The holiday season is traditionally the most profitable time of year for brick-and-mortar retailers. December is just as important for eBay sellers, and represents the biggest month of consumer spending throughout the year. Savvy eBay sellers have been preparing for the busy season for months, but December is really when the true hot products become known. We're offering some insight into this year's hot gifts and how they're best selling on eBay to help sellers maximize profits during these last crucial weeks.
Electronics hover at the top of the Hot List every year. Last year, consumers rushed to purchase the Sony PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles. The popularity of these gaming consoles remains strong year-round, and despite Sony cutting prices on the PlayStation 3 this year, the Xbox 360 is outselling it 2-1.
Over the past 90 days, about 14,000 PlayStation 3 consoles have sold at an average price of $412, with an average sell-through rate of 92.45 %. Buy-it-Nows have better sell-through rates than the overall average (97%), while reserve prices slow things down (74%). Adding bold text barely makes a difference (93.75%) vs. no features (92.47%), while the addition of a highlight makes the numbers worse (91.52%). One and three day durations have the highest conversion rates at 97.6% and 93.99%, respectively.
The Xbox 360 is blowing the Playstation 3 out of the water with an average selling price of $280.42 and a sell-through rate of 92.3%. More than 40,000 Xbox units have sold over the past 90 days. Like the Playstation 3 example, the Buy it Now option offers the best conversion at 96.6%. The Reserve price listing fetches a sell-through rate of 65.69%. One day listings have the highest conversion rate at 98.26% while five and seven day listings hover around the same rate of 91.5%.
Another rival on the console scene is the Nintendo Wii. Over the past 90 days, more than 100,000 units have sold at an average price of $380, with an overall sell-through rate of 93.66 percent. The majority of listings are one day, with a sell-through rate of 98%, while eBay Store listings have a sell-through rate of only 52%. A Category Feature increases the likelihood of sale for this item, bringing the sell-through rate up to 98.28%
New on the Hot List this year are GPS devices. While there are some handheld systems selling for under $100, the majority of the car systems are selling for $300+. In the $200 - $1000 price range, about 37,000 have sold over the past 90 days with an average sell through rate 77.83%. Gift listings take the rate up to 89%, and Buy It Now brings the rate up to 95%. One day listings are most popular with a 98.22% sell-through rate, while day of the week doesn't seem to make a difference. Sell-through rates for GPS devices are highest between 3 and 9 p.m.
The most popular brands within the GPS category are TomTom, Garmin and Magellan. TomTom systems have a 90.97% success rate. The Garmin brand has a much lower success rate of 79%, with nearly 23,000 units sold over the past 90 days. Magellan is lagging behind with a 79% success rate and 2,650 items sold.
Also on the Hot List this year are point-and-shoot digital cameras at 8 megapixels and above. While last year 8 megapixels did not make the list, this year people are purchasing the latest in digital photography. With a sell-through rate of 72.3% and more than 20,000 sold in the past 90 days, you can be sure that more of these will sell before Santa starts his annual commute.
The average price for one of these high-end cameras is $217, but several thousand have sold for more than $300. One-day listings have the highest sell-through rate of 99%, while Buy it Now (97%) and Category Featured (92%) help keep the sell-through rates high. Time of day doesn't seem to matter within this category. Sony, Canon, Casio and Nikon are the hottest brand names, although the "Other" category is doing quite well also.
These are only a select few of the popular items on eBay this year. Be sure to use Terapeak's free research tool located at http://terapeak.com to check your preferred category. Good luck eBay sellers and have a wonderful holiday!
Please send questions, feedback or article suggestions to databytes@auctionbytes.com.
---
Terapeak is an eBay Certified Service Provider that specializes exclusively in eBay Marketplace Research. Terapeak helps you use the experience of other sellers to know when to list, which items are hot, and value your items on eBay. The Terapeak services offers research for eBay US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany and eBay Motors Parts & Accessories. Terapeak accesses eBay Data directly from the eBay Market Data program. To learn more about the Terapeak please visit http://www.terapeak.com.
