What’s Hot Report: Liquidation of a Not-so-Hot Inventory

October 24, 2006 (13:59)

Listen to Greg explain the costs of doing business on eBay and how to use HammerTap to reduce unnecessary costs.

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Hello eBay Sellers, I’m HammerTap’s Jen Cano with a What’s Hot on eBay newsflash.

Let's talk about Children's fiction. With 42% selling on average, and competition from over 6500 different sellers, this is a remarkably competitive category. Yet many sellers have created a successful niche in children's books.

Hot-selling titles include the Magic Tree House, Dr. Suess, Goosebumps, Junie B. Jones, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Then, of course, there are some concepts that attract more buyers, such as homeschooling books, chapter books, picture books, and teacher supplements.

However, the most successful books are those sold in groups. Those with words such as lot, series, and huge, boost sales incredibly. In fact, the word Huge is the most successful, with an average sell-through rate of 74%.

Visit HammerTap.com to find out what's hot in your category. That's HammerTap.com!

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Hello eBay Sellers, I’m HammerTap’s Jen Cano with a What’s Hot on eBay newsflash.

It's mid October and snow is just around the corner. I used HammerTap market research to look up snowboards for a friend this week and discovered some fantastic brands. But one brand definitely stood out from the pack. Burton. Of nearly 2000 boards up for sale in the last 30 days, 70% sold on average.

But, like I've said before, average just isn't good enough. And that's the point of market research. For example, we all want our optional listing fees to make more money for us, right? Well, the research clearly shows that, for this item, bold helps out for both boosting the chances of selling and stimulating a higher profit. The 200 sellers who used this option made an average of $125 more per listing.

If you want to know which listing fees will generate more profit for you, visit HammerTap.com and try out HammerTap for your own products. That's HammerTap.com.

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Hello eBay Sellers, I’m HammerTap’s Jen Cano with a What’s Hot on eBay newsflash.

Does getting the most bids mean getting the highest price? That's a question I recently investigated, using the HammerTap market research tool. And I was surprised at what I found. Let's take Modern American Paintings, for example. When I dug into that category to compare start prices with the number of bids and the ending price, I found that a low start price did not mean an optimal selling price.

Prints with a lower start price got many more bids than those with a higher start price. But, although listings with a higher start price didn't get nearly as many bids, they got much higher ending prices. Now, a higher start price won't work for every product. Take iPod, for example. The higher the start price, the lower your chances of selling.

If you need to know where to set your start price to get the best selling price, visit HammerTap.com to try out HammerTap for yourself. That's HammerTap.com. That's HammerTap.com.

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Hello eBay Sellers, I’m HammerTap’s Jen Cano with a What’s Hot on eBay newsflash.

If you have a teenage boy, it's likely that you've had a conversation or two about amplifiers. Today, I did some eBay research on Amplifiers in the Musical Instruments category to see how well these babies are selling. Here's what I found.

On average, amplifiers are selling 47% of the time. Not too bad, but we always want to do better. And that's what research is all about. Amplifiers that had "AMPs" in the title did significantly better—on price as well as sell-through rate. Amplifiers with higher starting prices also had a better sell through rate—up to 83%! And, regular auctions, without BIN also increased the chances of selling.

If you'd like to know more about words to use in your title, what start price to use, or which listing type is most effective, visit HammerTap.com. to try out HammerTap for yourself. That's HammerTap.com.

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Hello eBay Sellers, I’m HammerTap’s Jen Cano with a What’s Hot on eBay newsflash.

Earlier this month, we brought you news that the new Tickle Me Elmo was selling at an incredible rate, for incredible prices. In fact, eBay may be the only place you can get one of these dolls right now, since they've sold out of most retail stores.

My further research today shows the toy on a slight decline in selling-rate as competition to sell increases. However, the end price seems to be remaining steady. It's right around $76 per doll, while the retail price is $40. Beware of listing too many more. Store shelves will be restocked in the next few weeks. To get the premium price, wait until the day those restocked shelves run dry again—and they will—and list the doll that will have you giggling all the way to the bank.

If you'd like to know more about when you should list a hot-selling item, visit HammerTap.com. to try out HammerTap for yourself.