eBay launched eBay Marketplace Research, a new service offering sellers and buyers market data to help them make more informed selling and buying decisions. eBay Marketplace Research gives subscribers access to data, charts and graphs, customizable in hundreds of different ways, that show what the eBay community is doing, historically and in real-time. With 60 million listings (including five million new listings per day), and nearly $1,400 worth of goods bought and sold every second, the eBay marketplace has long been considered a barometer of consumer shopping trends, the company said.

eBay buyers can check Average Sold Price (ASP) to determine how much they should expect to pay for a product, and sellers can use the information provided by eBay Marketplace Research to better plan and manage their businesses. With access to data going back as far as 90 days, sellers can stay informed on recent trends in starting prices and ASPs, sell-through rates, shipping charges, top search terms used by shoppers and more. Sellers can also follow trends as they develop in real time, allowing them to immediately adjust their sales strategies.

In September 2005, eBay users conducted more than 40 million Completed Listings searches, and, a recent survey conducted by eBay found that 70 percent of the community's most active sellers believe that more access to marketplace data would help increase their sales.

The service is available at three subscription levels, Fast Pass ($2.99/2-day use), Basic ($9.99/month) or Pro ($24.99/month). Fast Pass and Basic show data looking back 60 days, while the Pro edition provides information 90 days back along with international market data.

The new service competes with vendors that license market-data from eBay through its Market Data program. Andrew Sukow, CEO of once such service called Terapeak (http://www.terapeak.com), said eBay's new service can help educate buyers and sellers about the value of eBay research. "Once they have gotten a taste of research and outgrown the functionality of the eBay system, and they compare prices and functionality, they will go to other services." Terapeak says it has greater functionality and is less expensive than the new eBay service. Terapeak charges users $16.95 a month.

eBay charges data-licensees significant fees as well as a 25-percent revenue share. Sukow said the fees were fair.

Andale and Bright Builders also license eBay's market data and offer marketplace research services to eBay users.

http://www.ebay.com/marketplaceresearch