Last updated November 11, 2026
Why sold listings beat active listings
An active listing shows what a seller is hoping for. A sold listing shows what a buyer agreed to pay. If you price from active listings, you are copying other sellers' guesses, including the ones whose items have sat unsold for a year.
Sold listings answer three questions at once: what the item is worth, how often it sells, and which version of it sells best.
Find sold items on the eBay website
- Go to eBay and search for the item. Use specific keywords such as brand, model number, size, or edition.
- Scroll down the left sidebar to the section called Show only.
- Tick Sold Items. eBay ticks Completed Items for you at the same time.
- The results reload and show listings that ended in a sale, with the sold price in green.
You can also open Advanced search, next to the search button, and tick Sold items before you search.
Find sold items in the eBay app
- Search for the item.
- Tap Filter at the top of the results.
- Scroll to Show more and switch on Sold Items.
- Tap Show results.
Sold items and completed items are not the same
Completed Items includes every listing that ended, whether it sold or not. Sold Items includes only the ones that found a buyer. For pricing, Sold Items is the filter you want. Completed Items is still useful for one thing: comparing how many ended unsold tells you how hard the item is to move.
How far back sold listings go
The public Sold Items filter covers roughly the last 90 days. Anything older drops out of the results.
Sellers with access to Product Research in Seller Hub (the tool formerly called Terapeak) can look back further, up to three years according to eBay. Third-party research tools such as Bayed keep their own record of historical sold listings, which is why they can show trends that the 90 day filter cannot.
How to read the prices you find
Match the condition first
A new, sealed item and a used one with scratches are different products. Filter by condition before you look at prices, or compare only the listings that match yours.
Watch for Best Offer sales
When a sold price appears with a line through it, the seller accepted a Best Offer. The crossed-out figure is the original asking price, and the buyer paid less. Treat those listings as a ceiling, not as the sale price.
Use the median, not the highest sale
It is tempting to price at the best result on the page. Sort the sold prices, find the one in the middle, and start there. One lucky auction does not set the market.
Add shipping back in
A $40 sale with free shipping and a $30 sale plus $10 shipping cost the buyer the same. Compare total prices.
Check how many are for sale
Remove the Sold Items filter and note the number of active listings. Divide sold by active and you have the sell-through rate. Our sell-through rate calculator does the division and explains the result.
A worked example
Say you find a Canon AE-1 film camera at a yard sale for $40.
- The Sold Items filter shows 918 sales in 90 days.
- Filtered to used and working, the sold prices run from about $120 to $220, with the middle around $159.
- There are 1,996 active listings, so the sell-through rate is 46%.
That is a steady seller with plenty of competition. At $40 there is room for profit after fees and shipping, as long as you price near $159 and not at the $300 that hopeful sellers are asking. The figures here are an illustration, so check current sales before you buy.
The faster way
Doing this by hand takes a few minutes per item, and most of that time goes on arithmetic. Bayed runs the same lookup against live eBay data and historical sold listings, then shows the average, median, price range, sell-through rate, and demand trend on one screen.
Search sold listings with Bayed
Common questions
Why can I not see sold listings older than 90 days?
eBay's public sold filter only keeps about 90 days of results. For older sales you need Product Research in Seller Hub or a research tool that stores historical sold listings.
What does a green price mean on eBay?
In sold results, a green price means the listing ended with a sale at that price. A price with a line through it means a Best Offer was accepted for less than the amount shown.
Can I see who bought an item or what offer was accepted?
No. eBay does not show buyer details on other people's sales, and the public sold results do not reveal the accepted Best Offer amount.
How many sold listings do I need for a reliable price?
More is better, but ten or more recent sales in the same condition is a reasonable start. With only two or three sales, treat the price as a rough guide.