While the entire Terapeak team is excited to get some much-needed rest at home next week, our hard-working support staff WILL be available to answer questions submitted via Terapeak’s Ask a Question page, as well as by email. Terapeak live support (phone, Live Chat) will return on January 4th, while cancellations and refunds will be processed on December 24th and 30th.

Happy holidays!

Terapeak

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”:

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!):

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”:

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

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.)

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!

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!

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!

Boom! Check it out!

Alright, duh, so it’s no surprise that Easter collectibles are shooting up as the big weekend approaches… But what are a few of the more in-demand listings that use “Easter” as a keyword? We ran a 30-day search for “Easter” and sorted the 296,173 (!!!) listings by bids… Apparently the following items have made good investments lately:

• Girls’ dresses
• Vintage/jeweled eggs
• Homemade candies
• Wicker baskets
• Bunny rabbit costumes

Browsing the many pages of search results, it’s hard to imagine many of these items selling so well in months other than March or April, which again goes to show the seasonality of eBay and related marketplaces.

As for selling opportunities this season, you’re likely a hair late if you’re just now thinking of getting in on the Easter game, but it’s never (ever, ever!) too early to start thinking a year ahead!

The holidays are upon us, and Terapeak’s getting giddy!

Yep, call us suckers for the holiday season, but we can’t contain our excitement any longer. So, in honor of the giving season, we’re offering 12-day free trials to anyone who wants one. That means full access to Terapeak and all its charms: 90 days of closed listings, two years of category trends, seller reports, hot research — the whole shebang!

If you’re someone who’s recently found out about Terapeak, or if you’ve been considering signing up for a while — or, heck, if you know someone who sells on eBay and might be interested in Terapeak — now’s the time to find out what the fuss is about.

To take advantage of this offer, simply visit the Terapeak sign-up page before January 2nd, and research, research, research until you pass out face-down in the gravy bowl! (What? That’s just us? So we love our turkey dinners, so what!)

Please note: You will be required to include payment information with your free trial, but you will not be billed until your 12 days is up. If you don’t wish to continue your subscription, be sure to cancel before your trial reaches its 13th day.

Happy holidays!