may sell for, when to sell it and how to market the item all before you list. Save time and money.

Below are screenshots of Research for eBay in action. Take a look.


An eBay Certified Solutions Provider since 2004, Vendio provides an ecommerce solution for eBay sellers of all sizes. Vendio offers a series of applications which can be installed on a standalone basis or used to extend the functionality of the Vendio's eBay listing and inventory management solution.

Vendio now brings eBay sellers Research for eBay as part of the eBay Selling Manager Applications feature. Checkout Research for eBay!

eBay Workshop Nov 10th - "Top 5 Last Minute Christmas Research Tips"

Workshop: Top 5 Last Minute Christmas Research Tips

Host: Terapeak

Date: Nov 10th, Tuesday

Time: 11AM - Noon PST

Location: eBay Workshop Board

Description: The busiest shopping days of the year are rapidly approaching (Saturday before Christmas, Black Friday, Cyber Monday…) and you're going to want to be ready to sell! What are the hottest items and opportunities for your eBay business this holiday?

Spend an hour with us and discover how to use research to plan your biggest sales month of the year! We'll review the top five research tips that can help your sales soar.

Join Matt and Denise from Terapeak Marketplace Research to learn about last minute Christmas research. After the material is presented we'll open the board for discussion and questions.

Terapeak is an eBay Certified Service Provider and one of the third party providers included in the new Selling Manager Applications feature.

Visit http://certifiedprovider.ebay.com/ to learn more about eBay Certified Providers and the services and solutions they offer to help eBay sellers.

True Blood, True Value: HBO’s Vampire Series Best-Selling DVD on eBay by Terapeak

Post provided by Terapeak demonstrating how to use eBay market research to determine sales trends, popularity and average sales price.

As if that other vampire-riffic phenomenon couldn’t get any bigger, we were peeping the Terapeak Hot DVDs section this morning and noticed a TV series atop the list…



For those keeping score, your crazy-colored vampire eyes don’t deceive you: that’s HBO’s True Blood laying a whuppin’ on the former undead champs.

But unlike Twilight, which has more than its share of detractors, we’ve heard almost exclusively good things about the HBO series. Now in its second season, the show stars Oscar-winning actress Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress, and chronicles the mystifying events of a small town in Louisiana.

Below is a 90-day total sales trend for “True Blood,” produced by Terapeak’s All Sites package:



We’re not actually sure what’s produced such a spike — the DVDs were released several months ago, and the show’s second season only just began — but then we also haven’t had a chance to really bite into the television series… (hah!)

Maybe if there weren’t so many freakin’ Twilight books to finish?

Terapeak is an eBay Certified Provider and a member of the eBay Market Data Program. Terapeak 5.0 is a web-based solution providing real-time market research and data analytics on eBay. Terapeak 5.0 provides eBay sellers and buyers with two years worth of trending data.

Beatlemania is Back: Rock Band and Beatles Items Sales Surge on eBay by Terapeak

Article by Terapeak

In case you haven’t heard, there’s this wild new video game out, where you and a few friends get to be English kids with bad haircuts, who sing cute little pop songs that eventually become more complex, and eventually you pioneer this thing called rock and roll and take over the world… It’s pretty “out there”, but a lot of fun!

Okay, obviously we’re talking about The Beatles: Rock Band, which released just over a week ago, and which features some crazy specialized instrument add-ons, like Paul’s signature Hofner bass and Ringo’s branded drum kit. Not coincidentally, the game also launched in conjunction with remastered reissues of the band’s catalogue — which, here in the office, we’re pretty stoked on. Of course, $250 retail (the cost of the 13-part box set) is a lot of dough to spend on tunes you’ve pretty much heard before — especially when paired with all the Rock Band packages — so for any fan to get in on the action, they’re looking at a hefty financial commitment.

As a result — and you know what we’re gonna say — eBay sales have gone through the roof.

Check out this 30-day All Sites total sales trend:

… and that’s just any listing with the keyword “Beatles” in it!

If total amounts aren’t your thing (fair, considering the new release factor), consider this: in the two weeks leading up to release date, sell-through also shot from 38% to 51%, while bids per listing nearly doubled. And if holiday patterns are any indication… well, that’s only the beginning.

Terapeak’s Hot Media charts for September won’t come out for another couple weeks, but do you remember the following from a couple months back?
… Okay, we still can’t get over how unbelievable that is. Jaw-dropping. Inconceivable.

But don’t be surprised to see some kind of Beatles “lite” version as holiday sales pick up…

Terapeak is an eBay Certified Provider and a member of the eBay Market Data Program. Terapeak 5.0 is a web-based solution providing real-time market research and data analytics on eBay. Terapeak 5.0 provides eBay sellers and buyers with two years worth of trending data.

Finding Products to Sell on eBay with Worldwide Brands

Article by Worldwide Brands - this is a series of 14 blog posts providing information on how to find inventory and products to sell on eBay from wholesalers with Worldwide Brands and their Product Sourcing Tool for eBay.

Article #1 - Finding Products to Sell on eBay

Did you know you can now source products to sell on eBay without leaving the Selling Manager section of “My eBay”? The Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool is now available within eBay’s Selling Manager. eBay Sellers can access more than 8,000 wholesale suppliers, including drop shippers, representing more than 8,000,000 products. eBay selling has taken on a whole new dimension taking eBay auction listings and eBay Stores well beyond just drop shipping. Once you have purchased a Worldwide Brands Membership, you will have unlimited access to verified wholesale suppliers with details on product category, brands, product types and wholesaler contact details. This puts you directly in contact with the right wholesale drop shipper or light bulk wholesaler with no intervening ‘middleman.’ You can also enjoy video and audio education guiding you on how to enhance your customer experience and eBay selling through real product sourcing.

