eBay Lets You Know What it's Worth

Feel like you're not getting a good deal on that moose head you just bought from eBay? The popular auction site unveiled a new feature Thursday that will assist both the buyer and seller in understanding what the going price is for items sold on the service over the past three months.

The premium offering, called Marketplace Research, will allow any user to see both in graphical and text form trends in listing, bidding and pricing of items. Analysts say the service will give prospective sellers an idea of the eBay value of their items, as well as giving buyers a hint at how much they should expect to pay for an item they may want.

Also, many say the feature is a clear win for power sellers, who will be able to better judge what items will sell well, thus increasing their profits and the chances they will list more items on eBay.

It could also mean better deals for the buyer, as sellers would be more responsive to set prices lower in order to make their items more competitive.

Three tiers will be offered by eBay based on need. A two-day subscription, called "Fast Pass," will cost $2.99 USD for 48 hours of use. The service will include two months of historical data and allow up to 10 saved searches, as well as display the top items eBay users are searching for.

For $9.99 USD, the same options can be extended to a monthly service plan. For a $24.99 monthly fee, eBay will include the full three months of historical data as well as 100 saved searches, top searches, and leading searches by eBay site.

For those who do not subscribe, 15 days of history would be available through eBay's competing listings search, the auction site said.

The new service is available now from the Subscriptions option on a user's My eBay page.