A couple days ago, Wired posted an interesting little news story on its blog, about a recently-launched site for anyone wanting to sell books, CDs, DVDs, and video games. The site, called Glyde, was created by former eBay executives, and its beta is worth checking out if you’re into media reselling.

As for the article, we’re not sure about the writer’s  decision to call online sellers “lazy” in its headline, but it’s always nice to get a shout-out from a major publication like Wired. And if you look close enough… Yup, there we are!

Not too long ago, we announced that Japanese eBay service provider 500RPM would be launching a locally-translated Terapeak tool for Japan-based sellers…

Today, we’re happy to announce that the site is already up and running!

The Japan team has done a great job getting the site together, and we encourage you to go check it out. There’s even a pretty cool welcome video halfway down, featuring AERS/Terapeak’s very own CEO, Fred Speckeen.

Congratulations, Terapeak Japan! Welcome aboard!

Earlier this morning, Terapeak product manager Denise Hogue was interviewed on Marlene Gavens’ “Tips From the Top with the Savvy Seller”, an ecommerce podcast that features top eBay sellers and service providers.

Over the course of close to 30 minutes, Denise discussed everything from seasonality to holiday sales to Terapeak’s brand new free keyword tool.  If you’d like to listen in, the podcast is available for streaming here.

Good work, Denise and Marlene!

Two weeks ago, we told you that Terapeak’s parent company, Advanced Ecommerce Research Systems, would be making a pair of exciting announcements at the inaugural PayPal X Innovate 2009 Developer Conference… and now that the cat’s out of the bag, we can tell you more!

At the event in San Francisco, the AERS team unveiled its plans for Terapeak Analytics, a family of tools that uses your historical and real-time PayPal data to deliver visual and statistical insight into your ecommerce business. With Terapeak Analytics, you’ll be able to better understand your business, and make faster, more profitable decisions.

The first of two tools is called Terapeak Mobile Merchant, a real-time business analytics application designed for use with the Apple iPhone. You can see sales trends and transaction details quickly and visually, and review your recent and real-time PayPal data any time, any place.

The second application is Terapeak Merchant Analytics, a real-time business monitoring and analytics solution. You can gain insight into important facets of your business, from buyer gender to currency breakdown, by viewing analytics from up to five years of historical and real-time PayPal merchant data. With Terapeak Merchant Analytics, you can base your business decisions on real-time insights from your own data.

The AERS/Terapeak teams are excited to bring you more about these new tools and developments, and if you’d like to stay in the loop, there’s a sign-up form on the Terapeak Analytics information page over at AERS.

Congratulations, team!

Terapeak is proud to announce that its parent company, Advanced Ecommerce Research Systems, has been chosen as a silver sponsor of PayPal’s Innovate 2009 developer conference this November!

Founded in 2004, AERS has long been a market leader in advanced transactional data processing, and is today the exclusive distributor of eBay market data. At Innovate 09, which takes place November 3-4 in San Francisco, CA, members of the AERS team will deliver a speech detailing the value of ecommerce-based transaction data (which all of you Terapeak users experience every day), as well as how to harness that data and use it to build applications.

They’ll also makea pair of very exciting announcements!

Innovate 09 is PayPal’s first dedicated developer conference, and will feature keynote addresses from O’Reilly Media CEO Tim O’Reilly, eBay CEO John Donahue, PayPal President Scott Thompson, and others.

Congratulations once again to the entire AERS team!

Over the past several months, Terapeak has been conducting studies that analyze the impact of market research on eBay sellers’ sales and success rate. We’re very grateful to all those who’ve participated, and with the results from our first group of sellers now compiled, we’re excited to present the outcomes!

A little background first: the group of sellers was selected randomly, and features sellers specializing in collectibles, home safety products, antiques and more. Eight performance indicators were tracked for three months for each seller. Statistics related to each indicator were compared on a pre- and post-Terapeak basis, and were then used to determine a percentage of growth or decline.

Some sellers showed improvement in nearly every business facet, while the improvement of others focused on specific statistics. And when averaged across the entire group, every indicator showed at least some improvement.

Here’s a breakdown of the group averages and best results:

As you can see, those are some pretty impressive numbers!

