Can anyone please tell me how to to research the results of past auctions on rare items. TY.

[cment]

Trying to find a way to research past selling prices and trends on rarer items. thank you.

[monica-sells]

There are a variety of sites online that offer "past results" from a database of auctions, sales venues and even private sales (public)......

The names of these companies elude me at the moment, but, I do recall one of them is called

worthpoint (or something like that)

As far as ebay goes, find the item you like in a search, then search Sold Items (left column)

I think that is only 90 days history though.....

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Worthpoint has a lot of stale information, which serves not only to mislead sellers but also distorts the market. And you have to pay for the data.

Ebay itself will allow you to search  on sold items but only return current (90 day) sales.

Invaluable and Live Auctioneers provide some past data but may require you to pay for a subscription.

Using the search engines can provide results. I find doing a search for the item and then selecting images is a quick way to avoid the irrelevant results. I then click through to the site from the image results which appear to be relevant.

In my experience, data on auction sales tends to be inconsistent. Sometimes there is only one bidder because the item is offered in the wrong venue. Sometimes the seller or auctioneer is clueless and the price is too low.

Sometimes an item ceases to appear to be rare. Time after time the first time a scarce item appears at auction it fetches the best price. When other examples surface, they are not valued as highly.

Your own experience and the method and place of offer often determine the value as well as your timing.

[monica-sells]

@tobaccocardyahoo 

couldn't have said it better myself---thanks for the follow-up

additionally, with an ebay store you can use terapeak for 2 years history (i think it's 2)

[brightlightbookseller]

If you have access to it, Terapeak (the Research tab in the eBay Seller Hub) is a good source of info from the past 2 years max.  It only shows successful transactions, so it's less likely to give you bad data than some other sites.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi, here are some of the free data sites for historical sold and auctioned item prices. (Usually you will need to create a free account to gain access.)

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/auction-results

https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/past

https://historical.ha.com/

https://www.1stdibs.com/

I also have had a paid subscription to Worthpoint for years, and have found it to be a useful tool for historical pricing. (My monthly dues are reasonable, and it is an expense for my itemized deductions on my tax forms.)

[slippinjimmy]

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@monica-sells wrote:

@tobaccocardyahoo 

couldn't have said it better myself---thanks for the follow-up

additionally, with an ebay store you can use terapeak for 2 years history (i think it's 2)

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You no longer need a Store Subscription to use Terapeak, it is available to anyone.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

I went off and tested Terapeak with several items I know the range they can be sold for.

It was depressing how low the prices were that they brought on Ebay.

Clearly, the venue you sell them on must be carefully selected.

[stuff4divas]

@cment  

u asked something similar  on 4.1.22 and marked an eBay employee's answer as the best answer.

here is the link>

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Seller-Tools/Is-there-a-way-I-can-research-past-auction-sales-of-speci...

[collectfest]

depends on the items. Rare items like antiques? Rare items like electronics?

[anasazirose]

If it's an expensive item, I recommend the services that don't use Terapeak, if any do, and I don't recommend Terapeak.  See my recent post here "Can't trust Terapeak for research" https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Can-t-trust-Terapeak-for-research/m-p/33915512#M2256697

Terapeak shows results for 2 years, however, if the item is <30 days old, you can click on it to verify that the item sold. I saw an item in Terapeak that sold for $565, yet clicking on the item showed it had one bid and sold for $120. 

There are also Beanie Babies that have sold for thousands, but most people believe that those are hoaxes to artificially inflate prices. 

Terapeak apparently does not remove listings from the research if the buyer doesn't pay.  You can see this sometimes when the exact same item is listed more than once in Terapeak.  Now, the seller may have more than one, but when it's the same picture, I don't trust it, especially if it sells for a large amount the 1st time and a lot less the next time.

I've also posted before about Terapeak not matching the item's page.  Some members here commented that an offer was accepted.  I don't believe ebay has ever explained the discrepancies.  They may be content to let the false high prices mislead people. 

[ebeths_eclectic_collectibles]

“It was depressing how low the prices were that they brought on Ebay.

Clearly, the venue you sell them on must be carefully selected.”

or maybe acquiring the item to sell was a mistake in the first place. I must say I do the best I can to dodge that bullet.

