How to search completed listings on eBay

Smart people who sell items on eBay know to do their research first. This usually involves determining the market value for items identical or similar in nature to the one they are selling. This is a great strategy but one that needs to be executed carefully.

For starters, too many people make the mistake of using the main search box on the eBay home page when performing their search. While this will provide a good picture of what similar items are selling now, it is filled with shortcomings.

Namely, you are only looking at opening or current bids. And these bids could change dramatically (or not at all) when the auction finally ends.

Furthermore, you are only looking at a tiny window of time when you need the full history. Obviously someone selling Christmas wreaths in November and December is going to draw higher bids than they would if they sold them in June or July.

So what's the secret to getting the full picture? It's eBay's advanced search.

Advanced search is available to anyone with an eBay account. If you don't have an eBay account you're out of luck since logging in with your eBay account is required to access advanced search.

Once you access advanced search, you can slice and dice your search much finer than with eBay's standard search. But to me the most important option of all is the Completed listings checkbox.

Checking this box allows you to search auctions that have already completed on eBay. This means you see final prices, a much better indicator of what your item might be potentially worth. Additionally, you can look for patterns for when similar items sold well and when they sold poorly or not at all.

So the next time you are preparing to sell an item on eBay, don't be a noobie. Use the advanced search.