EBay Advanced Search link usage explained

By clicking the Advanced Search link just to the right of the Search button at the top of most eBay pages, you can access eBay’s advanced search options. With the advanced search, you can narrow your search to check out the competition (who’s selling your items). The Advanced Search area has many options; here are a few of the more important:

- View results: You can choose whether you want to see a mini-gallery of photos or see your results by item number. Although this may not ordinarily help when you’re doing research, information is key; you might just see a variation of the item in photos that you didn’t know about.

- Search in categories: You can narrow your search to one of the thirtyfour major categories at eBay. If your product is made for men, women, or children, you may get more efficient results by looking in the category that applies directly to your item. Strangely, when searching for a ladies watch, I found the following synonyms and abbreviations for ladies: lady’s, ladys, lds, and femmes.

- Completed listings only: Select this check box to go directly to completed listings for your item research.

- Sort by: You can find items by auctions that end first (default), newly listed items first, lowest prices first, or highest prices first.

- Payment: You can isolate your search to only those sellers who accept PayPal. This may enlighten you as to whether buyers of this product pay higher prices if they have the option to pay with credit cards. (Although the PayPal exclusion will not include other methods of credit card payments, it still speaks strongly for credit card users.)

- Locate items near you: If you’re selling something big that you can’t (or don’t want to) ship, you want to deliver it or have the buyer pick it up. This option allows you to check out the competition only in your closest major metropolitan eBay trading area.

- Multiple item listings: This option lets you search by quantity or lot.

So how can you search completed auctions to find bidding patterns on items like yours? Here’s a way to dig out all the details you need: Perform a search on the item for which you want information using the search box you see on every eBay page.

When the results appear, you’ll see how many other sellers are selling your same item. That way, you can determine whether it’s the right time to sell. (If all active auctions for your items have high bids, its time to sell just be sure not to list your auction to end at a similar time as another one.)

To dig into the details for historic pricing, you can scroll down (on the left side of any search results page) to the Search Options area:

1. Select the Completed Listings check box in the Show Only area of the page.

2. Click the Show Items button below the list of options. You are presented with the search results of completed listings for the past two weeks.

3. To sort by price, go to the Sort By drop-down box at the top of the listings and select the Price, Highest First option.

The results of completed auctions of your particular item for the last fourteen days appear sorted by highest prices first. Now you’re at the heart of the matter. Pull out your calendar and make note of what days your item landed the highest bids. More often than not, you’ll find that a pattern appears. Your item may see more action on Sunday or Monday or Thursday or whenever. After you figure out the days that your item gets the highest bids, pull out a copy of the eBay time chart, which appears on the Cheat Sheet (at the front of this book), and evaluate what time of day your high bidders like to bid.

There you have it: the method that will get you the most information that eBay can give you on the sales trends on your item. It’s money in the bank. Use it!

If you can’t find any auctions for your item, you have a few more options. You’re not gonna believe I’m saying this, but try searching auctions. amazon.com. At least you’ll see whether someone else in the world is selling one of your items. None of the cool search features that I previously discuss will work hey, they ain’t eBay. eBay also has a superior tool for checking your competitor’s auctions. After a while, you will identify the sellers who frequently sell items similar to yours. Aside from keeping them in your favorite sellers list on your My eBay page, here’s a way to see whether one of your competing sellers has an item like yours up for sale:

1. Go to the Advanced Search area, and click the Items By Seller link on the left.

2. Enter the seller’s user ID in the box provided.

a. If you’re not sure of the spelling of the seller’s ID, select the Show Close and Exact User ID Matches option.

b. To search completed listings, select the option to Include Completed Listings. From the drop-down menu, select the time frame in which you want to search. You may go back as far as thirty days.

3. Go to the bottom and click the Search button.