Wondering what the top shopper searches on eBay are now? Here at eRank, we’re back again to take the guesswork out of your eBay product research. We’ll show you the most popular search terms with eBay shoppers. Then we’ll analyze what these trending keywords tell us about what’s selling best on eBay now.
Reading time: 10 minutes
Tip: See what eBay’s top shopper searches were yesterday (or last week, or for the past thirty days), as well as on dozens of other marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon, and Google Shopping.
March’s Top 20 eBay searches
- ps5
- laptop
- iphone
- pokemon
- iphone 11
- iphone 12
- macbook
- nintendo switch
- iphone 14 pro max
- steam deck
- xbox series x
- 3080
- rolex
- 4090
- gaming pc
- macbook pro
- gaming laptop
- ssd
- psp
- iphone 13
We have been surprised by how little eBay’s top shopper searches change month to month. March’s top three keywords even have the identical rank they did last month. In fact, eBay’s No. 1 search for the past six months in a row hasn’t changed. In this way, it’s unlike Amazon and Etsy. For seven months, eBay’s Top 20 turnover rate has ranged between one and four.
By turnover, we mean keywords rising to the top that didn’t make the previous month’s Top 20. For our trend reports, we like to start with these “climbers” because we see what’s rising fastest, what’s hottest. And also, it indicates how stable current shopper searches are. Both Amazon and Etsy average around seven new each month. For them, having only four climbers would be shocking. But on eBay, four new Month on Month has been as high as it’s gotten.
All of which is to say, the top shopper searches on eBay have been far more predictable – until now.
eBay’s Top 20 climbers
Seven climbers: wow, we got excited! Here are March’s hottest keywords, listed with their current ranks first.
#5 iphone 11, up from #27
#6 iphone 12, up from #28
#7 macbook, up from #41
#13 rolex, up from #45
#14 4090, up from #24
#18 ssd, up from #61
#19 psp, up from #55
Ah, but then we had a root through eBay’s first quarter (Q1) data. Two of these were in Q1’s Top 20. And the other five ranked in Q1’s Top 50. So, really, all of these are frequent fliers in eBay’s recent top shopper searches.
But before we leave March’s Top 20, let’s check on the two notable climbers from last month’s report.
Update on eBay’s top shopper searches in February
February’s highest climber, #14 sony, had shot up from #233. This month, it’s retreated to #109, down and out of March’s Top 100. Which is not to say Sony’s not popular! Several Sony products make every eBay Top 20. It’s only the single-word search that we see less often. Maybe because it’s just too broad?
Another down and out keyword this month was last month’s freak “screamer.” (Our pet name for keywords that scream into the Top 20 after ranking nowhere in the previous month’s Top 1000.) This was “trump sneakers,” which shot out of nowhere to place sixth in February.
This month, “trump sneakers” plummeted to #414. Let’s take a quick peek at it in Keyword Tool, shall we?
These were a limited edition of 1000 pairs, which sold out within hours. Shortly thereafter, these $399 list price sneakers made their way to eBay’s flippers. According to Newsweek, one pair sold that was listed on eBay for over $450,000!
Which may be as thrilling as eBay gets all year: we’ll see! Meanwhile, let’s hunt through March’s top shopper searches for keywords with high click-through rates (CTRs). Because, as we’ve mentioned before: these help identify products with good “purchase intent.”
Click-through rates and purchase intent
New to selling online? We care about clicks because they are among the indicators signaling purchase intent. That is, how close to making a purchase decision a shopper is.
Say, Shopper A enters a keyword into search, then clicks on listings in those search results. This indicates interest in the product. Conversely, Shopper B enters the same keyword but doesn’t click on anything they see. This suggests Shopper B is still in the “just-browsing” stage.
A keyword’s CTR is the count of its clicks divided by the number of times it’s used to search.
So, let’s scroll through the rest of eBay’s most-searched items to spot which show the most purchase intent.
Top shopper searches with high CTRs
First though: as we’ve exclaimed in every eBay report so far, eBay’s click-through rates seem shockingly low. At least to those of us used to Etsy’s. But along with eBay’s stable turnover in its top shopper searches, that too seems to be the norm. Take, for example, eBay’s No. 1 “ps5.”
In January through March 2024, “ps5” was searched 584,400 times. It garnered 175,935 clicks. That’s a 30% CTR for Q1. For March alone, it works out to be just 14.5%!
Actually, only one of eBay’s Top 20 searches this month has a March CTR above 100%. It’s fourth-ranked “pokemon,” with a CTR of 108%.
