Estimates based on Salesranks
As with the Niche Analyzer, the sales in the product detector are based the respective product's salesrank in a main category.
Unlike the Niche Analyzer though, which is live, the detector is a huge database with currently still irregular update cycles. The product's salesrank that is used for the sale estimate can therefore be a few weeks/months old.
Inspiration for sellable products
Even if the salesrank is not up to date, the product nontheless definitely had a certain salesrank at one point (salesranks are updated on an hourly basis by Amazon).
A product with a good salesrank in the detector can therefore generally be expected to have sales potential, but you will want to check how the potential currently looks like in our Niche Analyzer.