How To Use eBay Completed Items Search to Your Advantage

Are you an eBay seller? If so, are you successful at what you do? Perhaps, the better question to ask is if you are making a profit selling on eBay? If you aren’t, there are a number of steps that you can take to increase your chances of making money on eBay.

When it comes to improving your chances of making a sale on eBay, your first impulse may to be change the way that your eBay items are listed for sale. For instance, it is often suggested that you upload detailed pictures of your items, provide detailed descriptions and such. While you certainly will want to try doing so, you will also want to focus on the items that you are listing for sale. Your problem with making a profit on eBay, might be the items that you are trying to sell. If you have a poor quality item or an item that other sellers can't seem to sell either, you may not be able to sell it, but you would still be responsible for paying your eBay fees. In this case, you will not only be unable to make a profit, but you also may end up losing money.

When it comes to knowing which items you can profit from selling on eBay, there are some who will tell you that it is impossible to do. While it may seem impossible, it isn’t. Before actually trying to list a particular item for sale online, like an old music CD for instance, you can check to see if that item has been sold on eBay before. This information is found by doing a completed items search for the name of the item you want to sell. If that particular item was sold before, you can also figure out exactly how much money it sold for! This will give you a good idea as to whether or not it would be worth it for you to spend the time creating your auction listings and paying eBay’s fees. Although the decision as to whether or not you want to post your item for sale is yours to make, a completed items search may give you inside information; information that you will want to take into consideration when making your decision.

To perform a search of completed items, you will want to use the advanced search option. The link to the advanced search form can be found by eBay’s traditional search box. The only thing that you will do differently is check the box labeled “Completed Listings Only.” Your results will include auctions that meet your search criteria, but that have already been completed. If an item sold, its price will be in green print. If an item did not sell, the asking price will be in red print. As previously stated, performing an eBay completed items search gives you the ability to tell whether or not you have an item that has been a good seller in the past.

If you are like many eBay sellers, there is a good chance that you are always on the lookout for great deals, bargains, or antiques. Familiarizing yourself with popular eBay items, ones that can be considered “hot sellers,” is a great way to make yourself a profit on eBay. In fact, you can not only use a completed listing search to determine if an item you already have is worth money, but you can also use this eBay tool to help you determine what items are in demand and how much, on average, the item sells for. If you scout yard sales, flea markets, or thrift stores, you may want to have a partner at home looking up eBay completed listings, while you are out shopping for items to sell on eBay. If that isn't practical for you, another way is to use a cell phone with an Internet eBay search application or bring a laptop computer with Internet wireless access when you are out scouting for things to sell.

Performing an eBay completed listing search will only take a few minutes of your time and can help you make money as an eBay seller, not lose it.