One of the most entertaining parts of the study was researching each seller’s highest priced times. Among the most curious results: a vintage men’s watch worth over $2000, model train accessories, Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, X-Men comics, jewelry, radio equipment, and collectible coins.

All of the participating sellers were a pleasure to interact with, and all were generous with praise for Terapeak’s research tools. Here are a few anecdotes they shared:

[Terapeak] has enabled us to identify a range of products that our competitors are selling that we previously weren’t! And, just as importantly, has helped us to decide which products our competitors have not been able to sell, and [which] we shouldn’t be stocking either! – economiccomics

That’s where Terapeak comes in handy for me. I call my husband (who is more than happy to stay at home while I foray to yard sales and auction previews), tell him to get on Terapeak and check out items while I’m still at a sale. In many cases, that’s been very helpful in determining what or what not to buy. – 6regentspark

I must say that [Terapeak] has changed how I do business and it has also allowed me to look into other markets that I might not have perhaps looked at before. - global-gadgets

We love the Terapeak service. – shiponsiteyng

I cannot say enough [about Terapeak]. Our customers now know that when we say we “Terapeak-ed it” that it’s good info. It makes our life so much easier when we can show people the true ebay value of their items. – quick2sellpgh

In typical end-of-month fashion, we’re here to remind you that the Terapeak newsletter goes out in the next week or so, and you won’t want to miss it. Sign up below to get your fix of Terapeak, eBay and ecommerce news!

Cheers!

By now, you’re probably aware of the For Dummies book series — its classic yellow dust jacket, that little cartoon dude on the front. Since 1991, the series has published over 1,500 different titles, all with the subtitle “A Reference For the Rest of Us.” Several even deal directly with eBay — which, of course, is why we’re mentioning  it now…

In particular, eBay for Dummies has been a go-to for sellers since its original publication in 1999. Recently released in its sixth edition, written by author and eBay expert Marsha Collier, the book is a 408-page opus that details everything you’d ever want to know about buying and selling on eBay.

Here at Terapeak, we were particularly stoked to see this little snippet in Chapter 5:

Getting professional info from Terapeak Research

If you become an eBay fanatic someday, you may find yourself praising the genius of an amazing service offered by eBay and Terapeak. Terapeak Research allows you to research pricing further back than the 14 days of completed listings that the normal eBay search allows. If you come across a special or very old item, and there are not many on the site, you can use this tool to find how much the item has sold for in the past few months.

“Genius”? “Amazing”? We’ll take it!

Okay, that’s enough horn-blowing for now. But seek the book out if you’re looking to step up your eBay game, especially as the holidays approach. You don’t have to be an eBay dummy to reap the benefits!

The Terapeak team just got a bit more international!

We’re very excited today to announce a brand new partnership with 500RPM, a Japanese service provider for Japan-based eBay sellers. Known predominately for translation and eBay assistance solutions, 500RPM will soon provide a locally-translated Terapeak tool, along with a dedicated, Japan-based support team.

As you’re well aware by now, we place a lot of importance on global brand representation, and we constantly stress the value of branching out into international markets. Now, with the introduction of “Terapeak Japan,” Terapeak is available locally in six countries: USA, Canada, France, Germany, China and Japan!

Below, James from Terapeak China (middle) welcomes Yoshiji (left) and Kazuma from Terapeak Japan:

Of course, this exciting news complements a very international year for Terapeak: in June, we hosted our first international conference here in beautiful Victoria, and in July, founders Anthony and Andrew Sukow spoke at the G8 Young Business Summit in Stresa, Italy.

Again, we’re happy and proud to welcome the 500RPM folks to the Terapeak team, and we look forward to bringing you news from Terapeak Japan!

Check it out: our friends and partners at Terapeak Germany (Auktionsanalyse!) sent some photos from this year’s Afterbuy+Friends BBQ in Krefeld, Germany!

For those who don’t know, the AfterBuy BBQ is an annual event that sees eBay.de users gather to learn more about the platform and its third-party offerings. This year’s event hosted over 800 participants and 35 exhibitors… and naturally, look who’s set up right next to the eBay.de booth!

Keeners!