Longer days bear warmer weather, and many people are using this opportunity to fine-tune their gardening skills. With thousands of Web sites dedicated to gardening forums, clubs and communities, the popularity of gardening is growing, and gardening skills are becoming easier to hone.

Many enjoy gardening, finding it relaxing and rewarding to nurture and cultivate life through plants. Since gardening can become an expensive hobby, many a green thumb may turn to eBay find a good bargain.

While Fountains and Ponds, Birdfeeders and Food, and Landscape Lighting are all popular categories this time of year, the Hand Tools, Gear and Equipment Category stays popular all year long. Within this category, some of the most popular gardening tools are rakes, shovels and hoes. The highest-priced listing over the past 90 days was a four-foot long York Rake Model TA-1 for garden tractors, which sold for $606.67. A Smith & Hawken garden tool set, which included a shovel, edger and garden fork, came in second and sold for $179.29.

Rakes, shovels and hoes have accounted for $13,229 total sales on eBay over the past 90 days. More than 550 listings sold with a selling success rate of 38.57%. The top three top selling brands for rakes, shovels and hoes are the Auger, Earthway and Garden Claw.

The Auger brand has a selling success rate of 85.19% and accounted for approximately $2,437 of gardening sales during this period. The highest priced Auger listing was a soil digger that sold for $39.99. The Earthway brand contributed $680.00 to total gardening sales during this period and has a 21.88% selling success rate. The Garden Claw brand contributed $672.00 to gardening sales on eBay and has a 100.00% selling success rate.

Seeders, sprayers and spreaders are also popular - also under the Hand Tools, Gear and Equipment category. The most popular selling brand in this category is Earthway. The highest priced Earthway item was a precision garden seeder/seed spreader that sold for $69.99.

In addition to gardening tools, gardening attire is also a popular selling category on eBay. Crocs, a newly popular rubber shoe that is perfect for gardening, has quickly become a hot selling item. Crocs have seen more than $1.2 million in sales over the past 90 days and have a 59.44% success rate. On any given day between 500 and 800 are selling, at an average of $17.33 per pair (see chart).

Other popular items that complement gardening are coveralls and sun hats. Since gardening can get dirty, many people opt to wear coveralls while working outside to protect their clothing. Coveralls come in at an average price of $20.75 per pair with a selling success rate of 45.93%. Sun hats have a selling success rate of 47.74% and sell at the average price of $6.88.

Since flowers, plants and trees can range from needing cold to hotter climates, gardening tools and related items seem to be pretty popular all year long. Most items in these categories see a small spike at the beginning of each new season (except for Winter). This being the case, if you have gardening related items sitting around the house or in the backyard, now might be a good time to clean them off and polish them up for the upcoming Fall season.

Please send questions, feedback or article suggestions to databytes@auctionbytes.com.
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