Submitted by: kirkland on Wednesday October 25th, 2006 at 10:33 PM EST

Auction Inspector representative, Pat Davenport, says Auction Inspector addresses a strong need in the eBay seller community. "Like any other retail business, eBay is subject to the laws of supply and demand. Many sellers are beginning to shy away from highly saturated markets, such as those for traditional goods like DVDs, cellphones and mp3 players. They are instead trying to find niches where the competition is less fierce," says Davenport.

Auction Inspector identifies potentially profitable niches by examining eBay’s "Want It Now" section, where shoppers post requests for hard-to-find products. Auction Inspector searches for frequently mentioned items and compares the number of requests with the number of responses from sellers. Items which are frequently requested but receive few replies from sellers are deemed to have high "potential" as a niche product.

Davenport cites baby strollers as one niche revealed by Auction Inspector. "Baby strollers aren’t something that immediately springs to mind when you’re thinking of things to sell on eBay, but the demand is huge. Almost everyone who has a baby will be in the market for a baby stroller, and young families looking to save money without compromising quality will look on eBay. If a seller had access to a baby stroller wholesale supplier or a source of second-hand strollers, then this could be a very lucrative niche for that seller."

Auction Inspector is also being marketed as a tool for finding emerging trends in the eBay marketplace, and for comparing the market for goods across different eBay sites.

"Because Auction Inspector can search eBay U.S., eBay U.K., eBay Canada and eBay Australia sites, users are able to see how the demand for a product differs between these countries," says Davenport. "If you were already selling well in the U.S. and thinking of expanding into Canada, it’s very easy to see if your products have a viable market before you dive in. This gives users the confidence to expand their businesses."

Auction Inspector is available for download by Clicking here