[ebeths_eclectic_collectibles]

All depends on what you mean by “rare” items. Truly rare items might have sketchy past sales  history and  maybe better sold at auction. Most of the EBay listing that have “RARE” in the title are a completely different story

[slippinjimmy]

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@anasazirose wrote:

If it's an expensive item, I recommend the services that don't use Terapeak, if any do, and I don't recommend Terapeak.  See my recent post here "Can't trust Terapeak for research" https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Can-t-trust-Terapeak-for-research/m-p/33915512#M2256697

Terapeak shows results for 2 years, however, if the item is <30 days old, you can click on it to verify that the item sold. I saw an item in Terapeak that sold for $565, yet clicking on the item showed it had one bid and sold for $120. 

There are also Beanie Babies that have sold for thousands, but most people believe that those are hoaxes to artificially inflate prices. 

Terapeak apparently does not remove listings from the research if the buyer doesn't pay.  You can see this sometimes when the exact same item is listed more than once in Terapeak.  Now, the seller may have more than one, but when it's the same picture, I don't trust it, especially if it sells for a large amount the 1st time and a lot less the next time.

I've also posted before about Terapeak not matching the item's page.  Some members here commented that an offer was accepted.  I don't believe ebay has ever explained the discrepancies.  They may be content to let the false high prices mislead people. 

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It was demonstrated on that thread that Terapeak DID in fact have correct information for that listing.

I have searched my own items on Terapeak and have always found the results to be 100% accurate. I also search for things I am considering listing, while I don't attempt to audit the results they always appear to be at or near my expectations, if there are a lot of results there can be outliers both higher and lower but that has always been the case here.

[lacemaker3]

@anasazirose,

I'm sorry, but you are still misunderstanding Terapeak, and some of your claims about Terapeak are not correct, as @slippinjimmy has mentioned.

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Terapeak shows results for 2 years, however, if the item is <30 days old, you can click on it to verify that the item sold.

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• Recent sales are clickable on Terapeak as long as the item is still available on eBay, which is for 90 days after the sale (unless eBay removes it early for fraud).  So you can verify the items just as long on Terapeak as you can on eBay. There was one listing (31 days old) in the screenshot you showed on that thread which was removed for fraud (so not clickable), after the buyer had paid for it (so it was shown on Terapeak). That was almost certainly because of a fraudulent buyer.

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Terapeak apparently does not remove listings from the research if the buyer doesn't pay. 

•  Actually, it is just the opposite. Terapeak does not show sold listings unless the buyer paid for them. The main advantage of Terapeak is that it shows the actual amount that the buyer paid, for both the purchase price and the shipping.
• I'm not aware that the actual shipping cost can be found anywhere else. And most 3rd-party websites show the same price as eBay shows, even if the price sold to a best offer for a different amount. I'm not aware of any site other than Terapeak that shows the actual amount the buyer paid.
• It is still possible that the transaction may not have been completed, for example that is probably what happened in the case of the listing I mentioned above, that was in your screenshot but had been removed for fraud after the buyer paid.

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I've also posted before about Terapeak not matching the item's page.  Some members here commented that an offer was accepted.  I don't believe ebay has ever explained the discrepancies. 

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• Yes, eBay has explained the discrepancies, that is how we know that Terapeak is showing the actual purchase price and cost of shipping that the buyer paid. This was confirmed several years ago, on the Mentors Chat Board, where some of the mentors (including me) had the opportunity to work more closely with eBay Blues to figure out what was happening in various situations.
• This is also how we know that the sold and completed item searches do not include all ended listings, and do not show the actual price that the buyer paid in some cases. This is why the sold items search is not effective for doing price research.

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...  when the exact same item is listed more than once in Terapeak.  Now, the seller may have more than one, but when it's the same picture, I don't trust it, especially if it sells for a large amount the 1st time and a lot less the next time.

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• Now, this is correct. As long as the buyer paid for an item, it will be shown in Terapeak, even if the transaction was later cancelled for some reason. Sellers need to view the data with a critical mind, as data must always be viewed no matter where it is from.
  • If an item is relisted for less, whether it sells again or not, that is a good indication that the sales price was inflated.
    • You can also view active listings on Terapeak. I once came across a sold item (almost 2 years old) that was cancelled by the seller and relisted. I found the relisting by clicking the active sales button. IIRC, the seller wanted more for it, but it still hadn't been sold almost 2 years later.
  • It can also be a good indication that scammers are targeting those particular items and artificially inflating the prices, which is a very valuable thing for sellers to know.
• I don't agree that cancelled transactions should be removed, because there are other reasons why a transaction may be cancelled. Most commonly, it probably happens because an inexperienced seller refuses to complete the sale because they wanted to get more ... but in that situation, the actual sale price that was paid is still an accurate indication of the value of the item at that time.