Key Concept
Research should pay for itself
Just like any business cost, market research should produce a positive return on your investment.
Plan for a 10x return on market research costs. Examples of high return activities are:
- you are new to selling a product and need to know pricing and the best keywords
- you are considering purchasing inventory
- you want to quit your day job and you need to estimate your income
- your new competitor is under cutting you on price - is it paying off or are they just foolish?
Compare Research
Choose the right licensed eBay research tool from this table.
Licensed data comes directly from eBay's vast database. This guarantees 100% of the listings are available for use and your analyses are accurate.| Feature | eBay Completed Listings | eSeller Street | eBay Marketplace Research, Terapeak - Lite version | eBay Marketplace Research, Terapeak, Hammertap - Full Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Historic data range | 26 days | 90 days | 60 to 90 days | 90 days to 1 year+ |
| raw listings | yes |  | yes | yes |
| seller research | yes | | no | yes |
| full statistical analysis | no | | yes | yes |
| price | free | $.35 per use | $9.95 per mo | $24.95 per mo |
| best use | To get an idea of how many items were listed | Full analysis on items and sellers. For sellers who research < 40 times per month | Full analysis on items only. For sellers who research > 40 times per month. | Full analysis on items and sellers. For sellers who research > 40 times per month |
Suggested usage:
eBay's completed listings page is useful for getting a rough understanding of a seller or item in the marketplace. It will tell you how many items were listed in the past 26 days and show those listings. No summary is provided. Determining the total sales, average prices or success rate is difficult.
eSeller Street shows listings and statistical summaries for any search. Use this when you want to keep tabs on a competitor or explore a market. Pay per use format is convenient for sellers who want to perform < 40 searches per month.
eBay, Terapeak and Hammertap are monthly services. They provide advanced graphing capability. Use these services if you regularly perform > 40 searches per month.
