Yep, we’re back again with this month’s eBay trending searches. Let eRank take the guesswork out of what to sell on eBay. First, we’ll discuss the shopper searches that are climbing fastest now. Then we’ll see what eBay’s Top 500 keywords say about what’s selling best on eBay these days.
Tip! Learn what eBay trends were yesterday, as well as what’s hot on dozens of other marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy and Google Shopping.
Top 20 keywords on eBay in September
- pokemon
- iphone
- laptop
- ps5
- iphone 13
- pokemon cards
- iphone 16 pro max
- gaming pc
- labubu
- ipad
- gaming laptop
- steam deck
- xbox series x
- macbook
- iphone 14 pro max
- 4090
- iphone 15 pro max
- steal a brainrot
- nintendo switch
- monitor
Hiya gang! Are any of you new? We always start these trend reports with the Top 20 climbers that weren’t on last month’s list. These are the hottest; they help us spot any emerging trends.
That said, of the ecommerce sites we cover here, eBay’s Top 20 is the most stable. In terms of turnover Month on Month, it changes the least. (Etsy’s Top 20 is the most volatile, by a long shot.) On average, eBay might have three, maybe four shopper searches that weren’t on the previous month’s Top 20. And nearly all had been there before.
It’s why we got so excited to see it was eBay that “broke” Labubu. She made her debut on eBay’s Top 20 a month before Etsy’s and two months before Amazon. And as we predicted, she’s stayed there on eBay and Etsy, whereas by September she’d dropped out of Amazon’s.
This month, the big news on eBay (which rarely has big news at all) is threefold. It has six climbers, one of which has never been there before. And the newcomer has a monthly click-through rate of 110%. For an eBay Top 20 keyword, that’s about as rare as a Top 20 debut. (Labubu had less than half that.) We data geeks can’t wait to dive in!
Top eBay searches climbing highest fastest
In current rank order, their previous rank last, here are September’s six climbers.
Ranked 5th: “iphone 13,” up from #22 in August
7th: “iphone 16 pro max,” up from #30
15th: “iphone 14 pro max,” up from #50
16th: “4090,” up from #29
17th: “iphone 15 pro max,” up from #32
18th: “steal a brainrot,” up from #87
Like we said, we can’t wait: we’re going straight to “steal a brainrot.”
Ranking 18th: “steal a brainrot,” up from #87
This is a multiplayer video game released on Roblox this past May. Here, in the very lastest version of Keyword Tool, we present: ta da!
“Steal a brainrot” has been climbing rapidly – albeit not quite steadily – since. Looks like it lost steam there in August. Search volume dropped and (we checked) so did its monthly click-through rate (CTR); it was 97% for August. While that is well above average for eBay, in July it ranked #60 with a monthly CTR of 132%. And back in June? It shot from nowhere to #240, launching into the Top 1000 with a CTR of 149%!
We cannot stress enough how miraculous that CTR is for eBay. An absolute ton of purchase intent.
Tip: eBay trending searches and purchase intent
For those of you who are new to online selling, this will be a useful tip.
On ecommerce sites, click-through rates (CTRs) reflect how many times shoppers clicked individual listings in their search results. Therefore, CTRs are an indicator of ‘purchase intent.’ That is, customers who are more likely there to buy, as opposed to the people just browsing.
So yes, it’s always good to keep up with what’s trending on eBay. But for insight into what’s selling best on eBay now, look to their click-through rates. It’s why we end all our trend reports with a Monthly CTR Roundup. It’s your insider access to which of eBay’s Top 500 keywords have had the highest CTRs most recently.
First though, let’s dispense with the rest of September’s climbers.
Ranked 16th: “4090,” up from #29
Search volume is up slightly. But its September CTR is the lowest in the Top 20: just 22%. Even for eBay, which has the lowest CTRs of the top ecommerce sites, that is concerning.