Why is REAL product sourcing important for eBay Sellers?

Great Buyer Experiences Begin with Excellent Product Sourcing
Successful sales depend on great Buyer Experiences and excellent buyer feedback (otherwise known as your DSR ratings). But a great Buyer Experience begins with excellent product sourcing:

• Buyers gravitate to your listings when you list the products they are searching to buy. This requires up-to-date internet-based market research and a source of products that can be sold on eBay.
• Buyers flock to competitively priced products. This requires sources of wholesale supply. You need to find quality at the right selling prices and with sufficient profit margin. Excellent supplier research is critical.
• Buyers notice products that have tempting images with compelling SEO-rich descriptions. This requires careful keyword research and correct keyword usage in product descriptions. Wholesale suppliers will provide images and basic descriptions, which can be enhanced to improve your listing quality.
• A Seller needs to have the ability to cross-sell other products within the same niche. When selecting a wholesale supplier, a seller needs to remember this and select their first supplier with a wide range of SKUs in order to list products faster. A customer is more likely to buy from a listing, which shows additional options that they can purchase.
• Buyers require good deals on shipping and fast shipments to destination. If a seller is going to use a drop shipper or wholesale supplier, they will need to confirm the policies and procedures of those suppliers to ensure timely shipping.

eBay Sellers need to perform all this research quickly. The Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool allows eBay Sellers to do all this without leaving eBay’s Selling Manager.

How the Product Sourcing Tool Helps

For the past 10 years, Worldwide Brands researchers have been qualifying and certifying drop shippers and wholesale suppliers willing to work with eBay retailers. Here’s how eBay Sellers already use the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool. Using a selected product keyword, eBay Sellers search:

• To determine a current demand and supply for a selected product
• To find associated keywords to use in their auction listings and product descriptions
• To identify wholesale suppliers who will work with eBay Sellers including Volume Wholesalers, Light Bulk Wholesalers, Drop Shippers, and Liquidation Suppliers
• To conduct competition and pricing research

This quick video tour will show you how you can save time with this tool.

Worldwide Brands is an eBay Certified Solution Provider, providing product sourcing access and information for eBay sellers. They are the publishers of an extensive directory of legitimate, fully-verified ecommerce wholesalers and manufacturers.

How Researching the “Popularity Factor” can Help You Determine What to Buy in Bulk and Sell on eBay by Vendio

Post provided by Vendio

Many sellers purchasing from wholesales get quantity discounts. While we have thousands and thousands of sellers who use our award winning Vendio Research to determine how to sell a product in hand, Research is also great for determining how to purchase in quantity. In other words, you can use Vendio Research to help you determine what to buy and in what quantities. This is even true of products that are NOT on eBay at all yet. It is possible to bring a new product to the eBay market, and still use Research to help you determine your purchase quantities.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you want to purchase Birthstone Pens and no one else is currently selling them on eBay. Your supplier offers a quantity discount when you purchase 300 pens. Now, typically you might think, I’ll divide 12 months into 300 pens which equals 25 of each month. Simple, right? No, the smarter way to buy in bulk is to first realize that not all birthstones sell the same.

Using Vendio Research, we quickly looked up the eBay data on birthstone sales in the last 90 days. As the chart below illustrates, December birthstones have a 13% success rate, while April has 29%!! What this implies is that you’ll sell more of your April Birthstone Pens. Therefore, if you had purchased a quantity of 25 of each month, you’d be left with more unpopular pens and will need to fix-forward when reordering. Vendio Research can help you determine the “popularity factor” when it comes to purchase choices.

This can apply to virtually any type of merchandise where there is a selection to choose from. For example:

• What color is more popular for T-shirts, iPods, or even cars?
• What sports team or Disney actor is the most popular (on eBay)?
• What sizes are popular sizes for shoes, rings, jeans?

There is an old saying that the profit is made when an item is purchased, so going into a purchase armed with data can help profits. Many sellers will go ahead and research an item in hand, but apply guesswork when it comes to purchasing. With all the data at your fingertips from Vendio Research, there is no reason for you not to quickly gain an advantage with purchase decisions and ensure greater profits.

As an exclusive for the readers of the eBay Certified Provider Blog, Vendio is giving away Vendio Research Free for 60 days! Click here http://bit.ly/eBayCPBlog to learn more.

An eBay Certified Solutions Provider since 2004, Vendio provides an ecommerce solution for eBay sellers of all sizes. Vendio offers a series of applications which can be installed on a standalone basis or used to extend the functionality of the Vendio's eBay listing and inventory management solution.

Is Purchasing Product "At Cost" from Wholesalers a Good Idea? by Worldwide Brands

Article by Chris Malta, CEO & Founder of Worldwide Brands


Wholesale Tips Series - How to find wholesalers, doing business with a wholesaler, what to expect when purchasing from wholesalers and more.

Tip #19

What should Buyers expect when their wholesale supplier offers to sell a product: At Cost? It may mean different things, so do your research carefully. To sell At Cost, a wholesaler will make no profit. When they say At Cost, the wholesaler will be selling to you at exactly what it cost them to buy the goods from the manufacturer.

Think of this, if the wholesaler can’t sell the items to any retailer, how do you expect to sell the items to any of your buyers? You should always use your Product Sourcing tool (from Worldwide Brands) to determine the current demand for the product on the web before you place orders for At Cost items. If people are searching for these items and seem willing to buy, this may be a bargain that you’ll make some money out of. Alternatively, you could be selling 'at cost' or even 'below cost' to get rid of the inventory.

Worldwide Brands is an eBay Certified Solution Provider, providing product sourcing access and information for eBay sellers. They are the publishers of an extensive directory of legitimate, fully-verified ecommerce wholesalers and manufacturers.