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Entries Tagged as 'ebay'

01.10

11:50

Wall Street Journal uses Terapeak to track Tiger Woods video game sales

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In a recent article analyzing the sales of of Electronic Arts Inc.’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf video game, The Wall Street Journal mentions Terapeak as a source of sales research:

According to Terapeak Market Research, which tracks listings and sales on eBay, more people are selling the game on the auction site after the incident, but more people are also buying them, albeit for slightly less ($35.90 vs $36.68)

This isn’t the first time The WSJ has used Terapeak to illustrate a sales trend; last April, the paper mentioned Terapeak in an article about a high-end Dallas clothing store selling its excess merchandise on eBay.

01.10

4:42

New Year’s Revelation: Holiday eaters turn to eBay to lose weight

Quick, name a New Year’s Resolution!

Quit Smoking? Save money? Spend more time with family?

The above are all popular amongst resolution-makers, no doubt, but you’d be hard-pressed to find many more that aren’t fitness- or weight-loss-related. You can chalk that up to whatever you want — the way we gorge ourselves over the holidays, the perception of a new year and a fresh mindset — but the fact remains: fitness sells in January. (Seriously, go to your local gym this week and ask what their sign-ups have been like.)

That phenomenon translates to eBay, too. While we’ve spent much of the past couple months showing you category trends that rise and fall with the holiday months of November and December, check out some of these two-year total sales trends in eBay’s Weight Management category.

For example, the Weight Loss Patches subcategory:

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And here’s one for Scales:

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And finally, here’s Program Materials, Accessories:

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Now, you may not be able to tell from these blurry screen-caps, but all three of those trend lines correlate pretty tidily with the first week of January!

As for those other resolutions, a quick search for “quit smoking” in Terapeak’s Category section tells us there’s an eBay sub-category under Health & Fitness titled Smoking Cessation, with further sub-cats like Patches, Gum/Lozenges, and Alternate Therapies. Here’s a total sold listings trend for the latter:

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So there’s that, too!

Good luck everyone with your own!

Posted by Author Name in Hot Products/Trends/ Terapeak Tips & Tutorials/ eBay/ecommerce News / No Comments.

12.09

11:22

Outwit, Outplay, Outbid: “Survivor” auctions game-used props for charity

We’ve reported similar stories about Miley Cyrus and Nine Inch Nails in recent months, and now pioneering CBS reality show Survivor is getting in on the charity action.

Following Sunday’s Survivor Samoa season finale, in which Natalie White shocked the world by defeating super-villain Russell Hantz , host Jeff Probst announced that CBS would be selling an assortment of game-used memorabilia.

The items, which can be viewed here, include everything from tribal flags to immunity idols to props used in individual competitions. (Who wouldn’t want to try their hand at that weird pole-statue balancing game?) There are even tickets to next season’s live studio show, as well as passes to next year’s Project Runway finale in New York City. (The latter is currently the highest-priced… Weird? Maybe not.)

100% of proceeds from all auctions benefit Probst’s charity The Serpentine Project, which helps young people transition from foster care to adulthood. And again, you can view all of the auctions here.

Good on you, Survivor. Even if Russell did get jobbed.

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

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

11:29

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.

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

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.

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