Today I want to give you an early Christmas gift. This is something that I have been using more and more just recently because I’ve found that it’s a great research tool.
Now, as you know, mainly because I go on about it, research is key to uncovering hot selling items for your online business, and one of the most important tools for research is your Internet browser – particularly the ‘Add Ons’ you can download within that browser.
So, if there was an ‘Add On’ that could simplify your product research that would be a huge bonus wouldn’t it? Of course it would, and that’s why I want to share this particular ‘Add On’ with you today!
Before we start though, I must mention that in order to use this tool you’ll need to be using the Firefox browser rather than Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or any of the other available browsers. If you haven’t already got Firefox you can download it here
Simplify your product research with these add ons…
Okay, so the ‘Add On’ I’m talking about is called the ‘eBay Button’. I’ll tell you exactly what it does in just a moment, but first, to download it here’s what to do:
- Open your Firefox browser
- Go here
- Click ‘Add To Firefox’
- Click ‘Install Now’
- Restart Firefox when prompted
- Select ‘Tools’ then ‘Add Ons’ from the menu at the top left of your screen and you’ll see that the ‘eBay Button’ has been installed
- Click ‘Options’ (within the Add Ons section that you already have open) and check that the button is set for UK as the default is always US
- Close the ‘Add Ons’ box
You’ll now see a red coloured e in the top left side of your toolbar – that’s your ‘eBay Button’ all set up and ready to go. It’s very simple as you can see!
Now here’s what you can do with it…
By clicking on the little arrow beside the red e and scrolling through the options on the drop down menu, the ‘eBay Button’ will show you lots of different (but very useful) data such as the Best Selling items for different product categories on eBay, the Most Watched items and Most Popular Searches, all of which you can sift through and will help you to spot hot products. But, there is also a Most Gifted option and a Movers and Shakers option, both of which will help you to spot up and coming trends and be one step ahead of the game.
You’ll know from looking at your own eBay listings that there is an option to ‘Add To Wish List’ on every description and this is where the Most Gifted data comes from – potential buyers adding a particular item to their wish list with a view to buying it themselves or someone who they give access to their wish list buying it for them (hopefully).
Using the ‘eBay Button’ last night I looked at the Most Gifted in the Clothing category. I saw that at number one were ‘Touchscreen Gloves’. These are the latest thing to own if you are a techie addict so that you can use your phone or iPod at all times without getting cold hands and is currently a red hot product! So, let’s use this as an example now:
As I’ve said, I’ve already checked out the Most Gifted and so I know that this is a product that is causing a flurry of interest, so I also check it out in the Movers and Shakers list – again using my ‘eBay Button’ and see that a similar product is currently placed at number 5 – this is good news because it’s appeared in two lists so far.
Looking at the Best Sellers list I see that it’s at number 3 in this list, again for the Clothing category. Perfect! So at this stage, I can now safely conclude that I’m looking at a product that could be very viable for me to source and sell…
Supplier Alert!
Next I research suppliers of these touchscreen gloves. Now, bearing in mind I would need to get hold of these pretty quickly to catch the current trend I’ll stick to the UK for suppliers. A little bit of research online produces a supplier who has similar touchscreen gloves in stock starting at 81p per pair for adults sizes:
Here’s the direct link to the product.
Obviously I’ll need to check out pricing on eBay before I go ahead with a wholesale order, but this is just an example for you today. Can you see how quickly and easily I uncovered a hot product just by using the ‘eBay Button’?
This is one ‘Add On’ that you should definitely have in your arsenal of seller tools! It costs absolutely nothing and you can see at a glance exactly what’s moving and shaking around eBay UK – try it out for yourself and see!
Finally
Before I sign off here’s one more Firefox Add On that is also very useful for research purposes. This one is called ‘FoxyBay’ and again it’s very simple to download:
- Open Firefox and go here
- Click ‘Add to Firefox’
- Click ‘Install Now’
- Restart Firefox
Once you’ve done this a small eBay logo will appear on the top left of your toolbar and next to that a small search box, an ‘Ending Within’ and an ‘Under’ box, both with drop down menus. If you click the arrow next to the eBay logo you can change your search preferences to United Kingdom, so do this first.
You are now ready to use ‘FoxyBay’! This ‘Add On’ allows you to specify an auction end time and how much to bid as well as which country to search (just change the search preferences) and this means that you can quickly and easily find bargains on eBay that you can snap up and resell for a higher price!
The little arrow that I mentioned earlier, next to the eBay logo will also take you to the ‘FoxyBay’ homepage where you’ll see Trending Topics and Hot Searches – these are all worth checking out and are another simple way to dig out those hot products!
So there you are – two research tips for you that you can put into action immediately and all absolutely free – enjoy!