Questions, answered plainly.

Windows 10 or 11, an eBay US seller account and your own free eBay developer keys. Sellhelm carries its own runtime, so there is nothing else to install. Google Chrome is needed for the extension, which 14 built-in shops depend on. The setup guide has every step.

eBay issues developer keys to one seller and does not allow sharing them. Using your own also keeps your eBay usage limits yours alone. It takes about 15 minutes, is free, and Sellhelm's Settings page walks you through every click, including the account-deletion question eBay asks.

Install and activation take a few minutes. Connecting eBay is the long step, about 15 minutes, because you create your own developer keys (eBay can take up to a day to approve a brand-new developer account). After that, adding and pricing a product takes a couple of minutes.

Not on a Mac - Sellhelm is a Windows 10 and 11 program. For eBay UK, switch country at the top of the page: the UK edition has its own suppliers and its own fee and VAT sums built for UK sellers. This is the US edition, built for eBay US: prices in dollars, eBay US's fees and US tax estimates.

No. You can start from an empty shop and add products from supplier links. If you already sell, one press of Sync with eBay brings your live listings in as products with watching switched off; you then add each one's supplier page and turn on Watch.

Sellhelm is a tool, and how you use it is up to you, so your eBay account is your own responsibility. eBay makes its own decisions, so nothing here is a guarantee. Sellers who run things properly are the least likely to have trouble: accurate listings, honest shipping times, orders placed promptly, questions answered, and refunds and replacements sorted quickly. Sellhelm is built to help you do that: it holds big price jumps for your approval, never lists anything without your say-so, and keeps your listings and orders in one place.

Open the Start menu, then Sellhelm, then "Set up the Chrome extension": Sellhelm walks you through it, with buttons that open Chrome's extensions page and the right folder, and a box that turns green when it works. Or follow the step-by-step guide.

Open Windows Settings, go to Apps, find Sellhelm and choose Uninstall (or use Uninstall Sellhelm in the Start menu). It asks whether to delete your data too: keep it if you may reinstall. Then remove the extension from Chrome. See updating and removing.

Yes. Sellhelm 4 was first built for eBay UK, and the US edition is newer: the same program, with eBay US's fees, dollars and US tax pages. Because it is newer, 32 US supplier shops have their own proven reader so far, against 71 for the UK edition, and more are added one at a time. Any shop with an ordinary product page can still be pasted in.

You choose the return you want on what you spend, 25% by default. Sellhelm solves for the eBay price after the final value fee and the per-order fee, starting from eBay US's standard business-seller rates, which are settings you can change. eBay collects and pays the sales tax on your sales itself, so it is not part of the sum. See how pricing works.

You choose: every 30 minutes up to every 24 hours, four hours by default, with quiet hours if you want them. You can also check everything at any moment with one button.

Automatic checks run while Sellhelm is running on your PC. It runs quietly with a small icon by the clock, and Setup can start it for you whenever you sign in to Windows. The Chrome extension only reads its shops while Chrome is open. If your PC is off, nothing is checked, and it catches up when you next start it.

When a supplier's price would move your eBay price by more than your limit (25% unless you change it), Sellhelm does not send it. It holds the change on the Products page with the old and new figures and a Send it now link. A stock-out is still sent while a price is held, so you never sell something you cannot get.

Not on its own. When a supplier sells out Sellhelm sets the quantity to 0, and it first reads eBay's out-of-stock setting. If that setting is off, quantity 0 would end the listing, so Sellhelm holds the change and tells you how to switch the option on. Only the Remove button ends a listing, and it asks first.

Then nothing happens to that listing. Sellhelm never acts on a reading it does not understand, and it flags the product so you can look. If too many pages fail at once it sends nothing at all.

32 shops have their own reader so far - including Amazon, Best Buy, Costway, Home Depot, IKEA, Lowe's, Walmart and Wayfair, plus eBay.com's own listings through eBay's API - and any other shop with an ordinary product page can be pasted: Sellhelm tries the page's own structured data, data its platform (Shopify, WooCommerce and others) already holds, and, if nothing else finds a price, another copy of the page. New shops are added one at a time, only once each has been proven on real pages. The suppliers page shows how shops are read.

Yes. Paste any product page and Sellhelm tries several ways to read it: the page's own structured data, data many shop-building platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce and others) already hold, and, if nothing else finds a price, another copy of the same page such as a mobile version. If the shop still refuses Sellhelm, the Chrome extension can read it after one click of permission. Shops nothing can read may need a reader written; ask from your account.

