eBay

bitsofsiliconvalley · ‎07-26-2017

What day and time is best for auctions to end, and why?

The answer probably depends on what you sell, as well as how you think. (I sell mostly small computer components.)

I currently end my auctions shortly after 7 PM, U.S. Pacific Time, on Wednesday. The date is based on my own schedule; the time is based on when I think people across the U.S. are most likely to have leisure to sit in on the end of an auction. All of this is based on theory; I haven't done any experiments to determine whether I'm right.

My schedule is changing, so the question's a real one for me. What do you think?

chiaretta · ‎07-26-2017

I see you allow international bidders.

7pm Pacific is 4am where I live.

Since I'm not a night owl I will likely set a sniper.

So go with your own schedule and adapt your handling time accordingly

fuzzface50 · ‎07-26-2017

With proxy bidding and all the sniper programs available it doesn't matter when the item ends if you sell what people want.

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎07-26-2017

Another consideration is the ability to search fine in your category. If there are few of your items or yours is distinctive then it's less important when the listing ends. People will find your item regardless.

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎07-26-2017

Depends what you mean by "people want". 100 people may want the item but if there are 200 items out there and yours is in the middle of the pack then you won't be seen unless you end when your target audience is watching.

The target audience and their Ebay habits are different for every item. I think in general asking people when they sell is not very useful unless they sell what you sell.

klassic*kids · ‎07-26-2017

I agree with you that ending time is something to consider but it's not the total deal maker. I sell clothing: for baby and children's I usually have my auctions end around 11:00 am est on weekdays as I find there are stay at home mothers doing shopping around that hour and for my adult clothes I have them end around 8:00 pm est.

This week my auctions are not working well at all. I guess I am not currently selling sought after items up on auction. That is the bigger factor than auction end time.

Good Luck!

Happy 2018! May this upcoming year be a prosperous one!

stonevintage · ‎07-26-2017

I'm going to try to end my listings to match this report. It does note Sunday as the most important day. My past sales though indicate that this report is accurate. After the kids are in bed and the work is done....:) You can click on sources to see where they gathered the info from.

https://www.thredup.com/resale/page8

bitsofsiliconvalley · ‎07-26-2017

All interesting and useful replies. And it's interesting that so many people responded so quickly.

I wonder how many people use sniping programs. I don't, myself. I'm not against them on principle; I just like the excitement of doing it hands-on. (Yes, I'm pretty good about setting a limit in advance and sticking to it.) But if most auctions ended in the middle of the night for me, that certainly could change my behavior.

Actually, my experience has always been that sniping, by program or by hand, is rare. I rarely see one of my auctions' high bids change in the few minutes before the auction ends.

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎07-26-2017

That lack of sniping is definitely category specific. I run into snipers all the time in the vintage and clothing categories.

chiaretta · ‎07-26-2017

I've been sniping since some time in 2005 and have been using the same service for almost as long, but I'm into collectors' items and it's probably as far apart from your listings as one can get.

I went for a couple of years with very little sniping until last week I detected some foul play on a friend's set of listings and that person's number of feedbacks sticks out like a sore thumb, from now on, at least for a while, all his auctions will be sniped.

This is by no means the seller's fault, or he wouldn't be a friend any longer and I would stop buying from him altogether, despite 12 years of loyal business and literally a few thousand items bought.

But then small niche as we are there is a lot of sour feelings when you know your opponent (unfortunately that's me) is one of the top collectors in the world, and I don't share my findings on social media when I paid good money for them, jealousy is an ugly animal.

etvideo1ataol · ‎07-26-2017

@bitsofsiliconvalley wrote:
What day and time is best for auctions to end, and why?

The answer probably depends on what you sell, as well as how you think. (I sell mostly small computer components.)

I currently end my auctions shortly after 7 PM, U.S. Pacific Time, on Wednesday. The date is based on my own schedule; the time is based on when I think people across the U.S. are most likely to have leisure to sit in on the end of an auction. All of this is based on theory; I haven't done any experiments to determine whether I'm right.

My schedule is changing, so the question's a real one for me. What do you think?

Based on my almost 20 years of experience and eBay's research, the best time to end listings is Sunday night after 11 PM EST. Something a lot of sellers have discovered which is why listing on Sunday night is so slow. Lots and lots of listings starting and ending.

I will often do 30 day listings on Friday night so that they will end on Sunday night (4x7+2 is 30). Sometimes, I will do 5 day auctions starting on Tuesday night. Started 3 last night.

Biggest mystery to me is why somebody will "watch" a fixed price listing for 30 days and then buy it on the last day? The price is never going to change if they wait.

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎07-26-2017

There are many reasons someone watches a fixed price listing and price is only one of them.

They probably buy in the last day because they noticed the listing ending on their MyEbay or they got notification from Ebay that a watched item is ending.

bitsofsiliconvalley · ‎07-26-2017

> I'm into collectors' items and it's probably as far apart from your listings as one can get.

Believe it or not, one of my regular buyers is a collector. He has asked me not to clean off the notes that the original owners sometimes scribbled on the items I sell, because he considers them part of the items' history. (These are items that I list for him alone because I'm just about certain that no one else will want them.)

bitsofsiliconvalley · ‎07-26-2017

> Biggest mystery to me is why somebody will "watch" a fixed price listing...?

> The price is never going to change if they wait.

If it's one of my listings, it might. I figure that if an item doesn't sell at the price asked in 20 days, it's not going to sell in 30, or in 60. About a week before a BIN listing ends I often drop the price. I try not to do it predictably, though, because I don't want my buyers to figure it out! Again, this is category specific, and unscientific.