Selling Issues And Tips

[whotoldya]

One of our members asked for us to create this category.

[agnessrainn]

I would be curious to know if people list only on certain days ... or plan on auctions to end on certain days.  I list only Mon thru Fri ... I would like to see al my auctions end on the weekend ... that way my husband gets in on the fun of watching auctions end ... but I get carried away and will list all I have in one day.

Kate

[whotoldya]

We don't auction any more. Have a store. But back when we did auctions we seemed to best putting most of them on Sunday nights. 😄

[Anonymous]

Years ago I read a book about selling on eBay. It said Saturday and Sunday were the best days to list. I think it has more to do with what you are selling. I've had a lot of success selling late Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights.

I also pay attention to what time of year it is, what's on TV, whether or not people are riding and a lot of other very specific things that would influence when my buyers would be bidding.

I've also had much more success with auctions. I closed my eBay store last year but even when it was open, I'd put items up for auction before I put them in the store.

[whotoldya]

We was doing the same thing watching what was on tv and other side effects.

Real hard for me to do auctions any more. Miss them actually they are exciting and draw lots of people.

May try one this weekend see if I can do it. If you saw me you'd understand. Sure happy to see our group doing so well here.

Thank you for being members 

Dances With Birds,

DWB

[lehman-parker]

I've shied away from doing auctions mostly. But with the current promotion for store owners, I've gone auction crazy!

Since there's no upfront cost, I moved most of my store inventory  to 1-day auctions, spreading their start times out from  early afternoon to late evening. And then I'm relisting them every day as the unsold ones roll off. I currently have about 150 auctions going.

Much to my surprise, I'm getting a really nice increase in sales volume. It's keeping me hopping to get emails, shipping, and relistings done, but I don't mind a bit.

For anyone who has a store and hasn't been taking advantage of the promotion, you might want to try it out.

[agnessrainn]

Congrats on the hard work starting to pay off ... of course it is more work but it is money in the bank!  Good luck with your continued sales.

Kate

[lehman-parker]

Thanks, Kate. 🙂

[xcergy]

Terapeak is your friend here, as well as eBay search/completed listings.  There is no 'one size fits all' ending listing time.  Product research will tell you the best ending time. For some items, I got great results for Sunday, 9am, which was purchased in another part of the world in a different time zone.

[xcergy]

I have had decent results listing w the store special auctions (free) that last till the end of the month.  I set them for 3 days listings and relist like crazy. I'm in clearance mode (40% off ) for 'dead' inventory, but at least I'm getting a bump in cash flow to pay bills this month.

TY eBay for the help. You saved me $50 in inserton fees w this listing special.

[lehman-parker]

I didn't start running the 1-day auctions until last Friday. The results... in one week, I've sold as much (or more) than I've been doing recently in a whole month. With no insertion fees, and lower FVFs, too, than they would have been for stores.

I did lower some of my prices for the auctions, but in most cases only slightly. Plus some auctions had multiple bidders  which helped boost the average sold prices.

I would absolutely love if eBay would switch to free auctions all the time for everyone. I avoided using auctions because of the higher upfront cost and I haven't been in a position to take financial risks. Now I'm going to have to seriously think about what to do once the promotion is over.

-- Edited by lehman-parker at 03/23/2012 1:45 PM PDT

[agnessrainn]

Congrats Pat on your sales ... your hard work paid off!

I don't have a store so get to take advantage of the 50 free listings per month.  And of course whenever they slip in a free day.

Kate

[lehman-parker]

Thanks, Kate. 🙂

I have a second ID that I use for buying, and keep thinking I should use it for some things I'd like to get rid of (like extra shipping supplies) that don't really fit in my store. Plus when there's no promo going, having the 50 free auction listings would be nice.

[agnessrainn]

This isn't really an issue or a tip but more a buyer beware ... I went to a "foreclosure" sale ... spent about $20 thinking I was helping someone meet their financial needs ... as well as give me some interesting things to sell.  Well, the laugh was on me when I started researching and found several of the items I bought  had been listed prior and didn't sell ... when I read their bio ... it said they cleaned out foreclosure homes and sold the stuff on ebay.  What they don't sell they list as a 'foreclosure' sale ... well, all I can say is ... fool me once ...

Kate

[lehman-parker]

Aw, that's a bummer, Kate. Very unethical of the seller!