eBay Research Software

I have been doing a lot of research into product to sell on eBay of recent and here is a review of the products which I have been using.

eBay tools can be broadly divided into two sorts, those that go through the eBay API and those that scrape eBay results through the login.  Software which uses the API are fast, but constrained in the results which they can provide.  For example they cannot give details on the size of sales within a particular category, as this might be used in predicting eBay’s financial results. 

Software which scrapes eBay pages are slow but can give more information about a particular category, for example the size of the category and who is sellling within that category.

 API Software

The product I have been making the most use of is terapeak.  Terapeak provides data for UK, France, Germany, Australia, Canada and US eBay marketplaces making it the most comprehensive tool on the market.  The product is charged at $24.95 for a single site and £39.95 for all 6 countries.  Reports include:

• Product Search.  Analyse performance of eBay products by keywords search
• Top Seller Seach.  Analyse top sellers for a product.  Sellers are given a number (i.e. their IDs are hidden, but these can be revealed by clicking through to the products they are selling)
• Seller Report.  Analyse sales of a particular seller – very useful
• Category Report.  Relative performance of a category over time.  Very limited functionality.
• Keywords Search.  Analyse keywords which have improved performance for a particular product. 

What I find particularly useful is the seller report.  Using this report a seller’s sales can be analysed to discover that items are selling most effectively and what their GMV is.  My one criticism of terapeak is that it does not provide a good printable report of search results. 

Recommendation:  Use Terapeak if you are performing in depth analysis of your competitor’s sales and product level analysis

Unlike Terapeak, eSellerStreet is charged on a per search basis ($0.35).  The product produces report on sellers or eBay searches giving the following information

• Statistics 
• Top Categories
• Matching items
• Sales by listing type
• Sales by time of day and day of week
• Sales by duration
• Listing promotions

Recommendation:  I find eSellerStreet to be particularly useful if you want to quick analysis of a seller or search, presented in an easy to digest format.

eBay Scraping Software 

Auction Intelligence 

Auction Intelligence, produces indepth analysis of eBay searches and sellers, without any of the constraints placed on the API products.  The product provides reports which are not offered by the other products such as the effect of offering PayPal and the effect of postage rates.  Reports offered:

• Statistics summary
• Effect of auction timing on price
• Hot items (items with most bids)
• Effect of offering PayPal
• Effect of Feedback on price
• Duration effects
• Listing upgrade effects
• Common search phrases

This adds up to a very powerful picture of the eBay marketplace which is not available through the API products.  The one drawback of AI is that searches can take hours.

Recommendation:  Use AI to build a picture of your eBay marketplace, and to analyse your sales in depth.