Very often I am asked this question by people – “what are the best, hot selling products on eBay?”

As if it is some kind of big secret…

Well, for many people this may be a surprise but you don’t have to be David Copperfield to see the top selling products on eBay, far from it! You don’t even have to do any kind of manual research to find these hot selling products on eBay – it’s actually far, far easier.

All you need is a Terapeak subscription and that’s it! With that you can find the most popular products on eBay.

I have already covered how to use Terapeak’s Competitor Research tool to find the most popular products in your niche, sold by competing sellers, but today I want to cover the Hot Research function, which you’ll find within the in-depth research tab:

There are 6 ways to do Hot Research on Terapeak:

1. You can do a manual search for a keyword and it will show all items related to that keyword. You can also select the data range from 1, 7 and 14 days.
2. Hot Categories (click on the first icon in the Views menu).
3. Hot Media (second icon in the Views menu). At this time hot media does not work for eBay.co.uk but it does work for eBay.com.
4. Popular Keyword searches (third icon in t
   he Views menu).
5. Best selling products, based on keywords used in the listing title.
6. Best selling titles, based on actual listings and their sales data.

Read More…

Happy Friday!

eBay is the place everyone goes to find something cheap, right? Or not? Is there any demand for more expensive, luxury products on eBay’s marketplace?

Those are all good questions and I will try to answer them in today’s Reader’s Question post!

Here’s the email I received from Vicky:

Dear Andrew,

Hope my email reaches you and doesn’t cause much trouble.

I have been following your blog for many months now and appreciate the free advice you give to us, so thank you for that. I have a dilemma on a product range I want to sell and hope you can give me some advice.

My husband is originally from Italy and have great connections to luxury leather product manufacturers over there. These are very classy, expensive leather accessories I could source in small quantities and sell on eBay and Amazon.

But I’m not confident that they will sell? As they’re not the cheap type of products most sellers import from China and sell for very low prices. The products I can source are basically handmade from premium leather with starting prices of around £50 going up to hundreds of pounds for more complex products, like bags.

So do you think Andrew that I can make profit selling these items on eBay and later on via Amazon too?

Any advice would be highly appreciated as I don’t want to buy products I can’t sell.

Best wishes,
Vicky

Hi Vicky,

Your email doesn’t cause any trouble at all! 🙂 Actually I’m very happy to receive emails with questions from my blog readers as I LOVE helping people out plus these emails and questions are perfect for my weekly Reader’s Question blog posts.

Going back to your question about selling luxury products on eBay – the quick and simple answer would be YES, of course!

eBay is NOT all about cheap, Chinese made products! People also go to eBay looking for relatively expensive, even luxury products and with the right items and great presentation, you can actually make more money selling these compared to cheap Chinese imports (more on that later). Read More…

Two months ago Terapeak released a brand new product research tool called – Product Research 2.0 and this has created some confusion amongst regular Terapeak users because the OLD Product Research tool is still available too. And in many cases you’ll get different numbers/data from these two tools when searching for the exact same keywords. So why is this happening?

First of all – the new Product Research 2.0 is a totally new algorithm/engine that Terapeak is still working on – it’s not completely finished so we’ll see more functions added to it in the very near future. Currently it gives us basic data for each product and the biggest advantage is the SPEED at which this data is presented to us in comparison to the old product research tool.

Another great advantage of the new tool is that it gives us the option to select the product category right from the search box – this can save a lot of time as we don’t have to manually select categories like we used to, to get more accurate results.

Along with category suggestions, it will also show us related products/search terms to the keyword that we’re searching for:

So these are great new features and together with much faster loading times, the new product research tools looks really promising!

But going back to the original question on why we sometimes get different data using the old and new product research tool?

Actually, let’s do a “live” example. I’ll search for “exercise mat” using the new tool, getting these results: Read More…

Reaching that magic top rated seller status is one of the first tasks new eBay sellers need to go through. Some may argue that TRS is not that important and in some cases – yes, I have seen that non-TRS listings do rank well in search results BUT in the majority of cases, you’ll mostly see TRS listings at the top of eBay’s search results. Plus without TRS you can’t qualify for eBay Premium Service status, which is another added advantage.

Most people starting out on eBay will have personal accounts but as we all know – to qualify for TRS status, you need to have a Business account. And this causes some confusion as people are unsure about when exactly they need to upgrade to a business account…

This is exactly what Neil asked about in his recent email:

Hi Andrew,

I’m a stay at home dad of 2 and looking to build a 2nd income from eBay.

I’m in the middle of the learning curve in selling unwanted 2nd hand goods. My account is a personal one rated above standard with 100 + sales and 100% positive feedback.

Do I need to switch to a business account to get TRS status (as well as the other requirements of course)?

