How to Improve Your eBay Profit Margin

There is a way to acquire sales information for previous auctions for free but it has its limitations. eBay provides this data on its site but one is limited to the last 14 days of sales but it is possible to see up to 90 days by using a third party provider. Terapeak, which is based in Victoria, Canada is a web-based research tool which allows someone to look back at all sales on eBay for the past 3 months and at product sales trends for the past 2 years. Since Terapeak is an eBay Certified Provider, all of the sales data that is given comes directly from the eBay market research team.
One of the first arguments for doing research before buying or selling on eBay could be that supply and demand for some or most items, along with sale prices, can change quickly. Terapeak provides a great deal of current marketplace research but some of my favorite areas of the site that I use daily are summed up below.
Sell-Through Rate - This number gives the percentage of successfully completed auctions. 50% or higher is usually considered a good number on eBay.
The Average Sales Price - If the filters are used during search, this can be a real shortcut to arrive at your target price but otherwise it is best to search for a very similar item in the completed auction area that you plan to buy or sell and use the price of that item instead of the average price for the category.
Research auctions that have already ended - Discover what made other auctions a success. Did the auction start at a low bid or fixed price? What day and time did it end and how many days did the auction run? Was free shipping offered? Were optional features such as "Bold" for text or "Featured Plus" for top placement in search results used for higher final prices?
I use Terapeak nearly every day and let it do the heavy lifting for me when it comes to research on eBay and find it to be a great value and an easy to use tool.