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12.09

1:20

Disney Domination: Classic brand feasts on eBay holiday shoppers

A week ago, we blogged about the holiday toy racket, which year after year provides one of the more reliable markets on eBay. But what if you were to boil that phenomenon down into one single brand? (Perhaps in a wicked witch’s cauldron, or as part of a poisonous apple?)

That brand would be Disney.

For more than 85 years, The Walt Disney Company has been one of Hollywood’s biggest money-makers, and a source for some of the world’s most sought-after merchandise. And, naturally, that fervor tends to reach its peak around the holidays.

For starters, here are Terapeak’s current top 5 Hot DVDs:

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Those numbers, of course, come on the heels of Disney remastering several of its classic animated films this year, and sales have continued to rise since October. Also in the Terapeak top 20 Hot DVDs are Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Alice in Wonderland.

How about a Terapeak product report? Well here’s a 90-day All Sites search for “Disney” total sales:

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Now that’s an extremely broad search, but you can see how the demand for just one keyword rises!

Finally, to show just how annual “Disney Demand” is, here are a pair of two-year category trends. First is a total sales trend for the Collectibles > Disneyana > Contemporary (1968-Now) category:

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And second, a total sold listings trend for Toys & Hobbies > TV, Movie & Character Toys > Disney:

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Those are some pretty serious peaks and valleys, and it’s easy to see how they match up with the holiday season. So with close to a year before next December rolls around… imagine all the Disney schwag you’ve got time to collect!

Posted by Author Name in Hot Products/Trends/ eBay/ecommerce News / No Comments.

12.09

2:42

eBay Football Frenzy: Teams jostle for position atop Terapeak NFL Index

Funny what on-field performance can do to a team’s eBay sales…

When the season began, we ran a blog detailing the 10 best-selling NFL teams. In order, they were: Dallas, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Minnesota, Green Bay, NY Giants, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore and Cleveland. Each of those franchises (if you include the old Colts teams part of Baltimore) is a pretty storied one, and one that sells merchandise well regardless of wins and losses.

Three months later, for the first time in history, we’ve watched two teams not on that list combine to go 26-0. So where are they now?

Well, one is of course Indianapolis, who’ve shot to seventh in total sales, selling more than $650,000 in goods over the past 30 days. And considering Indy’s status as the league’s winningest team over the past decade, it’s remarkable they’re still that low. Could you imagine where they’d be without Peyton Manning?

The other team is New Orleans, whose rise up the Terapeak NFL Index has been even more meteoric. When the season began, they, like most southeastern teams, were sitting near the very bottom in league sales. But on the strength of Drew Brees and maybe the best offense in NFL history, the Saints have leapt to fifth in league total sales — unthinkable just three months ago. Check out this 90-day total sales trend for “New Orleans Saints”:

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Many of the usual culprits are still selling strong: Pittsburgh and Dallas, despite their recent collapses, will likely always lead their respective conferences, while Minnesota’s strong season (not to mention purple Brett Favre jerseys!) has propelled them to second in the NFC.

In terms of disappointments, we expected more from Cincinnati, who despite leading a very tough division are only the 17th-best-selling team in the league. (Is it possible Bengals fans are still in disbelief?) Arizona has sold even less, despite leading their own division and having appeared in last year’s Super Bowl. And then there’s Jacksonville… poor, poor Jacksonville. Despite their winning record, they’ve sold just $83,572 in goods over the past month… pretty bad, considering the Steelers have sold well over $1 million.

Team sales may slow down as the holidays pass, but the Terapeak NFL Index will be one to watch all the way up to February’s Super Bowl… And might we finally see a clash between two unbeaten teams?

Posted by Author Name in Hot Products/Trends/ eBay/ecommerce News / No Comments.

12.09

11:56

Terapeak reaches 1st place in Techvibes’ Victoria startup index!

Hey, check it out!

We’ve been tracking Techvibes’ Startup Index for Victoria, BC since our initial debut many moons ago… and now look where we sit!

It’s a great honor to be considered the top startup in this beautiful city of ours, especially considering the other companies on this list. Terapeak has grown leaps and bounds as both a product and business over the last several years, and we’re committed to keeping that going!

Congrats to everyone involved in making this happen!

Posted by Author Name in Terapeak News/ eBay/ecommerce News / No Comments.

