The top eBay product research tools

Starting an eBay business is the easy part – knowing what to sell on eBay is a different matter. In the second part of our ‘selling on eBay’ series, we’re covering product research. Specifically, we’re looking at the best eBay product research tools out there, to get you the most bang for your buck. Let’s just straight in.

What is product research?

Product research is background research on a new product idea. Ultimately, it helps you to determine whether a product will make you money. 

Why is product research important

Product research is important, especially if you’re new to eCommerce or looking to invest a lot of money into a new product line. Aside from helping you to identify sellable and profitable products, product research is also crucial for:

? Knowing the demand for the product, particularly seasonal demands;

? Understanding your competitor’s pricing and shipping options;

? Finding suppliers who fit in with your pricing model;

? Determining shipping costs; 

? Beginning your keyword research; and

? Predicting future trends and demands. 

What are eBay product research tools?

You can conduct eBay product research without a tool – scrolling through eBay, making notes and going with that gut feeling. But that takes time. eBay product research tools take the manual labour out of product research and provide you with extensive statistics to help you make better business decisions. 

The top eBay product research tools

So what are the best tools for the job? There are several product research tools out there – the best ones for the job and your budget?

1. TeraPeak

 

TeraPeak’s product research tool helps you identify the best products for your business by examining the competition’s performance, market share, average pricing and shipping options. Even better, you can use TeraPeak’s advanced research tools to identify key statistics including sales volume, product availability and shopper engagement. Then, you can use the market trends feature to plot these results over time to stay ahead of demand. 

Pricing: From $12 p/month (free to US Basic, Premium, Anchor, or Enterprise eBay Store holders.)

Find out more: here

2. Algopix

Described as the “leading multi-channel product market research solution”, Algopix allows eBay sellers to conduct fast and easy research on product sourcing and selling. Actionable product insights provided include recommended market price, expenses, competition analysis, demand, estimated profit and total sales estimation. All data is processed in real-time, using advanced algorithms and Algopix will provide you with its helpful “recommended” or “not recommended” opinion at the end. Winner. 

Pricing: From $19.99 p/month (seven-day free trial available)

Find out more: here

3. ShelfTrend

ShelfTrend boasts sales and inventory data for an impressive billion+ eBay listings in over 20 different countries. Simply enter in your intended product to see a real-time overview of the critical stats, including:

? Search rank

? Inventory levels

? Sales velocity

? Location,

? Price ranges a

? Listing volume

Plus, ShelfTrend’s advanced functionality lets you monitor competition, analyse marketplace movement and find product niches and opportunities.  Everything you need for successful product launches. 

Pricing: $14.99 p/month (free version also available)

4. ListingsHistory

Don’t be fooled by ListingsHistory’s simple appearance. This free to use tool comes with all the basics that you need to get started with product research. Once registered (for free), you can search every item sold on eBay since 2014 and access information including the title, image, category, sold for price and full listing description. It doesn’t get easier than that. 

Pricing: Free!

Find out more: here

4. Google Trends

While not explicitly built as an eBay product research tool, Google Trends helps you to discover what products people are searching for generally on the internet over time. This allows you to identify product trends and peaks in demand. As you can see from our product research on slush machines – they’re well searched for in July and December…but no so much in January and February. You can also view long-term trends by customising the time range – in our example, slush machines are selling well now but only took off in 2017. 

Pricing: Free!

Find out more: here

Trending on eBay

If you’re looking for some quick wins, eBay’s Trending on eBay section is the perfect place for research. Showing you precisely what’s hot right this second, the Trending on eBay page lists the top ten trending products alongside the search volume and a little trending graph. 

Pricing: Free!

Find out more: here

Amazon best sellers

And, let’s not forget the competition. Whether you’re selling on Amazon alongside eBay (using eBay to Amazon listing software) or not, Amazon is full of useful product inspiration and information. Head to the “Amazon Best Sellers” page to see their most popular items over the past hour per category. 

Pricing: Free!

Find out more: here

Final thoughts

Product research doesn’t have to be a gruesome task – you just need the right tools for the job.

 

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About Expandly

Expandly’s eBay multi-channel management software helps online sellers (like you) to sell products across multiple sales channel(s) with ease. Simply list to multiple sales channel(s) at the click of a button and then manage them from our central dashboard.