It combines eBay's own suggestion with its own matching against eBay's category list, and shows you the result to change. Fee rates follow the category chosen.

eBay allows it where you are responsible for the item, your listing is accurate, and you meet eBay's shipping and returns rules. Some ways of sourcing are not allowed. You are responsible for following eBay's rules and each supplier's terms of use, because some shops forbid automated reading, and product photos and text belong to their owners.

Not automatically. Sellhelm reads what a supplier's page publishes, but the rights to those photos and words belong to someone. Check you may use what you list.

Two tools for deciding what to sell. Competitor research reads any eBay seller's whole shop with eBay's own sold figures, then finds the supplier behind each winner, with proof. Product research works the other way round: it searches your suppliers by category, checks eBay for demand and ranks what is worth selling.

Yes. In Competitor research, "Sold items only" reads eBay's own "Sold items" filter on a seller's shop, so you see only what has really sold, with the date it last sold. eBay shows that view only to someone signed in, so the browser Sellhelm uses must be signed in to eBay; if it is not, Sellhelm says so and gives you a "Sign in to eBay" button.

Both come with Sellhelm and both are included in every pack. Reading a whole seller shop never uses a credit. A credit is spent only when the AI is put to work: when Competitor research finds a supplier for a listing, when Product research sends a product that passed your price, profit and demand rules to the AI photo check (one credit, whatever the AI decides), or when you press an AI button in a draft: the title writer (one credit), the description writer (one credit) or the studio main photo (one credit, given back when none of the photographs is suitable). Nothing is spent when a hunt finds nothing, or when your own rules turn a product away. Your pack comes with credits to start, and you can top up on the pricing page if you need more.

It is eBay's own lifetime figure for that listing, read from the listing's page, because eBay does not publish a last-30-days figure. In Product research, eBay shows how many sold in 90 days only to someone signed in to eBay in the browser Sellhelm uses; when it is not shown, demand is judged from watchers and sales on the listings, and the page says so.

No. A verdict is evidence, not a guarantee. It tells you the profit on a sale, the return and how much demand there appears to be, against thresholds you set yourself. Use it to decide what is worth a closer look.

Everything Sellhelm reads on a seller's shop is on public eBay pages that anyone can open. It does not sign in to anyone's account and never touches a seller's listings. What you do with what you learn is up to you, and you are responsible for following eBay's rules and for not copying a seller's photos or words.

Only when you ask it to find a supplier for a competitor's listing: that listing's title and picture address (and its barcode or part number where it has one), so our website can search the web for you, and your license so the credit can be counted. Your own products, prices, orders and buyers are never sent. Checking a seller's shop sends nothing to us. Product research is covered under your data and privacy, below.

One license lets Sellhelm run on one Windows PC. Solo has one license, Pair two and Crew five. You can use them on different PCs in your business. A license limits the computer, not the eBay accounts: on each PC you can run as many eBay accounts as you like.

Buy, create a password on the thank-you page, install Sellhelm, and copy the Machine ID from its Activate screen into your account. Your key appears there, and is emailed to you (if that email does not arrive, look in your spam or junk folder). Paste it into the Activate box.

A reinstall or new PC gives a new Machine ID. Moving is free and you do it yourself: in Sellhelm, Settings > Moving to a new computer saves everything to one file; then the Revoke button gives the license back for free, so it is free to use again in your account. Paste the new computer's Machine ID there, enter the key on the new computer and bring your file across. Giving the old license back does not use up a move; putting it on the new computer is what counts as one of your two moves. After two moves, open a support request and we will help. If the old computer is broken or gone, skip the Revoke button and just paste the new Machine ID in your account.

No. Settings > Moving to a new computer saves your products, drafts, listing designs, prices and price history, orders, books and settings, and your eBay connection if you check the box, into one file. On the new computer, enter your key and press "Bring my data across from a file". Nothing is deleted from the old computer.

A little, and never about your own shop. Sellhelm connects to our website in these situations: when you enter a license key, if you choose "Revoke this license" (each sends the key, this computer's Machine ID and the program version), about once a day when it downloads a public, signed list of canceled licenses so a refunded copy stops working, every half hour or so while it is running it asks our website to renew the license (the same three things: the key, this computer's Machine ID and the program version), which is how a canceled license stops working, when it downloads our public list of eBay VeRO brand names, when Product research sends a product to the AI photo check (or you press the AI title writer, the AI description writer or the AI main photo button) and search credits are counted (your license key, this computer's Machine ID, the market and a reference for the product, never the product's details, your prices or your shop), and, only if you use Competitor research to find a supplier, when it asks our website to search the web for the competitor's listing you chose. If it cannot connect, Sellhelm carries on until its current license renewal runs out (14 days; 2 days for a free account), then asks you to connect to the internet.

