Does this ever happen anymore?
Remember the good ol' days when, randomly, you would list something online & see it sell within an hour? Does this happen for anyone in these competitive times? Last time I saw it happen was, I believe, in 2020. Although, I do not think it was within an hour. I think it was 3-4 hours. It was a treat to buy an item for $75, post it for sale & have it sold for $350-400 after only 2+ hours. Now, it seems, we are lucky to even get a view after 3 hours. lol Any positive stories to share? 🙂
2 things I remember best : 1) A friend, who also sells on eBay, tried selling board games that were related to video games. After a few months, he brought them to the Sunday flea market & sold them to me for $80 Cdn. Warning me how he tried here & did not have any luck. On the same evening of that Sunday, I sold one of them $120 US. 🙂
2) The same friend, for an unknown reason, sold me a fantastic item for $75 Cdn. A 1960s Blackhawks jersey that was torn & had blood stains. Genuine, game-used vintage jersey. I sold it on the same afternoon for about $350 US. To this day, I do not know why he did not want to make that profit for himself. Those days are long gone. 😞
inhawaii
·1 year agoJust for fun, list a brand new Playstaion5 for $100 and free shipping.
I bet it will sell in under an hour.
sakic92710
OP1 year agoSend me one & I'll try your experiment. 🤣
adamcartwright
·1 year ago@sakic92710
Yes, last night I sold something in less than 5 minutes and last month, in less than an hour.
They were both priced competitively, so I didn't regret the pricing.
meme6253
·1 year agoIt happens for me from time to time, But it hasn't for awhile, Probably about 6 months ago was the last it happened.
luckythewinner
·1 year agoRemember the good ol' days when, randomly, you would list something online & see it sell within an hour? Does this happen for anyone in these competitive times?
I listed a piece of Rock and Roll memorabilia last month and it sold for about $200 in a couple hours.
But isn't that a sign that you under-priced something?
jonathanbrightlight
·1 year agoOf the 62 items we listed yesterday, 4 of them sold the same day. It's not usually that many, but it's not at all uncommon. On our spreadsheet, I see 146 items that took 0 days to sell in approximately the past 6 months of listings.
fbusoni
·1 year agoI subscribe to a free online service that sends me an email whenever a new listing appears on eBay with a given word or phrase in the title. I assume millions of others use the same service.
adamcartwright
·1 year ago@fbusoni
I have a few saved searches with notifications enabled, but that's through eBay, not a third party.
dhbookds
·1 year ago@liawri-75 didn't you post you are restricted in selling because of violations?
liawri-75
·1 year agoNot me, not anymore. Everything is saturated and Ebay is not "free market". EB micromanages accounts, penalizes, etc. etc. so if you have a listing that will sell because of all the barriers EB puts up you can't sell.
I've moved on.
pickapaper
·1 year agoI've had quite a few of those "quick sells" on eBay over the years. Usually I worry that I sold the item too cheap but my DH always tells me, "you got the money that you wanted, now someone else can worry about it".
dirk12955
·1 year agoLast time that happened? I listed a $20.00 sheet of stamps for $2.00 with "Free" shipping
johnrj1226
·1 year agoNo an on line event. Was at Goodwill looking for stuff for our Grandson 6+ y.o. mainly an 18" bike in decent shape with training wheels . As I came up to bike area an employ came holding a nice shiny cool looking BMX style look very unused, he set it down , snatched up, looked at the price tag - was $4.09 - picked it up,put it in my shopping cart in less than 5 **New York seconds. Headed to the cashier and got it for $3.21 - it was senior discount day - 25% off plus ST Walmart carries the same make & model for $98.00 + tax.
Like I like to say - some days you are a diamond, others just a chunk of coal re John Anderson.>>>>>>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v ** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_0cT4rVQik
chapeau-noir
·1 year agoHe's right - and it doesn't necessarily follow that a quick sell is because a seller under-priced something. On a site with two billion listings, 130 million buyers and 20 bazillion sellers (the last two categories being human beings and thus subject to any sort of twitch), it could be anything.
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·1 year agoYes, had this happen just a few days ago.
I listed a wig at around 1:15 and it sold around 4:30
johnrj1226
·1 year agoIncreases in eBay sellers; other on line venues, , like Goodwill, big A, retail stores sites (e.g.Walmart, Home Depot etc; the price gaps between retail stores and eBay was shrinking dues to higher shipping label costs, sales tax added etc. Those "good ole days are gone. Gotta' role with the flow and adjust for the future - what where hot sellers yesterday the demand has dwindled for a variety of reasons - quality, not "pop" any more -re Coach, Brighton leather goods, 7 for all man kind etc. Sellers need to differentiate themselves by offering "top shelf" or customer services" as viewed by the buyer not by the sellers point of view. As far as customer service goes -it ain't too good in all those retail stores I goo to. Have noticed the our Local Home Depot has most recently returned to a more positive & helpful shopping experience like they used to back in '96 time period but got away from - I shopped ACE for most of my stuff they are also top shelf even at higher prices. Lowes has been doing for a longer time and is kicking HDs butt. I do keep my do not buy from lists current.- on line & B & M
farnorthsid
·1 year agoI sold a TI-84 calculator a few years ago in less than 30 seconds after listing it. That was my fastest one.
johnrj1226
·1 year agoYeah some unique events do happen once in a "Blue Moon" --- but some people will always try to make one think that every time they come home from Vegas with pockets full of money too.
