How-to Find HOT Items To Sell on EBAY

[tuge41]

Hi, I'm getting ready to open a new account on Ebay and want to become a "TOP Rated Seller" and be able to list my products under the "TOP Rate Plus" listings.

I noticed that there are a lot of Ebay sellers who know how to list a variety of products as "TOP Rated Plus" listings, but I was wondering how they were able to quickly get to that level of being able to sell so many products and list them under the "TOP Rated Plus" listings.

I haven't actually opened my account as of yet, but I want to ensure that I'm going to NOT waste my hard-earned money for investing in products. So I want to be sure that I'm able to find the hottest items to sell.

How do I find hot items or what is the way to do "niche research" for Ebay?

I'd greatly appreciate any starting points from advanced Ebay sellers. Thanks in advance!

[*eponymous*]

You seriously expect successful sellers to give you their trade secrets???

[kathieskorner]

There is no magical formula, and items "hot" today probably won't be tomorrow. 

Before investing any money in inventory you should try selling a few items that you no longer use.   You should also sell items you know something about.  

If you read these boards for a few weeks, you will find your expectations about selling on ebay are not in line with today's reality.  

[thatsallfolks]

I'm sure lots of eBay sellers will rush to this thread to tell you all of their secrets so you can compete against them.

Sellers don't get to "Top Rated" quickly. They do it with hard work for an extended period of time.

[18704d]

It's easy to find what the "hot items" on eBay are by studying current and completed listings, in whatever category interests you.

The big challenge is, where to buy those items, at a low enough price to cover all the costs here.

Lynn

[accessoriesetcplus]

Knowing what to sell on Ebay takes time to learn. I have been selling a very long time and it is still trial and error.

[lex-talon]

Achieveing TRS+ will not be easy. It won't happen overnight.

You will have to do the research yourself to find the "Hot" items to sell on Ebay. 

Nobody will reveal to you what items those are. I would suggest reading over all the info in the Seller Center & Policies at the bottom of the page. 

[lookng2015]

@tuge41

I think you have the wrong idea. Being a Top Rated Seller and having listings shown as Top Rated Plus has NOTHING to do with "selling 'hot' items".

It's all about being a GOOD seller AND jumping through all the eBay hoops that being a TRS requires.

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@lookng2015wrote:
@tuge41

I think you have the wrong idea. Being a Top Rated Seller and having listings shown as Top Rated Plus has NOTHING to do with "selling 'hot' items".

It's all about being a GOOD seller AND jumping through all the eBay hoops that being a TRS requires.

---

^^THIS^^

(although I have come across some TRS sellers who were marginal at best)

Selling "hot" stuff is great if you want to potentially make a lot of money. It's also great if you want to potentially lose a lot of money.

I prefer to keep the money I make. So far I've been successful. I may not make a lot of money, but the money  I make I keep.

[lookng2015]

True. I think we've all come across allegedly Top Rated sellers who turned out to be anything but.

[newnewnewmann]

Forget all about the top rated status stuff and focus on the selling basics. Become a good seller, start with quality not quantity, learn the ebay policies, sell a few low priced items to get a feel for how ebay works and any potential problems. You will  achieve your goal in time from being a good seller. Forget about buying a dump truck full of inventory until you learn how to sell.

If you are looking for hot items, check the desert, like my friends very successful outdoor rock business in Arizona. It gets very hot there in the summer, and his rocks sell like hotcakes.

[tuge41]

I think you've taken what I said out of context. I was asking how to become a "Top Rated Seller" to be able to list my listings under "Top Rated Plus" listings, and how to find hot items to sell so that I can quickly get to the level of a "Top Rated Seller". 

According to Ebay, in order to get to a "Top Rated Seller" level, you would have had to have many successful transactions (that's 1 of the ways) and in order to have a lot of successful transactions, you would need to have HOT items to quickly make a lot of sales & get to the level of a "Top Rated Seller".

They definitely have some relation if you look at it the right way.

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@tuge41wrote:

I think you've taken what I said out of context. I was asking how to become a "Top Rated Seller" to be able to list my listings under "Top Rated Plus" listings, and how to find hot items to sell so that I can quickly get to the level of a "Top Rated Seller". 

According to Ebay, in order to get to a "Top Rated Seller" level, you would have had to have many successful transactions (that's 1 of the ways) and in order to have a lot of successful transactions, you would need to have HOT items to quickly make a lot of sales & get to the level of a "Top Rated Seller".

They definitely have some relation if you look at it the right way.

---

You don't need "hot" items to make sales. I don't sell "hot" items and I'm a TRS and a Powerseller.   If you're trying to make a lot of money fast, this isn't the way. New sellers have payment holds and selling limits (supposedly) and they're for a very good reason. "Hot" categories are also high fraud categories. You have to know how to defend yourself against scams if you want to keep your money.

[dyande-0]

No you need good items with a good description that don't get returned often and are fairly stable sellers. Having a diverse inventory also helps

But ultimately you need to learn the ropes and the ins and outs of selling before you even think about trying to become a TSR.

You might have the hottest items in the world but if you aren't handling your returns properly and dealing with any cases that arise, shipping promptly etcetera you're never going to make TSR

[m60driver]

If a widget is a "hot selling" widget I hope your have the capital to purchase the quantity needed to competitvely price the item for sale and still make a net profit. But my gut feeling is akin to that old adage that if you have to ask the price you can't afford it.

There are some good instructional videos regarding selling on Ebay on YouTube, but they tend to be more about shipping hints than product suggestions.