12.09

11:29

Toys, Toys, Toys: Santas worldwide are buying on eBay

This isn’t exactly the hardest time of year for us to find visually-dramatic sales trends — in fact, it’s almost certainly the easiest. A majority of all two-year Terapeak trends will show peaks and valleys in correlation with the holidays, and there’s no better category for that than eBay’s Toys & Games.

We’ve seen time and time again how certain toys will blow up for one season (Furby, Tickle-Me-Elmo, Cabbage Patch), while others will continue to sell year after year. Today, we’ll look at a few examples from 2009 — though of course there are hundreds more.

First is Leapster, an educational handheld game console that teaches kids the alphabet, phonics and basic math (among other things). First released in 2003, there’s been a recent spike in demand for Leapster 2, released last year. Here’s a 60-day total sales trend for “Leapster”:

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Next is a classic: Lego. Dating back to the 1930s, the little building blocks are a big-time seller all year round… but rarely to the scale that the holidays provide. Here’s a 60-day sales trend for “Lego” (which, last Sunday, totalled more than $1.5 million in eBay.com sales!):

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And finally, here’s this year’s phenomenon: Zhu Zhu Pets. You may have read about them already — robotic hamsters! — but if you’ve yet to believe the hype, check out this 60-day trend for “zhu zhu pet”:

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It’s a prosperous venture, this toy racket. Here’s to guessing what next year’s craze will be!

Posted by Author Name in Hot Products/Trends/ eBay/ecommerce News / 1 Comment

12.09

12:08

Terapeak and WorthPoint launch Terapeak Collectibles!

We told you a couple weeks ago we were in the final stages of testing, and now the big day is here…

Terapeak Collectibles is live!

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Available exclusively via eBay’s Selling Manager Applications platform, Terapeak Collectibles is a brand new application that allows users to research antiques and collectibles data mined from eBay, other online marketplaces, and real-life auction houses. We’ve partnered with a company called WorthPoint, whose “Worthopedia” database houses data from more than 10 years of live and online auctions — and that entire database is available with each Terapeak Collectibles search!

With antiques and collectibles such a specialized selling field — that is, pricing can be difficult on rare items that don’t frequently sell — we think Terapeak Collectibles is a perfect solution for those who need a more expansive antiques and collectibles database.

To access Terapeak Collectibles (there’s even a 7-day free trial available), you must first be subscribed to eBay Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro. You can then add the application at this link.

Big week for Terapeak! Congrats, team!

Posted by Author Name in Terapeak News/ eBay/ecommerce News / No Comments.

12.09

4:27

A Holiday Gift for Terapeak Users: Our new iPhone app!

As a token of our appreciation for each and every Terapeak subscriber, we’re proud this month to not only introduce our brand new iPhone application, but to offer it FREE as part of all North American Terapeak subscriptions!

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The Terapeak iPhone app has been in the works for a long time, and it’s a tool we feel will add a whole new dimension to conducting market research. Now you’ll be able to take Terapeak with you wherever you go — to garage sales, trade shows, thrift stores, and more!

Similar to Terapeak’s web version, the application allows users to see average prices, listing totals and sell-through rates for each search. Results are viewable and sortable by end price, start price and number of bids, and can be filtered by category, minimum end price and maximum end price. All of this data comes neatly packaged and is accessible with only a few clicks, so it’s easy to always keep on top of your game.

To access the application, all you need to do is download it on your iPhone from the Apple store in iTunes*, then enter your Terapeak username and password to get started!

We hope you enjoy it! And happy holidays!

(*Please note: Currently, the Terapeak iPhone app is only available via the American and Canadian iTunes stores. We apologize for any inconvenience.)

(*Please note: Currently, this app is only free to users in North America, Australia, and The United Kingdom who have Advantage Subscriptions. We apologize for any inconvenience)

Posted by Author Name in New Tools & Tricks/ Terapeak News/ eBay/ecommerce News / 10 Comments

11.09

4:49

Sweet November: Black Friday a red letter day for thousands of eBay sellers

So, Black Friday was last week, and if you spent any part of the weekend near a shopping mall or TV or newspaper or the Internet, you’re probably sick of hearing about it.

But whoa, what a day.

If you happened to be one of the thousands of business owners who capitalized on the big day, you were probably (and understandably) less bothered by all the hoopla. You may even have soaked it in like leftover gravy on a turkey bun.

Just look at some of these Terapeak total sales trends, and the range of products covered. They’re all 30-day graphs, with the final date shown representing last Friday, or Black Friday.

