How Many Buyers and Sellers for My Product?

I’m sure you can relate. It’s been raining for weeks and finally, that perfect sunny day comes along. You throw your pole in the boat and head to the lake. The problem is that everyone else and their dog have the same idea.

With only so many fish in the lake, your chances of catching anything is slim with too many fishermen. That’s why so many people have their “secret spots� that they often don’t even tell friends and family about.

Why? It’s their niche. Their spot. Somewhere they can go where they are sure to catch something and not see another boat on the water.

But what does this have to do with your eBay sales?

How many Fish are in the Sea?

This fishing principle is easily applied to your eBay sales. There are only so many fish in the sea (buyers), as well as the other fishermen you are competing against (sellers).

Let’s explore the first aspect – how many fish are in the sea. In other words, how many buyers are there for your product?

“How on earth should I know?� right? Something that is impossible to know because you never know how many people are looking for your specific product. But, there is a way to know with a little insight from a research tool.

How Many Buyers are Out There Buying Your Product?

I used HammerTap to research a product, and you can do the same with your product. In this example, we are looking at the sales of 18 volt DeWalt cordless drills for the past 30 days. I want to know how many buyers there were for these drills during this time frame.

During the past 30 days on eBay, 5,639 drills listed for sale. Out of all listings, 3,394 ended with a sale. This is the number of buyers you had for this specific product over the last month.

To look at it more simply, for every three listings there was roughly two buyers. This is the same as saying that for every three hooks, more than one fish was biting.

I know what you are thinking. “Great, but what does this do for my sales?� Well, this number is helpful only if you know how many sellers are out there as well. In other words, what is your competition looking like?

How Many Sellers are Out There Selling Your Product?

How do we know how many sellers had the same idea we did to sell the same product we are selling? We can look at the exact same research to find the answer to this, and I’ve highlighted it below.

We can see in figure 2 above that there are 824 sellers for this product. Each seller had an average of 4.92 sales, averaging revenues of $468.30.

Again, how does this help you right?

Let’s compare the number of sellers to the number of buyers. If there are 3,394 buyers and 824 sellers, then we have roughly four buyers to every one seller.

This is the same as saying there are four fish to every single fisherman. This is pretty good odds when you are fishing. Growing up the limit was six fish, so this is close to the limit.

But, I didn’t always catch my limit. I usually caught one or two fish, while my dad caught his limit, and the rest of my limit.

Again, the same principle applies to your eBay sales. There are many sellers who are selling one or two drills, but there are only a few who making up the difference.

How Many Top Sellers are Selling My Product?

Who is picking up the sales you aren’t making? If the average sales per seller is 4.92, and you are only making 2 sales, then who is making the other three?

I’ll give you a clue. The same person that is picking up your slack is also picking up the slack of everyone in the market. Who is this seller?

We call these sellers the top sellers in the market. In this case, the market is 18 volt DeWalt cordless drills, and you can guarantee there is a top seller, or even a handful of them.

Something that is impossible to figure out right? Wrong. Like I mentioned earlier, a research tool like HammerTap can help.

Figure 3 shows us the top 15 sellers, each of which is listing more than 25 drills in the past 30 days. Just how much of the pie of this market are they eating up?

The total number of listings is 5,639. The top 15 sellers are eating up 3,337 or nearly 62% of all auctions.

In terms of actual sales, these top sellers are making 39% of total sales.

Isn’t that amazing? Only 15 of the top sellers are eating up nearly two thirds of the market. You could compare these sellers to the pros out there in the speedy bass boats and fancy lures (neither of which I ever had growing up).

I’ve highlighted a couple of these speedy-boat sellers in figure 3. Especially seller 8. He or she has much fewer listings than seller 2, and is making nearly the same amount in total sales. This person is truly a top seller!

How Does This Affect Your Sales?

Now for the kicker – How does know this affect your sales?

Well, you know what the fisherman say, “If your ‘secret’ fishing spot gets discovered, then you need to find a new spot.�

In other words, if everyone and their dog has the same idea you do for selling a product on eBay, you might want to start looking for a new “secret� product to sell.

However, you can also use this information to become a top seller. With research like this, you can follow the movements and sales of these top sellers. At first, use this information to mimic their sales, just like copying a great fisherman.

Once you’ve got the hang of it, branch out on your own and turn from mimicking to competing and before you know it, you will be one of those top sellers within your market!

Make the most of your auctions with research!

We also have a HammerTap Forum. Visit the forum to ask questions, and look through the discussion threads to find valuable information on how to use HammerTap to its fullest.

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