Product research
How to read the sell-through rate on eBay
The sell-through rate tells you how many of a product's listings actually sold. How to work it out from sold and active listings, what it shows and when it misleads.
The shortest way to see whether a product sells on eBay is its sell-through rate: the listings that sold in a period divided by all listings in that period. The product research in eBay's Seller Hub shows the rate with the same definition.
Sold and active listings say different things
- A sold listing: its price is what the buyer paid, its date is the day it sold. eBay's sold listings search shows the last 90 days.
- An active listing: its price is what the seller asks; whether it sells is unknown. Many active listings show competition, sold listings show demand.
- On a listing sold by negotiation (Best Offer accepted) eBay often hides the agreed price and shows the list price struck through. Counting those prices pushes an average up.
The arithmetic
Sell-through rate = sold listings ÷ (sold listings + active listings). Example: 45 sales in the last 90 days and 30 listings active now give 45 ÷ 75 = 60%. Some tools divide sold by active only (45 ÷ 30 = 150%); check which definition a number uses before comparing two.
A high rate can still mislead
- If one seller sells most of the units, the rate looks high but the demand may rest on that seller's price and feedback. Look at how many sellers the sales are spread over.
- When one listing sells several units, the count of sold listings stays below the real unit count.
- For seasonal products a 90-day window falls inside or outside the season; look at the months one by one (the fourth quarter).
Read the rate with how steadily the product sells and what it leaves you. If the middle sold price minus eBay's cut and your cost leaves nothing, a high rate doesn't help (fees and net profit). The steps for finding products from sold listings are in finding what sells on eBay.
Common questions
What is a good sell-through rate?
There is no fixed line. Read the rate with the competition (how many sellers), how steadily it sells and the profit; on a low-margin product a high rate is not enough on its own.
How far back does eBay show sold listings?
eBay's sold listings search shows the last 90 days; older sales don't appear in it.
Why can a sold listing's price differ from what the buyer paid?
On listings sold by Best Offer eBay often doesn't show the agreed price; the list price appears struck through and the real sale price may be lower.