eBay have announced a new feature, available within the steps of creating a listing, that allows you to see competitive pricing on active listings on eBay for the same item. eBay say that as more information is updated by the selling community in the product catalogue that helps associate similar products, more competitive information will be available. Currently the eBay Pricing Insights feature has only been announced for eBay.com
This is a double edged sword for sellers – it may encourage a race to the bottom, but eBay’s competitive pricing doesn’t always reflect the service that some sellers provide. For instance if you’re offering next day shipping with same day despatch, you may be able to command higher prices than someone with economy shipping and a three day handling time.
Equally, eBay isn’t so much about having the best price as being at the top of Best Match search results. There are many aspects to Best Match and recent sales is one of the biggest – the more sales you attract to a listing the higher in search results you’ll appear and naturally attract even more sales.
With features such as eBay Promoted Listings you can even buy your way to the top of search results and again, within reason, pricing becomes irrelevant.
One thing that’s missing from eBay’s competitive pricing is that it doesn’t specify the condition of the item – for instance is it new, manufacturer refurbished, seller refurbished or used. It doesn’t really matter what data set eBay are using but it’s vital for sellers to know so that they are aware if they are comparing items of the same condition.
It’s likely that this new feature will be more useful for casual sellers than business sellers. Casual sellers are more likely to use the eBay listing flow and less likely to have carried out robust product pricing research prior to even sourcing their stock.