As discussed in last month’s report, the downfall of these Nvidia RTX graphics cards has been startling. For years, there’s been at least one, more frequently two or three of these in every eBay Top 20. Indeed, three made eBay’s Annual Top 20 list last year. The “rtx 3080” ranked 13th; “3080” was 15th, and “rtx 3070” took the 20th spot.
Then in August, for the first time there were none. The highest-ranked was #23 “rtx 4090.” In September, “4090” climbed back up but now “rtx 4090” has dropped to #31. And from #586 in August, “4090 rtx” has plummeted to #961; that one’s down 74% since January.
So what the heck is going on? Apparently, demand on the secondhand market for GPUs is cooling. (Conversely, one YouTuber referred to it as a dumpster fire.) We won’t go into the reasons here. Those of you selling in this niche are well aware of the issues. As abrupt as this recent decline has seemed to us, we hear it’s been coming for a while.
Have one of your own to sell? On eBay, these historically start to climb in October and peak in January. (People using their gift cards, we think. It’s true of all expensive tech on eBay: searches reach their annual high in January.) So, target these holiday shoppers, and good luck!
Ranked 5th: “iphone 13, up from #22
As for all the iPhone climbers, here’s the highest-ranked of the four.
Classic eBay shopper behavior: this happens every time the latest iPhone comes out. The newest will make Amazon’s Top 20; meanwhile, the previous four models soar into eBay’s Top 20. Notably, in this month’s Top 20 all four have September CTRs below 50%. Which also seems to be a defining feature of this phenomenon. Tire kickers?
Who knows; we have our theories. What we do know is plenty of products trending on eBay show more promising purchase intent. So let’s move on to those, shall we?
Roundup! eBay trending searches with 70%+ CTRs now
Here for ideas of what to sell on eBay? Then this is for you! Using our latest full month of data, we’ve calculated which Top 500 keywords have the highest monthly CTRs. Whatever their 12-mo Average CTRs, these products should be what’s selling best on eBay now.
Before we begin, our usual word to the wise. Some of these items may violate eBay’s terms of use, or are otherwise prohibited. And some are just tricky. For instance, most trademarked products are okay to resell there, but listings need to comply with eBay guidelines. Or you might have to jump through extra hoops (e.g., the Authenticity Guarantee process). So, especially if you’re new to a niche, please take a good look before you leap.
Ranking #1 through #100
Note: For better readability, we’ll only shout out a handful of individual CTRs. All qualifiers will have at least 70% for the month. And as you’ll see, eBay CTRs even that high are exceptional.
Indeed, it’s not uncommon for there to be no qualifiers in eBay’s Top 20. In June and July, newcomer phenom “grow a garden” was the only Top 20 search to make those Roundups. Then in August, none did. But September has one; as mentioned, it’s #18 steal a brainrot with 110% for the month.
Moving on to the rest of the Top 100, the next qualifier is #41 ps4. Let’s take a quick look.
#41 “ps4;” September CTR: 137%
This is of course the Sony PlayStation 4. Launched in November 2013, production has ceased in a lot of places. The latest standard model, the PlayStation 5, came out November 12, 2020. Sony is set to phase out PS4 services for new games in Spring 2026. While some new PS4 consoles may still be available in some markets, the era of PS4 is ending.
As you can see, “ps4” has an Avg. CTR of 62%; that’s higher than average for eBay. Last year, searches began to climb in September and peaked in January. If you have any to sell, now looks like the time; its resale value is expected to continue to drop.
Resuming our Roundup, the next qualifiers are #53 ps5 controller; #57 xbox 360; and #65 camera. As it’s had in recent months, “camera” has a monthly CTR of 150%. We featured it and related camera gear in July’s Roundup. The final qualifier in this month’s Top 100 is #76 5070 ti.
From #101-200
The first here is #111 apple watch ultra 2. And it’s well worth a look.
