eBay Pricing Strategy and How to Do Research

Most sellers on eBay don’t realize the importance of doing research before buying an item and before listing it. When you skip the step of doing research, you’re risking losing a lot of profit possibilities. I know you have had the moment of almost having your item listed for sale and now you’re wondering “How much should I sell it for?” This stumbles many sellers and they end up pricing it too low and losing money, or pricing it too high and it stays on eBay for years. Here you will find how to do eBay research, when to do research on eBay, and a few tips on how to strategically price your items to make the most sales.

• How to do eBay research
• What to price your items at
• How to strategically price your items for the most sales

If you are new at selling on eBay, check out this post first: How to Start Selling on eBay in 12 Easy Steps!

How to do research

This is one of the most important things to do when selling on eBay, especially when you are buying to resell. When you are at a garage sale and you’re wondering whether or not you should buy something, do research and that will answer your question.

Pricing research is all about looking at what the item you’re selling has been selling for under completed listings. There are a few ways to find this information, eBay even offers a nice service to see what items have been selling.

Under your eBay Seller Hub, there is a main category called “Research”. Here you will find a few helpful research tools.

Helpful research tools

Terapeak Product Research | You can search for a brand and this amazing tool shows you the average sold price for the week, the average shipping price, and how many have sold. You only get this free with the Premium store and up.

Sourcing Guidance | This might be the best way to familiarize yourself with what brands you should be keeping your eye out for. You pick a category, and it tells you what brands are top selling, when this category sells, and average pricing to expect.

Ways to do research

The old fashioned way (my favorite) | Type in the item you’re looking at in the search box in the eBay app. Then on the left side click Filter then Completed Items. Here is all the recents items that have sold (green) and not sold (red). This gives you an idea of how often they’re selling and for how much. If they’re all red, you might want to pass because that means it’s not a hot item. If they’re only selling for an average of $10 and you’re going to buy it for $5, pass.

Checkaflip.com | This is a really cool website. You type in your item in the search box and it tells you what the average price sold is and the percentage sold and how much the average listed price of that item is on eBay right now.

Explore eBay | This is a service provided by eBay to help sellers find out how much items are selling for. When you type in an item, it shows what the average new and used price is listed on eBay right now is and a graph showing the price and quantity sold. It also shows what is trending now which is really cool.

You might also enjoy reading… 

How to Handle an eBay Return

Fixed Price vs Auction Style | Which One Converts to More eBay Sales?

Ultimate List of Brands that Sell on eBay

Pricing Strategy

The eBay market is very interesting. The jacket that has the $300 price tag is only worth $20. The pants you bought at Walmart for $9 is selling for $10. The vintage item you knew was going to be worth hundreds isn’t selling for $1.

The key to not losing any money is by doing research. And if you do have an item that you see by your research isn’t selling, you can list it anyways. (Especially if you have a ton of free listings!) I always price my items a little higher than average selling but still competitive.

So now that you have an idea of how much your item is worth, how should you price it? What are the real stats of, for example, $9.99 vs $10?

Obviously, buyers aren’t thinking “This one is a penny cheaper!”. It’s all in how we see the price. How many digits and what number it ends on surprisingly has a huge impact on how we shop. Even if two prices are almost identical, buyers will choose the one that seems cheaper.

There is a study that brings out that researchers have found that a price ending in nine is perceived to be much cheaper than a price one penny higher ending in zero. So $29.99 seems less expensive than $30.

So what should you price your items at? It’s up to you whether you want to list your items at $9.99 or $10. Play with some different ways to list items and word your titles.

Along with pricing strategy, I wanted to add how important keyword research is. The words you choose for your title could mean a sale or a missed sale. This means making sure you use correct terms and use the brand and every detail you can. Instead of writing, “Black shirt small” you could write “Express Black Long Sleeve Shirt Women’s Size Small” Every extra word could mean a sale.

Summary

The key is to always do research if you are unsure about an item.

Use different ways of pricing to figure out what works best for you.

Use as many details of the item as you can in the title without looking like spam.

Helpful research tools:

• Terapeak Product Research
• Sourcing Guide
• Checkaflip.com
• Explore eBay

eBay encouragement

Don’t give up. Sometimes you will get upset because an angry buyer wants to return an item, or you may not make as much as you wanted on an item that sold. The more you sell, the more you figure out what works for you. 

Just a few eBay tips:

• Don’t invest too much on each item, because you make money at the buy.
• List items just a little more than what they have been selling for. Then don’t be afraid to put a sale on them in a month.
• Keep your inventory organized as you list. This is key to selling on eBay. Check it out: How to Organize your eBay Inventory
• Ship items that sell during the day every night. Don’t put it off until the morning. Then set up a pick up on usps.com so you don’t have to leave your house. Check it out: How to Ship Items on eBay
• Keep your shipping cost low, this is how you make more.
• Retake your pictures and change up your title if your items are not selling. Check it out: How to Take Good Pictures

One thing to remember: if you don’t list, you don’t last. The more you list on eBay = the more you sell = the more you make. So don’t give up! Keep listing because eBay works.

Why do you love selling on eBay?

What are your favorite items to list?

Comment below!

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