Had it happen 1 time out of 1665 shipments >>> here is my story - bought an old Polaroid Land camera (almost big as a loaf of bread and heavy in decent condition for1 buck sold it within seconds after listing it for $154.00 + ~$13.50 flat rate shipping. -- that was 4 bucks more than the one I found sold for on eBay - was able to ship it the same day (had 1 day handling) - buyer was happy- some days a diamond - other days just a chunk of coal - that's the life of a peddler - my real career over 41.5 years. - eBay was just fun selling after hanging up the spurs,
PS: Still trying to catch a freshwater fish over 6.5 lbs - steel head on an ultralight "Ugly Stick", Mitchell, open face spinning real with 4lb. test line. Gave that set up to or 6.5 yo Grandson 3 years ago..
chapeau-noir
·1 year agoOnce years ago someone purchased all of my listings - every single one. I was selling books and my restored vintage hats and had about 25 items up. When I checked my listings I thought something had happened, because there were no active listings!
It was a challenge packing books and hats. I finally ended up with one box of books and several boxes of hats - in those days eBay didn't hover over you like an old disapproving grandpa and I just let my buyer know how her stuff was coming to her.
Also, I used to sell stuff in the dead of night and chat with buyers then - I worked evenings and after getting off work at 10 pm it was a 15 mile or so bike ride home, so I'd be trying to wind down by doing a little eBay business. Sometimes I chatted with international customers.
Yeah, I do miss those days. It has become so dayumed daily now.
cardsforauction
·1 year agoYes, sounds about right 2020. I listed something and for me it sold in 12 hours and I could not believe it. Right now, it seems tough to get views and sales as you said.
mommaknows
·1 year ago@cardsforauction
This happened to me a week or two ago. It was not a substantial sale, but it sold within an hour or two. I was doing my happy dance in my livingroom, not to be confused with Momma needed medical attention. It felt good. I actually mentioned it here.
I'm just grateful to be making a bit here and there and enjoying it.
marchair
·1 year agoI had it happen on April 2, or pretty close. I listed something at 4:13 PM. Came back to list something else and the first item was already sold, at 5:36 PM. I just about choked! It was scarce enough that I couldn't find much in sold prices for comparison. So I listed it for a few dollars more than the only one I found had sold for. Either my price was too low or someone had been especially searching for one.
reallynicestamps
·1 year agoNot since the 13th of March, 2025. The one before that was the 31st of January.
Both sold within an hour of listing.
I list from three to 10 items pretty well every day.
I may have had others, but those two I actually noted in my daybook, because I didn't have time to file them after listing before they sold.
onefootflipper
·1 year agoI sell stuff in the first day or two pretty frequently. When it sells instantly all I can think of is that I underpriced it.
a_c_green
·1 year agoIn my buying account recently, I snagged a repair part for about 1/5th of its typical selling price. The seller had copied someone else's description for a similar but much less valuable component without checking to see whether he had that one or the more expensive one. Honestly, he could have just Googled the stamping on the side for an accurate ID. He didn't, and I bought it about 43 minutes after the listing went up.
I was just lucky; it probably would have gone to someone else within an hour or two anyway. This is why I only go into the Sold listings if I'm researching a price on something specific. Browsing the Sold listings just to kill time is heartbreaking when you start noticing all the killer deals that you missed. 😧
1786davycrockett
·1 year agoNot as often as I would like it to happen; but often enough to make me scratch my head.
And usually for no rhyme nor reason. For instance, within hours of listing a particular edition of the book REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE (by Carson McCullers), it sells -- while other similar editions (nearly identical) from other sellers have been sitting on eBay for months.
The only thing to which I can attribute the fast sale, is my wording in the 80-character title line, where I described the hidden gay life of one of the main characters on the Army base where the story takes place.
Once again showing the value of choosing the right words in that 80-character title line!
fbusoni
·1 year ago@1786davycrockett
Thanks for highlighting this.
I recall a thread started by @gurlcat in which there was some discussion of the title line.
How a seller uses those 80 characters seems to me to be critical.
When I wrote for a living, we had a team of people whose job was to come up with the headline for the essay in question.
That's all they did.
gator08041971
·1 year ago@sakic92710
Actually this happens a lot for me.
I often list an item and have it sell the same day I listed it, and very often within the first few hours. Other items can take longer too though, and that's perfectly fine.
But I'm with @ekmadonna
If it sells too fast, you probably priced it too low to start with. LOL
yuzuha
·1 year agoSame here. It's very common for my crane game prizes to go out the door before I ever even get the chance to take them out to my storage unit after listing them.
ekmadonna
·1 year agoHappens all the time. Anytime you sell something that fast and I have had things sell within 5-10 minutes I know I left money on the table!
sakic92710
OP1 year agoI felt the same way when it happened. lol
sakic92710
OP1 year agoMy best day was when I withdrew $2000 to buy 1968 hockey coins. 2 of them were short prints. I sold the 2 SPs the same day, the $2000 went back into my bank acct. the next day & I still had many more to sell. 🙂 Those fun days of buying are long gone. 😞 Fortunately, I have PLENTY to sell to keep me busy for the rest of my life! 🤣