Welcome to the workshop! Here at eBay, we have recently updated the eBay Marketplace Research tool to include Motors – Parts & Accessories data. Now there is a whole new area of eBay that can be explored using the research tool to uncover selling insights.

Today, Lomax will walk through how research can help you assess the selling potential of various items in the Motors, Parts & Accessories category on eBay. We will provide a brief tutorial on how the Marketplace Research tool works and how it can be used to guide your listing strategy.

Your participation and questions are encouraged.

Note: The workshop today is for eBay sellers of all kinds, however will have a Motors - Parts & Accessories focus.

All of the information presented today was obtained through eBay Marketplace Research. If you are not familiar with the product you can click the link to find out more about eBay Marketplace Research.

Thanks for joining us today!

It is important to understand that eBay Marketplace Research is a research tool.

It is not a magic bullet that does the research for you, but you can use it to find key insights about how a specific product is selling on eBay. This information is often critical in making informed selling decisions. eBay Marketplace Research provides:

1) More history of listings than is available through the Completed Items search.

2) Calculated totals and averages of product metrics such as:
a. Average prices
b. The number of products typically available
c. The total number sold for a given time period
d. Sales performance in Auctions vs. Stores (Buy it now)
e. Typical shipping rates

3) Top Searches – Information about popular keyword searches

In short, the research tool can you provide you with transparency and insight into how specific products are bought and sold on eBay.

Supposed you are considering selling Shoei Motorcycle helmets as part of your eBay business. Before stocking up on a fresh supply of helmet inventory, you want to investigate the products selling potential on eBay - and perhaps compare Shoei to some other helmet brands.

Using eBay Marketplace Research, you would begin researching Shoei helmets by searching in the following manner:

1) Search by keyword

Simply enter “Shoei” or “Shoei helmet” in to the keyword box and click “Run Research.”

The goal in your Research query should be to only return results that are for the product of interest. That way, when the tool generates metrics, such as “Average Price”, the calculation is based only on like items.

In our case, we are only interested in the helmets themselves, not things like helmet liners and visors. Therefore you can apply any filters so that the search only finds results that are Shoei helmets. For example, to remove accessories you can exclude keywords such as “liner,” or “visor.”

Applying the price range filter can also be effective. You know that Shoei Helmets are definitely not going to sell for less than $200, or more than $700. Setting the price range filter removes the noise of low-priced accessories and high-dollar “lots” of helmets.

The metric “Completed items” represents the number that was available over the last month on eBay. You can see that in auctions, there were 888. You can also see that the number of “Sold Items” was 164. Therefore it looks like approximately 1 out of every 5 Shuffles listed on eBay sell. (164 sold / 888 available or approximately 20%)

1/5 or 20% is also referred to as the conversion rate or sell-through rate.

Look back at the Average Price screenshot above. Regarding pricing, you can see the following:

* Average Sold Price (Auctions) = $296.90
* Ave. Sold Buy It Now Price = $319.49
* Average Sold Price (Stores) = $355.56

Although, these are the same products, you can see that they are selling for very different prices on eBay. Here are some general rules for selecting an ebay listing format in which to sell:

Auctions – Listing in the auction format (without Buy It Now) typically results in the highest sell-through rates. This means that you can unload or sell your items quickly, however the selling price can often be less. Buyers typically perceive auctions as a way to potentially get a good deal, and will bid accordingly - typically below retail (although not always).

Buy It Now – Listing with this option provides buyers with the ability to instantly purchase an item. Buyers perceive this more like buying from an online store, and therefore are typically willing to pay closer to or retail prices. They also know that if the seller is willing to part with the item at that fixed price, it is likely not a “steal,” such as they might be able to get through an auction. Note: because of this perception, Buy It Now listings can increase the likelihood that your item will not sell at all.

Buy It Now (Fixed price items within Stores) – Listing in this format can often yield higher prices, however it typically takes longer for items to sell. Buyers often have relationships with their favorite sellers, have established trust, and are willing to pay more through a Store.

Keep the above rules and your selling objective in mind when choosing a listing format.