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November 12, 2007

How To Do eBay Research For Free

Once the realization of the power of eBay dawns, almost any affiliate marketer will be eager to get involved. But obviously, it's critical to first ensure that there is demand on eBay for whatever you want to sell.

For example, the sale of wine isn't allowed. Yes, decorative wine bottles can be sold, but not their contents. So if you're interested in a wine program, eBay won't be useful.

But the good news is that eBay research can be done for free, right on the eBay site itself. The best way is through eBay's "Completed" auctions which can be accessed from the front page of eBay. There are two reasons why only this data is valid:

1. Current auctions don't provide accurate results. In general, what happens with an auction is that (assuming there is demand) first there is a spurt of bidding at the beginning. Generally, these are buyer newbies who don't yet realize that by bidding early they are simply bidding up the price.

Then near the end of the auction, there is often an intense and crazed bidding war, known as sniping. eBay has made it easy for this war to occur by allowing any buyer to automatically bid up to a pre-set limit. For instance, you might be willing to spend $100 for an item but the current bidding is only $12.50. You can instruct your eBay account to begin at the $12.50 level but continue to bid until it reaches $100, at which point bidding stops.

2. In addition to auctions, eBay offers instant payment options for buyers who don't want to wait until an auction ends. The most common way of doing this is with eBay's Buy It Now (BIN) option. However, when a BIN is chosen by a buyer, that listing disappears.

Therefore. looking only at current listings will give a very incomplete view of what's actually going on in an eBay market.

However, eBay has made it easy to get accurate results with its "Completed Auction" option.

How To Use eBay's Completed Auctions

Posted by SydneyJohnston at November 12, 2007 3:06 PM

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