In light of a few recent Tera-scams we’ve found, we urge you to please use caution when following any coupon or discount links to Terapeak that are not explicitly provided by us here at Terapeak Market Research.

We are currently in the midst of shutting down one active “junk” listing on eBay that promises Terapeak access at a discounted price. As Terapeak controls all pricing and accounts in-house, that eBay seller is unfortunately taking advantage of our popular name and trying to rip people off.

So scammers: okay, we feel the teensiest bit flattered to be seen as lucrative prey, given all the other big businesses out there — but seriously, give it up.

Non-scammers: please, if you’ve followed a strange link or have been requested to send money to a third party to set up an account, connect with us first to check the legitimacy of that transaction.

Thanks for reading, and happy holiday selling!

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…

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!

When we talk of “holiday selling opportunities”, you may not think of Thanksgiving first, second, or even at all. But as we constantly stress, virtually any major or minor calendar event will create some kind of market… and Thanksgiving season is no different.

Just because eBayers aren’t bidding on turkeys and spaghetti squash doesn’t mean there aren’t Thanksgiving-themed products to sell. A quick Terapeak category search for “Thanksgiving” turns up several relevant results, including the following (365-day Total Sales trends shown below each):

#912: Collectibles > Holiday & Seasonal > Thanksgiving > Current (1991-Now)

• Example products: Festive toys, decorations, knick-knacks

#29478: Collectibles > Postcards > Holidays > Thanksgiving

• Example products: Collectible postcards, vintage artwork

#34010: Crafts > Scrapbooking & Paper Crafts > Embellishments > Stickers > Holidays & Occasions

• Example products: Stickers, gift tags, scrapbook materials

As you can see by the one-year trends pictured, each of these three categories gets quite hot in November, selling multiple thousands of dollars worth of goods every day. And by searching any category using Terapeak, you can click the “Top Titles” tab to get a clearer idea of what types of items these categories entail.

With still 10 days before turkey time, there’s likely to be further growth in all of the above categories, plus many others on eBay. So keep an eye out, and never forget: the holidays on eBay should not be taken lightly!

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!

Some more exciting news out of Terapeak-land this week!

On Monday, we launched Terapeak Keywords, a free application available exclusively on the eBay Selling Manager platform. It works much like a simplified version of our Title Builder tool, which Terapeak subscribers should already be familiar with. We’re hoping it’s a way for new sellers and Terapeak beginners to get a feel for eBay research, before committing to the full-scale product.

Each free Terapeak Keywords search gives you:

• 20 suggested keywords, related to your search
• Average, maximum and minimum prices for each suggested keyword
• A self-refreshing suggestions list as you select additional keywords
• The ability to build your title until you’ve exhausted all 55 characters
• All data based on 100 recently-closed eBay listings

… because as all experienced eBay sellers (and Terapeak users!) should know, the first step to creating a great listing is coming up with a great title. And that means making all 55 characters count.

To add Terapeak Keywords to your Selling Manager Applications, visit the Selling applications directory. Remember, you must also be a Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro user.

Must be the end of the month, because we’re here to remind you that the Terapeak newsletter goes out early next week, and you won’t want to miss it. Sign up below to get your fix of Terapeak, eBay and ecommerce news!

Also, apologies for blog slowness lately — we’ve been super busy getting some exciting new stuff ready!

Cheers!

In 1963, Maurice Sendak published a little book called Where the Wild Things Are, about the wild adventures of a boy named Max who is sent to bed without dinner. Max dons a wolf costume and becomes leader of some weird creatures, and the entire story is told with just ten brief sentences.

Many of us still treasure it.

Tonight, as you may know, marks the book’s long-awaited film release. Adapted by a pair of Terapeak faves, director Spike Jonze and author Dave Eggers, the film may well have been geared toward adults as much as (or more than) children… Though of course we’re not complaining. And neither, according to this 30-day total sales trend, are eBay buyers:

Perusing some of the closed listings, many are original copies of Sendak’s book, with first editions routinely fetching several hundred dollars (a hard cover sold for $1,175 USD!). But Wild Things is also one of those gold mines for merchandisers; we’ll bet everything we’ve got that Max and monster costumes will be popular this Halloween, as will Wild Things toys and stuffed animals come holiday time.

We’re also pretty pumped for Eggers’ novel adaptation — released last week in both hardcover and fur-covered formats!

As for the movie itself, we’re not quite sure what to expect. We like that the monsters are in costumes, and not CGI. We like that Karen O. from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is doing the music. We like the idea of watching something new and feeling young again… And we like that the wait for this thing is finally, finally over.

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!