I’m planning to move into selling new goods later this year.

Neil

P.S. Love the blog and all the free information!

Thanks for your question Neil & congrats on achieving those magic first 100 sales!

Just don’t forget that to qualify for TRS, you need 100 sales (to UK & IRL buyers) PLUS £1k in total sales volume. So if you haven’t reached £1k in sales, you’ll need to find a few more expensive items and sell them to reach that level.

Once that is done – in your eBay Seller Dashboard (Seller Hub), you’ll get a message saying that you’ll get your Top Rated Seller status on the next evaluation day BUT only if you have upgraded your eBay account to BUSINESS. Read More…

Hello and welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! 🙂

It’s another Monday morning and to add to the doom and gloom, today’s post is all about eBay’s new shop packages… and of course new shop packages invariably also means new shop pricing!

To be more specific, they’re “increasing the prices of insertion fees, listing upgrades and eBay Shop subscriptions.”

So while the insertion fee price increases come with no added benefits (it’s simply more expensive now), there have been some changes to the shop subscription packages and what you get at each level – which is all part of eBay’s “efforts to improve their marketplace and offer more value to sellers.”

Now normally I’d take such claims with a pinch of salt, expecting eBay to have offered some meaningless “upgrades” in an attempt to hide a price hike… but in this case they are offering some useful benefits in comparison to the old shop packages. This includes:

• MORE fixed price (i.e. Buy It Now) listings included at every shop subscription level.

• Free 7-day Auction style listings included at every shop subscription level.

• eBay packaging voucher – a monthly voucher that you’re able to use on eBay branded packaging (you can check out the review I did on eBay’s packaging options here: eBay Branded Packaging – Great Marketing or a Waste of Time?)

• Listing upgrade credit – a monthly credit amount that you can spend on listings upgrades, which includes things like adding a subtitle, setting a reserve price, Gallery Plus and more – and most importantly, this credit can also be used on promote your listings!

One important point – the packaging voucher and listing upgrade credit are only given to those subscribed to either an Anchor shop or Featured shop (the two highest level shop subscriptions on eBay) and NOT to those with a Basic shop. Read More…

Hello and welcome back to another Friday and another Reader’s Question post!

Today I’m going to be looking at an email I received from Affan, who had his Royal Mail delivery seized and destroyed for breaching dangerous goods transport regulations, which in this case meant the package contained batteries.

Here’s the email I received:

Hello Andrew,

I have a problem and I wanted to request some guidance from you. I have recently started selling phone batteries and received an email from Royal Mail (the only shipping company I use) that I have attached for you to see.

Previously I thought that sending batteries was only prohibited internationally but I’m now assuming that Royal Mail doesn’t carry them domestically either? Do you know anything about this issue Andrew? What are my options and are there any alternate shipping options for domestic as well as EU sales?

Many thanks and best wishes,

Affan

And here is a screenshot of the letter so that you can see exactly what Royal Mail sent to Affan:

For those of you that can’t be bothered to read the letter in full (I know I know, it’s Friday after all!) here are the most important snippets from the final paragraph:

“Having opened your parcel and examined the goods more closely, we determined that the items contained within it did breach dangerous goods transport regulations. We have therefore disposed of your parcel accordingly.”

Now, first things first – by now I assume and hope that all online sellers are aware of the dangers involved when posting batteries, which are prone to shorting, overheating and potentially catching fire… it’s something that’s received a lot of media attention over recent years and in 2013 regulations were put into place to control the shipment of batteries.

However this was mainly aimed at international air shipments but since then further rules have been introduced by the International Air Transport Association, or IATA for short, with their Dangerous Goods Regulations, which regulates the shipment and transport of “dangerous goods” (pretty obvious really!). Read More…

Video transcript:

Hello & Welcome!

In this video I will show you how to create great looking eBay listings now that eBay has discontinued the ever-popular Turbo Lister desktop application.

I won’t be using any complicated tools or paid software! I want to show you how anyone can create great looking eBay listings without spending a penny. So without further ado, let’s get started!

Since we don’t have Turbo Lister anymore, I recommend that you create your listings directly on eBay, via your Seller Hub. It works in a very similar way as before, just now it’s a much faster process as all the listing details are available on one page. Seller hub also allows you to duplicate and manage listings in a similar way to how Turbo Lister did, but let’s leave that for another video.

So you start by simply clicking on SELL from the top header menu or click on Listings > Create Listing directly from Seller Hub.

On the first step eBay asks for a UPC, ISBN, part number or product name to help you find the most suitable product category but you can simply enter the product name here or the full listing title that you’ll use and then just manually select the category later on.

On the next page you have all the information related to your listing, including the listing title, category, condition, photos, description, payment/shipping settings and everything else.

