Terapeak Product Research: eBay Market Data, Pricing Insights, and Sourcing Tool
Terapeak Product Research is an eBay market intelligence tool that provides sellers with historical sold data, average sale prices, sell-through rates, and listing format performance metrics for items on eBay.
Terapeak Product Research is defined as eBay's proprietary market research platform that analyzes completed eBay transaction data to help sellers determine optimal pricing, identify high-demand products, compare listing formats, and understand category trends. The tool was acquired by eBay in 2014 and fully integrated into Seller Hub in 2019. Terapeak is available exclusively through eBay and uses only eBay marketplace transaction data, not data from Amazon, Walmart, or other platforms.
What Data Does Terapeak Product Research Provide?
Terapeak Product Research is a market analysis tool integrated into eBay Seller Hub that displays average sold prices, sell-through rates, listing format performance, and shipping data for any product searched on eBay's historical transaction database. Terapeak analyzes up to 365 days of sold data to generate these metrics. All eBay store subscribers access the full dataset. Non-store sellers access 3 months of data.
Terapeak provides 5 primary data outputs. The first output is the average sold price for the searched item or keyword over the selected time period. The second output is the sell-through rate, which is the percentage of active listings that generated a completed sale. The third output is listing format comparison, showing whether auction or fixed-price format produced higher sell-through rates and average prices. The fourth output is listing duration analysis, showing which durations generated faster sales. The fifth output is shipping performance data, showing what shipping options buyers preferred for the item.
Sell-through rate is the most actionable Terapeak metric for category research. A 10% sell-through rate means 1 in 10 active listings for that item sold in the analysis period. A 90% sell-through rate means near-universal demand for the item. Sell-through rates below 20% indicate a buyer's market where supply exceeds demand. Sell-through rates above 60% indicate a seller's market where demand exceeds supply.
The average sold price data shows price distribution across all transactions for the searched item. Terapeak displays the minimum sold price, maximum sold price, and average sold price. This distribution reveals the price range buyers actually pay, not the range sellers ask.
How Do Sellers Use Terapeak to Set Optimal Listing Prices?
Sellers use Terapeak pricing data by searching the item's model number, brand, or keywords, selecting the past 90 days of data, filtering to the relevant condition (new, used, seller refurbished), and using the average sold price as the baseline. Sellers who price at or slightly below the Terapeak average sold price for their item condition maximize both speed of sale and sale price.
The pricing process using Terapeak involves 4 steps. Step 1: Search the exact item using the model number, UPC, or ISBN if available. Step 2: Filter results to the same item condition (Used, For Parts, New). Step 3: Review the average sold price and the sell-through rate. Step 4: Set the listing price at the average sold price for fast sale or 10% to 15% above average for maximum revenue if the sell-through rate exceeds 50%.
High sell-through rates indicate strong demand, allowing sellers to price above the average and still sell within a reasonable time. Low sell-through rates indicate soft demand, requiring competitive pricing at or below the average to secure a sale.
Terapeak's listing format comparison shows whether auction or fixed-price format produces better results for a specific item. Items with high sell-through rates and consistent demand sell reliably as fixed-price GTC listings. Items with unpredictable demand or collector interest may benefit from auction format to let bidding determine the price.
What Is Terapeak Sourcing Insights?
Terapeak Sourcing Insights is a separate Terapeak module that shows category-level supply and demand data across all eBay categories. Sourcing Insights reveals which categories have high buyer demand and low seller supply, indicating profitable sourcing opportunities. Categories with demand exceeding supply show sell-through rates above 60% and rising average prices over the analysis period.
Terapeak Sourcing Insights is available to eBay store subscribers at the Basic tier and above. Non-store sellers and Starter Store subscribers do not have access to Sourcing Insights, which is the most powerful module for product research.
Sourcing Insights organizes data by category, subcategory, and item type. A seller looking for profitable product categories navigates to Sourcing Insights, selects a top-level category, and views the supply and demand metrics for each subcategory. The categories with the highest sell-through rates and the greatest gap between demand and supply represent the highest probability of profitable selling.
The practical use of Sourcing Insights for product sourcing combines eBay data with external sourcing knowledge. A seller who identifies that vintage kitchen appliances have a 75% sell-through rate and rising average prices on eBay can direct their thrift store and estate sale sourcing toward vintage kitchen appliances specifically.
What Are the Limitations of Terapeak Product Research?
Terapeak Product Research has 4 key limitations: it analyzes only eBay transaction data (not Amazon or Walmart), the data reflects past sales not future demand, it does not account for regional demand differences within the eBay marketplace, and the sell-through rate calculation counts active listing days rather than unique listings, which can overstate competition from high-turnover sellers.
Terapeak data is historical by design. Terapeak shows what sold in the past 30, 90, or 365 days. Demand can shift significantly between the analysis period and the date the seller lists the item. Seasonal products, trending items, and items tied to current events may show low historical sell-through rates but high current demand, or vice versa.
The eBay-only data scope means Terapeak does not inform sellers about Amazon pricing, Walmart Marketplace pricing, or prices on niche platforms like Reverb, Discogs, or TCGPlayer. Sellers who use only Terapeak for pricing decisions may underprice items that command premiums on niche platforms.
Terapeak Sourcing Insights requires a store subscription to access. Non-store sellers who want equivalent category research data must use manual searches filtered to Sold Listings in eBay search, which provides comparable sell-through analysis but requires more manual effort.
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*Source: eBay Terapeak Product Research Help Page. eBay Seller Hub Help Page. eBay Store Selling Fees Help Page, effective February 14, 2025.*