No idea why clicks on “pokemon” soared so high on eBay in March (106,990 clicks on 98,700 searches). But they did, and so we know it can be done. Are you wondering what’s selling best on eBay now? Then come along as we go look for more keywords with purchase intent.
eBay’s top 300 shopper searches with CTRs over 100% in March
In order by rank, the next after #4 “pokemon” is #37 “xbox 360” with a 121% CTR. After that is #63 “roblox account” with 113%; then ranking #128 is “mac mini” with 136%. No idea what’s up with this one: #144 “buy ebay.” (Google suggests it’s most likely “buy ebay gift card” or “buy ebay account.”) Whatever it is has a CTR of 103%.
And that’s it for eBay’s Top 150 shopper searches in March: five keywords! By comparison, Amazon had 24. And Etsy had nine just in its Top 20! So let’s keep going.
Between ranks #150 and 200, there’s only one keyword with a CTR above 100%. Ranking #199, it’s “porsche 911” with a CTR of 127%. Then at #213, there’s another pokemon! It’s “pokemon emerald” with 128%. After that is #279 “psa 10” with 111%. And the only other one ranking above 300 is #297 “leica” with the highest CTR yet: 150%! Let’s take a quick break to see it in Keyword Tool.
#297 leica
Here’s the keyword with the highest click-through rate in eBay’s Top 300 shopper searches for March.
Hey, this is the first one we’ve looked at with a CTR that holds up when averaged over 12 months! (In case you’re on a small screen, leica’s Average CTR is 148%! Average searches per month, 21,293. Very nice indeed.)
Something else we noticed while we were in Keyword Tool? The uncommonly global distribution of eBay shoppers using this search.
That’s a smaller slice of the pie than we usually see the US get: just over 38%. About double that of the UK which has the second-largest portion. Then, each having about half the UK’s searchers are Germany and Australia with roughly 10% each. And next, each having just over half of theirs are France and Canada with around 6.5%. And Italy has about half of what each of them got: 3.2%. Other countries together share 5.7%.
The point of all that is how global the interest is in this shopper search on eBay. Got any Leica stuff?
Leica’s related searches
And here’s another surprise we got when we scrolled down the Keyword Tool page to see leica’s related searches.
These keywords are sorted by the Averages Searches column. They drop precipitously after “leica.” The next-highest is “leica be” with only 189 average searches. (Which actually were 2,270 searches all in one month last June.)
But what caught our eye here are the stats in the “Average CTR” column. After leica’s 148%, the next three have even higher Average CTRs. “Leica be” has 149%; “1986 leica” has 152%; so does “leica safari.”
For our purposes here, ignore these Averages Search counts. For whatever reason, each of these was a single-month spike. As mentioned, “leica be” had 2,270 searches in June; “1986 leica” had 260 in August; “leica safari” had 260 in September. Yes, low search volume. But based on CTRs, this is mad-high purchase intent!
Let’s return to our Top 1000 to see if we can find others like these but with higher search ranks.
More of eBay’s top shopper searches with CTRs over 100% in March
Resuming our review at keywords ranking above 300, the next is #322 “harley davidson.” For March, it’s got a CTR even higher than Leica’s: it’s 150%. But its 12-mo Average CTR is much lower: 61%. And yes, search volume has been up and down. Nevertheless, in 15 months its monthly low was 16,620: more than enough to rank in eBay’s Top 1000.
And like “leica,” global interest is high for this “harley davidson” too. And again the US has less of the pie than it usually hogs: only 38.9%. This time, the UK rides close behind with a 34.5% slice. France and Germany each have less than a third of the UK’s portion. Australia trails with 4%, and Other has 5.1%.
Next is #391 “zippo,” with 106%. Then we have “logitech g pro x superlight” ranked at #443 with a CTR of 132%. At #456 there is “tag heuer,” a luxury watches brand, with 133%. Finally, closing out the Top 500 shopper searches, in 499th place is “magic the gathering” with a CTR of 108%.
And that’s it for keywords with clicks exceeding search counts! Are you researching products to sell on eBay? We’d say to just bear in mind that eBay’s CTRs are typically much lower than Etsy’s and Amazon’s. Remember that even eBay’s No. 1, “ps5,” with 177,780 searches has a CTR of just 14% for March.
You know we could go on and on…
But we know you’re busy! When you do have the time, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Any theories on why eBay’s click-through rates are so low on their top shopper searches? Because we find it fascinating, spotting all the differences between eBay, Etsy, and Amazon. Speaking of: here are our latest monthly trend reports for Etsy and Amazon. We also have summaries of all these trend reports in video format on our YouTube channel.
And of course you’re always welcome to join us in eRank’s private Facebook group. With over 28,000 members from around the world, someone friendly is always around. Got questions or suggestions for us? Our weekly Q&As are live Thursdays on YouTube, where you’ll also find dozens of eRank tutorials, demos and more! And here we are on TikTok, featuring lots of quick how-tos.
RESOURCES: You can see eBay’s Top 100 keywords for the past 30 days, last week or yesterday in eRank’s Trend Buzz. Use Keyword Tool to see 15 months of historical search data to gauge recent 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 what’s hot right now with eBay shoppers.