Yes, as many as you like, on every PC. Each account is kept completely apart (its own products, prices, orders, books and eBay sign-in, in its own currency), so a furniture shop, a toy shop and an eBay US shop can sit side by side on one license. You switch between them in two clicks, and the start page lists every account with what needs attention first. Each account can also have its own Chrome profile, so your accounts are never signed in to eBay side by side.

Each license runs its own copy with its own data, so two PCs on one eBay account would each watch and change listings independently. That is fine for separate shops or a team that splits the work, but not two copies on the same listings. You can move your data between PCs with "Save everything to a file" under Settings > Moving to a new computer.

Every 4.x update is included and appears in your account to download. Update by downloading the new Setup and running it; it replaces the program and keeps your data and your eBay sign-in. If a future major version ever needs a new license, you will be told before anything changes, and the version you have keeps working.

No. You pay once. There are no per-listing fees and no monthly charge for Sellhelm. The one exception is the optional Tracking & auto orders add-on (a one-off setup and a monthly price, cancel any time). You never need it: without it you order from your suppliers and add tracking to your eBay orders by hand.

Tell us within 14 days and we refund you in full. Your licenses are then canceled and you uninstall the program. US law gives you no automatic right to cancel an online purchase, so this is our own guarantee, and it applies to everyone. The refund policy has the detail.

No, but there is a 14-day money-back guarantee, which is a better test: you use it on your own real shop and, if it is not for you, you get every penny back.

No. Payment is taken in a secure card form run by Stripe. Your card details never reach this website.

It does not promise profit or sales, and nothing honest can. What it does is prevent the avoidable losses: selling below cost after a supplier price rise, and selling things your supplier has run out of. The rest is your products and your marketing.

eBay collects and pays the sales tax on eBay sales itself, so it is not in your sales figure and there is no sales-tax return for eBay sales. Sellhelm's Finances estimates federal income tax, self-employment tax and a flat percentage for your state, shows the four estimated-payment dates (April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15), and notes eBay's Form 1099-K reporting (over $20,000 and 200 sales). These are estimates, not tax advice, so check them with an accountant.

No data about your own shop, ever. Its database stays in a folder on your PC, and it talks to eBay and your supplier shops. The messages to us are about your license (the key and Machine ID when you activate or revoke it, a daily download of the list of canceled licenses, and a renewal of the license about every half hour while it runs) a daily download of our public VeRO brand list, a credit count when Product research runs its AI photo check on a product or you use the AI title writer (your license and a reference for the product, never its details, your prices or your shop) and, only if you use Competitor research to find a supplier, the title and picture address of the competitor's listing you chose, so our website can search the web for it, sent with your license so the search credit can be counted. Your products, prices, orders and buyers are never sent. There is no Sellhelm account inside the program and no analytics. See how your data is handled.

No. Names and addresses are read from eBay when you open an order, shown on screen and never saved. That is also what lets you truthfully tell eBay you do not persist their data.

Sellhelm keeps a backup every day and before anything risky, in its data folder. Export everything writes one file that restores onto a fresh install, so copy one somewhere safe now and then. Your eBay keys are left out of Export everything. The file for Moving to a new computer includes them only if you check the box, so treat that file like a password.

No. It runs only on the shop pages you have allowed and on Sellhelm's own page on your computer. The one exception is reselling another seller's eBay listing as a supplier: with no eBay keys saved, it can open that public eBay item page, never your eBay account or session. It refuses to open eBay account pages, addresses on your own network and anything that is not an ordinary public website, and it never tries to solve a captcha.

This is normal, and it does not mean Sellhelm is unsafe. Windows shows it for any new program that is not code-signed yet, and we are still developing Sellhelm and adding to it, so we have not bought a signing certificate yet. Click "More info", then "Run anyway". See what it looks like. Each download page shows the file's SHA-256 so you can confirm it is genuine.

Sellhelm carries its own copy of Node.js so you install nothing else, and some antivirus tools are cautious of that. Add the install folder to the allowed list, or send us the name of the warning through your account.

Stop Sellhelm (right-click its icon by the clock), delete the file panel-lock.json in its data folder, and start it again. Nothing else is touched.

The setup guide covers the usual suspects, from a port already in use to an activation that says "different computer". Still stuck? Buyers can open a support request from their account and attach Sellhelm's support report.