Why is the Pricing Research tool so lousy, and always in the 'cheap' direction?

[gurlcat]

I'm convinced eBay purposely programmed the pricing research tool ('See similar listings' on the listing creation page) to provide only the lowest-priced examples of recently sold items, even if it means omitting better matches.  Prove me wrong.  But before you try, check out this example:

I'm listing this Tiffany & Co pin, and note that it says 'God Loves You.'  I remember a couple years ago I sold a similar one that said 'Try God,' so apparently there are at least these 2 versions within this design line.   

The pricing research tool shows only 5 results, and ALL of them are the 'Try God' version, not a single true match to what I'm listing. And their prices are from $25 - 35.    Meanwhile regular ole advanced search results, filtered by Sold listings -that faithfully shows nothing but 'God Loves You' ones, and there are 9 results, from $34 - 75.   

Why do they do this??  My only guess is that a lot of sellers overprice their items so eBay is trying to right that ship.  But jeez I feel sorry for anyone who trusted that dumb tool if they had a really valuable item and ended up giving it away basically.  

[wastingtime101]

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@gurlcat wrote:

I'm convinced eBay purposely programmed the pricing research tool ('See similar listings' on the listing creation page) to provide only the lowest-priced examples of recently sold items, even if it means omitting better matches. 

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Common misconception: "Price Guidance" which is what you're referring to is not the same as "Product Research"

Product Research (link) is targeted, specific, and pretty accurate.

Price Guidance is a load of 💩 and should be ignored.

In fact, the Product Research team discussed some of the differences between these two tools at eBay Open. Unfortunately that discussion was part of the live Q&A which eBay does not make available post-event and that's where a lot of the really good info is shared.

If you want to watch the prerecorded presentation on Product Research you can do that here (link).

[gurlcat]

Well I didn't say Pricing Guide or Product Research; I said Pricing Research, because that is what it says at the top of the popup window ^.  

Is Product Research particularly better than Advanced listings > Sold/ Completed?   Cuz that's what I'm used to and fast at using.  

[wastingtime101]

I realize that, but inevitably someone was going to confuse your post with Product Research so I thought it was a good idea to mention that up top.

And you already saw what I said - Product Research is the tool you should use and Price Guidance is the tool you should flush.

Going to search sold/completed you get a really incomplete picture. It will show you listings that sold but were never paid. Product Research only shows paid items. Search will show you the listing price as the sold price. Product Research will show you the actual sale price (think seller initiated offer). Etc.

[12345jamesstamps]

I was searching auctions on some sellers...wanted to know their lowest price auctions going on...I clicked on their auctions which was hundreds...and then clinked on 'lowest' and got only 9 items and not items from lowest to highest. Gotta love those algorithms...and can;t get around them.

[anjie234]

Hey @gurlcat !

Yes, the  'See similar listings' on the listing creation page is USELESS! I provide feedback, too, each and every time I decide to try it. But it doesn't get any better. It's one reason why I'm very wary of ANY statistical numbers provided by eBay.  Like you, I've always used Completed/Sold Listings.

However, I've just been playing with the Product Research tool (formerly Terapeak), and I'm liking it so far. The results of my searches are quite relevant. AND you can eliminate any, individually, on the list that doesn't fit with what you're looking for, thus eliminating it from the chart data.  Also, the 'Average Sold Price' 'Sold Price Range', 'Avg Ship Cost', 'Free Shipping %' all seem to be accurate (as compared with using Compl/Sold listings search). So that's all pretty cool.

And, as per @wastingtime101  (thank you!), the data (like Sold Price) is more accurate. 

Thanks for bringing this up.

Have a good one!