How to See Sold Items on eBay to Price and Research Products
How to see sold items on eBay with the Sold items filter and Product research, read the data, and use real sold prices to price listings and pick products.
You've found an item you think could sell on eBay. The listings show prices all over the place, from $18 to $60. Which one is real?
None of them, yet. Asking prices are just hopes. What you want is what buyers actually paid, and eBay shows you that for free if you know where to look.
Quick answer: To see sold items on eBay, search for the item, then turn on the Sold items filter (on desktop it sits in the left sidebar, or use Advanced Search and tick "Sold items"). That shows listings that sold in roughly the last 90 days. For up to three years of data, averages and sell-through rate, use the free Product research tool in Seller Hub.
How do you see sold items on eBay on a computer?
- Go to eBay.com and type the item into the search bar. Be specific: brand, model and size beat a vague phrase.
- On the results page, scroll the left sidebar to the filters and check Sold items. You can also check Completed items, which shows every ended listing, sold or not.
- Narrow it down with Condition (New or Used) and Buying format (Auction or Buy It Now). A used auction price and a new Buy It Now price aren't the same market.
- Sort by Ended recently if the option appears, or just scan the dates on each result.
If you can't find the sidebar filter, eBay's Advanced Search page has "Sold items" and "Completed items" under "Search including," plus keyword, price, condition and location options in one form.
Sold vs. completed. "Sold" only shows listings that ended with a sale. "Completed" adds listings that ended without one. Comparing the two is a quick way to see how often an item fails to sell.
How do you see sold items in the eBay app?
On the eBay mobile app, search for the item, tap Filter, and turn on Sold items (and Completed items if you want unsold ones too). The results show sold listings the same way the desktop site does.
The app is handy for checking prices while you're out sourcing, and sellers with Seller Hub can open Product research in the apps too.
What is eBay Product research (formerly Terapeak)?
Product research is eBay's own sales data tool, which used to be sold separately as Terapeak. According to eBay's Product research help page, sellers with access to Seller Hub can open it from the Research tab, and it covers the last three years of eBay sales.
For any search, it shows:
- Average sold price and the sold price range
- Average shipping cost and how many listings offered free shipping
- Total sold, total sellers and the selling formats used
- Sell-through rate, available for searches covering the last 90 days or less
Two things make it better than the regular search for pricing. It shows the actual sale price even when a Best Offer was accepted, and it can look back years instead of about 90 days, so you can spot seasonal items. It only counts listings that closely match your keywords, so phrase your search the way sellers title the item.
You can filter by date range, condition, price, format, category, seller location and product codes like UPC or ISBN. Use a minus sign to exclude words ("-broken", "-parts") and keep junk listings out of your averages.
How do you read sold listings to price your item?
A page of sold prices only helps if you read it the right way. Here's what we look at.
Look at the middle, not the top. One $90 sale doesn't make the item a $90 item. Look for the price range where most sales cluster.
Match the condition and the bundle. A used item with the box and charger and a bare unit are two different products. Compare like with like.
Add shipping to the price. A $30 item with free shipping and a $22 item with $8 shipping cost the buyer the same. Buyers compare totals, so you should too.
Check the sell-through rate. Sell-through rate is the share of listings that actually sold during a period. A low rate means lots of sellers are listing and few buyers are buying, which usually pushes prices down.
A worked example: is this product worth listing?
Say you're looking at a kitchen scale. Here's a simplified example of how the numbers might come out (these are illustrative, not real data):
| What you check | Example result |
|---|---|
| Sold in the last 90 days | 120 |
| Listings in the same period (sold + unsold) | 200 |
| Sell-through rate | 120 ÷ 200 = 60% |
| Most sales clustered at | $34–$38, free shipping |
| Your cost to buy and ship | $19 |
At a $36 sale price, eBay's fees in most categories are 13.6% of the total sale amount plus $0.40 per order, as we break down in our post on eBay fees. That's roughly $5.30 before sales tax is added to the total, leaving about $11.70 before returns, ads or packaging. That's a product worth testing. If the same scale had a 15% sell-through rate and prices sliding below $28, we'd skip it.
What mistakes do new sellers make with sold data?
The most common one is looking at active listings only. Hundreds of active listings can mean strong demand, or a crowded market where most items never sell. Sold data tells you which.
Other mistakes we see:
- Pricing off a single high sale. Outliers happen. Use the cluster.
- Researching once. Prices move. We recheck sold data on products we already list, because a new competitor or a price drop at the source can change the math in a week.
If you're just getting started, our guide on how to sell on eBay walks through product research alongside setup, listing and shipping.
FAQ
How far back can you see sold items on eBay?
Regular eBay search shows sold and completed listings from about the last 90 days. eBay's Product research tool in Seller Hub covers up to three years of sales data, according to eBay's help pages.
Is eBay Product research (Terapeak) free?
eBay doesn't list a separate charge for Product research. It comes with Seller Hub access, and you open it from the Research tab.
Can you see sold items on eBay without an account?
Yes. The Sold items filter on eBay search works without signing in. You only need a seller account with Seller Hub to use Product research.
Why doesn't a sold price match what the buyer paid?
When a seller accepts a Best Offer, the final price can be lower than the listed price. Product research shows the actual sale price in those cases, so it's the better source for items that often sell by offer.
The takeaway
Before you buy anything to resell, spend five minutes on sold listings. It's the cheapest research you'll ever do, and it stops most bad buys before they happen. Look at what sold, how often it sold, and what was left after fees.
That's also how we choose products for the stores we manage: proven sales first, then margin. If you want to see what a store could earn, try our profit calculator.