#111 “apple watch ultra 2;” September CTR: 135%
“Apple watch ultra 2” is at its 15-mo high right now. Year on Year, it’s up a worthy 16%. But Month on Month, it’s up by 93%! Quite a good Avg. CTR, and its current purchase intent is superb. Apple has since released a new model, the Apple Watch Ultra 3; the Ultra 2 is now discontinued. Clearly, it’s still a popular product.
Back on the Roundup, the next qualifiers are #114 car; #117 quest 3 and #130 ipad pro. There are only three here: #141 new 3ds xl; #176 grow a garden and #194 evolving skies booster box.
Ranking #201-300
Slow start; the first qualifier is #227 rx 580. Then we have #236 bike; #241 new 3ds and #253 borderlands 4. Since the latter has the highest monthly CTR of this hundred, let’s pause here for a look.
#253 “borderlands 4;” September CTR: 96%
Borderlands 4 is a role-playing first-person shooter game developed by Gearbox Software. A sequel to Borderlands 3, this was just released in September. That spike shows it overcame its glitch-ridden launch to make the top eBay trending searches. And its high CTR scores tell us it’s selling.
As for the rest of the qualifiers in the Top 300, at #260-261 are gengar and fortnite account. Skip two and there’s another pair, laptop gaming and robux. The last three are #278 3090 ti; #281 logitech g29 and #284 gaming monitor.
Next, ranked #301-400
First we have #303 pokemon card, then #306 ps3 console. Since it’s another PlayStation search with a high CTR, let’s take a peek while we’re here.
#306 “ps3 console;” September CTR: 128%
We see people opining on social media that PS3 is still a great console in 2025. Maybe they’re helping drive this sudden burst in purchase intent? Because it had just 45% for August, and 53% is a lackluster Avg. CTR, too. September’s 128% could be a fluke.
Influencers have been known to cause single-month spikes in monthly CTRs. As can other fleeting factors. That’s why it’s prudent to consider both the 12-mo and the current month’s CTRs. On the other hand, the PS3 console does have many loyal fans.
Back on our Roundup, next up are #310 2ds xl; #313 ds lite; #335 gamecube console. Then #341 samsung galaxy s22 ultra; #354 desk; #360 switch oled; #365 nikon and #380 mercedesbenz. Yep, the latter is all one word. And it’s got a 150% CTR for the month. Let’s go see what we can see, shall we?
#380 “mercedesbenz;” September CTR: 150%
We dropped that keyword as-is into eBay search and by George, all the top results were car listings. We thought maybe they would be insignia or gas caps or merch. Yes, we know cars have been among the most longstanding of eBay trending searches. But we don’t recall seeing any particular brand make a Roundup before. Huh.
Next on this Roundup is #389 ps4 pro, then the pair at #396-397: gtx 1080 and essentials hoodie.
Finally, ranked #401-500
First off here is a pair, #411-412 nintendo ds lite and oculus quest 2, then at #415: brooks. For the next, we need to leapfrog ahead to #424 for ps vita 2000. And then again for #443 samsung s23 ultra. Only two more qualifiers for this month: #446 nintendo 2ds and #449 desktop. We hope some of these prove to be profitable leads for you!
We’ll be back in a week with October’s trends!
Meanwhile, here are September’s trend reports for Amazon and Etsy.
As always, we love hearing what you think. Got questions or suggestions? You’re welcome to join us in eRank’s private Facebook group. With over 29,000 members from around the world, someone friendly is always up and about. And don’t miss our weekly live Q&As on YouTube, where you’ll also find dozens of eRank tutorials, demos and more! Like TikTok? We’ve got lots of fun how-tos there, and here we are on Threads.
RESOURCES: eRank’s Trend Buzz and Keyword Tool have 15 months of data to gauge recent eBay trends and spot what’s new. Get related keywords, click data, and compare several platforms at once to learn where shoppers are for what you sell. Together, these tools are the best way to track eBay trending searches.