Here’s one for “wii”:

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And here’s one for “zhu zhu pet”:

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And finally, here’s “toaster”:

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… Toaster! Seriously!

Consider, too, that many (if not most) Black Friday sales extended through the weekend, and that today is “Cyber Monday”, when millions more sales are likely to happen…

We’ll be tracking all of these trends as Terapeak rolls out new data, and we’ll be curious to see how they provide insight into which products are hot this holiday season.

(Might this finally be the Year of the Toaster? Stay tuned to find out!)

Posted by Author Name in Hot Products/Trends/ eBay/ecommerce News / No Comments.

11.09

1:04

Pretty Sales Machine: Nine Inch Nails auctioning “hundreds of items” on eBay

Last August, after hearing that Miley Cyrus had put some of her own clothing and schwag up for charity auction, we wondered aloud whether sellers of other Miley/Hannah-related goods would benefit — and according to Terapeak trend reports, they did.

This week, and over the next couple months, we’ll be tracking a similar series of auctions…

Or, relatively similar anyway.

According to Nine Inch Nails’ official website, the industrial rock band, which in September announced it had played its final show, has begun auctioning off “a large selection of gear and equipment”, including “guitars, keyboards, amplifiers, drums, staging, anvil cases, cables, rack/outboard gear, guitar effects, and pedal boards.”

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You can view NIN’s seller page here to see the various items currently up for auction, all of which have already seen a considerable number of bids. And with nearly a week to go in each of these auctions (plus more to come in the next “several weeks”), it’ll be interesting to see the final prices these items fetch.

(Hey, we might even see a NIN-shaped dent in the Terapeak Guitar Index!)

As for your own sales, now might be a good time to see if your old copy of Downward Spiral is still lying around. Or to invest in mottled, paint-spattered, gross-looking sleeveless shirts…

Posted by Author Name in Hot Products/Trends/ eBay/ecommerce News / No Comments.

11.09

3:05

New Moon, Same Result: “Twilight” still selling like crazy on eBay

Twilight is popular. We’ve known this for a while.

If you’d asked us just one month ago whether we thought the series could get any more popular, we probably would shrugged and said we’d stopped trying to guess. And it’s true: despite the fact that no new books have been written since 2005, the brand’s popularity has continued to grow at a confounding rate.

So what, then, do we make of this?

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Oh, who knows.

The above, of course, is a 30-day total sales trend for “Twilight” across all eBay sites. At the graph’s lowest point, October 30th, the keyword still sold close to $45,000 in goods. But compare that with the highest point — nearly $150,000 — and you realize this thing is a full-fledged phenomenon.

So how are eBay sellers capitalizing on the craze? Well, the obvious products are books and DVDs, but there’s a huge merchandising aspect to the series as well. From licensed to non-licensed items, it’s not hard to find posters, dolls, apparel, stationery, trading cards, watches, and a million other collector’s items.

So how much more popular can Twilight really get? We’ll only fathom one guess: that it continues through the holidays.

Posted by Author Name in Hot Products/Trends/ eBay/ecommerce News / No Comments.

11.09

5:31

Market Warfare, Too: Record-breaking video game excels on eBay as well

Since 2003, the Call of Duty video game series has been providing PC, PlayStation and XBox users with some of the most popular first-person shooters on any platform.

Never before, however, has a release left this kind of mark.

On November 10th, Activision released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the sixth installment in the much-heralded series. Not only has the new release received much critical acclaim (scoring 94% on Metacritic on both consoles), it’s also broken many of Grand Theft Auto IV’s sales records — including fastest-selling game of all-time.

Not at all surprisingly, then, the keywords “Call of Duty” are doing pretty well on eBay…

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The above is a 30-day total sales trend for anything that pertains to “Call of Duty” — and that spike you see represents the day after Modern Warfare 2’s release. In the seven days following release, in fact, those keywords totalled more than $1.5 million in sales across the six eBay sites Terapeak covers, with close to 20,000 listings.

Stepping away from the actual game’s sales, it’s interesting to see where eBay sellers are capitalizing on the release’s success. Other items that have sold include action figures, keychains, and — no joke — night vision goggles.

Sales will undoubtedly continue on as the holidays approach, so if you’ve got any ideas yourself of how to take advantage, use them!

Posted by Author Name in Hot Products/Trends/ eBay/ecommerce News / No Comments.

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