I won’t be covering all those details as they’re self-explanatory really. In Photos you can upload up to 12 images for your product and if you list with variations, a further 12 images are available for each variation. Remember that you want your gallery images to be SQUARE and at least 1600 by 1600 pixels in size.

What we’re interested in is the Item description block. This is the place where you add a template, product description, images and all other information.

Now, if you DON’T plan on including product images inside your description block, you can simply use eBay’s interface. Switch to HTML mode, paste your template code, then switch back to Standard mode and simply add your description, payment, shipping and other texts.

It’s very easy to do and you can’t really mess anything up here! Read More…

As we’re by now all aware – in just a few months’ time, June 2017 to be precise, eBay won’t show your listing description to buyers if it contains ACTIVE content.

Just to remind you what active content is according to eBay:

• JavaScript
• Plug-ins
• Flash Videos
• Form Actions

I have a very popular post on my blog that shows how to add a YouTube video to your eBay listing but unfortunately that method is based on Flash which means it’s active content and from June 2017 it can no longer be in your listing description.

If you have a listing with a YouTube video embedded in it, you can check if it contains any active content via the infamous I-Ways tool here.

And it will show an active content error like this:

This means that eBay won’t show your listing description from June 2017:

It’s actually not clear what this specifically means – as from what I understand, listings won’t be removed as such, eBay just won’t show your listing description, template etc. Still, I’m sure you agree that no one wants that and we have no choice but to remove such active content from your listings. Read More…

Happy Friday!

It’s time for our weekly Reader’s Question post.

Today I want to talk about listing titles and specifically what kind of information you want to include in them. In general terms, your product keywords are THE MOST important part of your listing title. As I covered in my eBay SEO post, you can easily get keywords to use in your listing titles using the SEO function in Terapeak.

But what about other information like FREE Shipping? Should you include that in your listing titles?

This is exactly what Max asked me in his recent email:

Hello Andrew,

Thanks a lot for sharing all the information on your blog.

I have been selling professionally on eBay for the past 18 months or so, as an extension to our physical shop and own website. All the listings contain the words “free post” at the end and I wonder if this is wise?

What do you think of adding “free postage” in the title of listings of eBay? Is there any evidence as to the good it does? And does it still matter as nowadays most listings are offering free postage as default?

If the evidence is not there to prove it works, I would happily use the extra characters to enhance the title with more keywords.

Thanks for your advice.

Max

Hi Max,

Thanks for your email.

The short answer is – NO, I don’t think it is worth including FREE Shipping/FREE POST in your listing titles. As you say – the vast majority of eBay listings offer free shipping by default, especially listings on the first page of search results so customers are already used to the fact that most sellers offer free shipping.

Even more importantly – eBay clearly shows which listings offer free shipping with the Free Postage text right below the price for sellers who are NOT Top Rated Sellers and offer free shipping:

In my opinion this is actually more visible than if you write free shipping at the end of your listing title. Most people browse through search results by looking at gallery images, not by reading the actual listing title text. Read More…

Happy Friday!

On a regular basis I receive emails asking about eBay accounts. And even though I have already covered the topic of multiple eBay and PayPal accounts in a separate blog post, many people simply ask what the best option is when you have an established personal account and want to start selling on eBay as a business?

This is exactly what Mark asked me:

Hi Andrew,

I am working my way through your EAB tutorials which I find extremely informative, and wondered if you could provide me with some assistance please.

I have held a personal eBay account for 7 years selling items from around the house that are no longer of use. I have not sold on a regular basis, but just as and when. I have 100% feedback and a light blue star. I have recently changed the account name as the previous one was more a novelty name selected by my young daughter.

I am looking to establish myself with TRS status and then build upon that to Premium Service level.

In the previous 10 months I have sold two vehicles through Classified Ads so can satisfy the requirement of a minimum of £1000 sold in the previous 12 months. However, I have not had 100 transactions.

In order to achieve the required 100 transactions in the previous 12 months, following your tutorial, I have identified a number of items around the house that I would normally sell off at auction.

I am looking to establish a niche market, and therefore the household items would not fall within this niche. In view of this, would I be better placed to leave my eBay account as a personal one and create a new one to use to auction my items to reach the 100 transactions, or would I be better off simply changing the account to a business one and selling my items on this, although they do not fit within the niche market I aspire to?

Kind Regards,

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your email.

There’s no need to start a BRAND NEW account from scratch! Why? You already have an established account with a proven track record, feedbacks and sales. You must likely also have decent selling limits too.

What you want to do is simply upgrade your current personal account to a Business account, that’s it. You can also change the user ID if you feel that’s necessary (it can be changed once every 30 days).

This way you are not starting from scratch and will benefit from the sales history you’ve already accumulated on that personal account. Read More…