eBay sold vs completed listings: what's the difference
"Completed" and "sold" listings are not the same thing on eBay. Here is the difference, and why you almost always want sold-only data for pricing.
People use "completed" and "sold" interchangeably, but on eBay they mean different things, and mixing them up will skew any price you calculate.
Completed listings
A completed listing is any listing that has ended, whether it sold or not. That includes auctions that got no bids and Buy It Now listings that expired unsold. Completed data therefore contains a lot of prices that no buyer ever agreed to pay.
Sold listings
A sold listing is a completed listing that actually resulted in a transaction. The price on a sold listing is a real price a buyer paid. For valuation, pricing, and comps, this is the only data you should use.
Why the distinction matters
If you average completed listings, you fold in unsold asking prices, which are usually higher than market. Your "average" drifts upward and you overprice. Sold-only data keeps you honest.
The eBay Sold Listings API returns sold listings by default, so every price in the response is a real completed sale. You never have to filter unsold noise out yourself.
Are completed and sold listings the same?
No. Completed listings include everything that ended, sold or not. Sold listings are only the ones that resulted in a real purchase. Use sold-only data for pricing.
How far back does eBay sold data go?
eBay's own sold view typically covers roughly the last 90 days. The API returns recent completed sales for each keyword.
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