eBay Business, eBay Marketplace Research
Buying and Selling on eBay; Market Intelligence for Improving Sales
Jul 25, 2008
After the first quarter trading as an eBay business, eBay sellers should take stock of their sales strategies and start forecasting for the next six months to a year.
Just like any other ecommerce or face-to-face retail business, an eBay business with the right products and customers willing to buy and pay reliably will build their turnover and profit. Many sellers who know of the ‘eBay effect’ have made the move into ecommerce and are new to running an eBay business.
The relatively new service, called eBay Marketplace Research, will offer their business a kick start into their second quarter of trading onwards and upwards in sales of their product/s.
eBay Marketplace Research
Sellers on eBay who are up and running full-time will have chosen their eBay User ID to reflect their current products and business idea. Inexperienced sellers will focus, in the first weeks or months of selling on eBay, on products that they know well and/or products they would buy themselves on eBay.
Irrespective of how a new eBay business is performing, at the end of the third month of trading all new business selling on eBay will benefit from the critical intelligence that eBay Marketplace Research offers.
Sellers on eBay are required by eBay to subscribe to eBay Marketplace Research. Prospective subscribers are promised “Access up to 90 days of eBay historical completed items data. Understand the demand for items you're planning to sell with charts trending average bids per item, number of completed items and more. View top searches within a category or the entire site to see what buyers are searching for” by eBay Marketplace Research.
Using eBay Marketplace Research
Once registered as a subscriber, eBay sellers can search the entire eBay site to see what products eBay buyers are searching for or they can carry out an investigation of data for a specific category.
Data mining within a category is likely to be the most rewarding in terms of time spent by an eBay business using the eBay Marketplace Research business tool. Data and information available from eBay Marketplace Research includes:
- Searching by buyers within the category
- Average bids per item available in chart form
- Number of completed items within the category
Such intelligence on products similar or identical to the interests of the new eBay business can only be a valuable business tool for improving sales strategies including fixed pricing.
Promoting a New eBay Business
As a new eBay business, there are several key aspects of eBay business success:
- In the early weeks, a new eBay seller will have tested the market with products that they know well.
- Using the free eBay feature – the ‘about me’ page – will quickly establish the eBay business with information and promotion.
- With over 10 years of eBay trading, national business press regularly cover successful eBay business start-ups which offer interesting case studies to read.
Finally, signing up for eBay Marketplace Research and networking with others in eBay business community will offer different routes to gathering intelligence important for a durable and profitable eBay business.
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