Is 10 day auctions starting Thursday the best?

[mozartbach1971]

I'm considering running more 10 day auctions. I heard that starting them on Thursday is the best since they say  they will be up for 2 Sundays, however if you start it on Thursday they will be up for a partial time on the second Sunday. If I start them on Friday they will go through 2 complete Sundays and end on Monday. So would this be the best time to start a 10 day auction?

[a_c_green]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

I'm considering running more 10 day auctions.

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I like auctions ending on Sunday nights as I have always gotten a lot of last-minute activity on those days. Start a 10-day auction at the desired time on Thursday and it will end at the same time a week from Sunday.

That said, I would limit 10-day auctions to only really rare One of a Kind items that deserve the longest possible exposure. Otherwise 7 days is sufficient to reach everyone who's interested, including those who only log in once a week. 

I have to say that I roll my eyes when I come across an interesting auction, only to see that, OMG, it doesn't end for another nine days. I would suggest using 10-day auctions sparingly, if at all.

[billythekid16]

I read a while ago that ending an eBay auction on a Sunday night is highly recommended since (in theory) a lot of potential bidders/buyers in North America are home on Sunday nights and online, be it on their computer or mobile phone.

The only question is exactly what time on Sunday night you want your auction to end.  The recommendation I read was 7:00PM - 11:00PM EST being the best time frame for everyone in the U.S. to watch your auction count down and bid at the last minute.

I've been doing the 10-day auctions and had a bit of success selling some stuff.  My auctions always end on Sunday evening at 10:00PM EST (7:00PM PDT).

[arisdisc]

I've been selling and 'auctioning' since  1999. You are absolutely correct!

I 'always' start my auctions late afternoon on Thursdays so they all end on a Sunday. It's worked out great for me. (I do a lot of International sales as well, so if the auctions start around 4pm, most logical countries with the exception of Japan can still get some last minute bids before midnight).

In my opinion, you are on the right track! Good luck!

[mozartbach1971]

I have heard that Sunday is the best, however I think it would be more convenient for me to end them on Monday nights. Does anyone know if it is really bad to end them at this time?

[chapeau-noir]

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@arisdisc wrote:

I've been selling and 'auctioning' since  1999. You are absolutely correct!

I 'always' start my auctions late afternoon on Thursdays so they all end on a Sunday. It's worked out great for me. (I do a lot of International sales as well, so if the auctions start around 4pm, most logical countries with the exception of Japan can still get some last minute bids before midnight).

In my opinion, you are on the right track! Good luck!

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I wonder, then, what the 'illogical' countries do?!  Maybe bid in crazy frenzies at 3:00 am lol.

As for 10-day auctions - I don't see any advantage to having them run for two Sundays - time is a factor here.  When I ran a lot of auctions, I found 10 day auctions to be real clunkers that tended to 'sag' in the middle of their run and often ended lower unless they were spectacular items (like the 30s Zoot suit).  My happy spot was 5 days. 

[billythekid16]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

I have heard that Sunday is the best, however I think it would be more convenient for me to end them on Monday nights. Does anyone know if it is really bad to end them at this time?

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According to this webpage...

The days with the highest sales are ordered as follows:

1. Sunday 6:30 pm PST (most sales and fair average sales price)
2. Monday
3. Saturday
4. Tuesday
5. Thursday
6. Friday
7. Wednesday (least sales)

Monday is the next best choice if Sunday is not for you.

Given the rankings above, I certainly would not end an auction on a Wednesday!

[membersinceaug2001]

It doesn't really matter what day a listing ends.  Do you really want to be lost in the crowd on the same day as everyone else trying to make a sale?  I find that using 10-day with BIN the serious buyers will BIN while others wait til the end.

That chart above doesn't mean anything, today is Wed and I have sold more than any other day this month.

[jayjaspersgarage]

When I can I relist or list new ten day auctions starting on Wednesdays and Wednesday evenings.  Since I am on the west coast I try to keep in mind how late it will be on the east coast when the auctions end.  Saturday nights seemed to have the best competitive bidding on certain categories due to drinking on the part of bidders.  Maybe timing of auctions doesn't matter anymore since half the country is day drinking mid week? 

I also start a lot of ten day listings so they end on Sundays during the day.   

[21thegreatone]

That's what I'm doing/been doing.

This 7 day **bleep** is simply **bleep** anymore.   Ebay is seemingly "hell-bent" on moving the whole world to "just make a fixed price/leave it there for a 100 years and they will buy it" (rather than AUCTION STYLE as the whole thing was built to be...yet they have gotten so far away from THAT intent, they may as well be on the Moon)...so yep...10 days now.  It helps us to spread out the times when "we have to pack and ship a bunch" and also gives more time for the Make an Offers to emerge.

I truly pine for the simpler days good sir.  But am afraid Ebay has "taken a knee" to Amazon and is simply becoming a carbon-copy of it.

Very sad.

[gkn29]

Personally I think 10 day auctions are too long. It increases the chance of non paying bidders. The earlier the bid and the longer the auction, the more the bidder gets tired of waiting, changes their mind, buys elsewhere, etc

That's my personal observation anyway.

[slippinjimmy]

From 1999 up to about 2010 I listed only Auctions. I created new listings every day and over a period of 6 - 8 hours.

After more than 10 years of observation one thing because crystal clear........It did not matter one bit what day or what time an Auction ended. Good stuff sold for good prices regardless of the time and poor stuff didn't sell or didn't sell for a good price no matter what day or time it ended.

This was MY experience, it might not apply to other types of items or for sellers whose primary customer base is different from mine.

Things to consider......

Some people have plenty of time on a Sunday afternoon or evening while for others Sunday is a very busy day with lots of things to do that are more important than eBay Auctions.

If you sell Internationally, Sunday afternoon could be early morning or late evening for those buyers.

Some people do their eBay buying during working hours because their work involves sitting in from of a computer. Some people only shop at night because they work during the day and don't have access.

Some people sit around doing nothing much or watching TV on Sunday, some people give family a priority on the one day of the week when work etc.

There are so many variables it's very difficult to pick the "best" day/time, even harder to compare what works for one seller that will work for other sellers with a completely different customer base.

The only way to determine which is "best" is to run tests and analyze the results, even that is difficult unless you are selling the exact same (not just similar) items over and over again.

Now throw in the variables of buyers who bid at any time vs those who bid only in the last few minutes vs those that use snipping services that allow them to set up their bids at any time/day.

On the other hand, if you are selling stuff that appeals to a regional customer base, buyers who are of similar age/occupation/lifestyle you may have better luck trying to determine the optimum time.

I sell worldwide, my customers are mostly but not exclusively male and cover a wide age range but not so many teens or twenty somethings. What is a perfect time for my 55 year old customer in Germany could be the worst possible time for my 30 year old in California or my 18 year old in Australia.

[gkn29]

Great post

[postingid7659]

My experience has been that 10 day listings see few to no views for three days. 

If anything shorter duration is better, because an auction gets the most attention generally in the first 24 hours and the last 24 hours.  

The last few things I've posted on Sundays have not started picking up hits until Monday or Tuesday though.  But lately things have been very slow on here, the last four weeks or so something has slowed everything way down. 

[crescentstation]

I used to have everything (auctions and Buy It Nows) end on Sunday nights between 4 and 5 PM Pacific Time (7 to 8 PM Eastern Time) and had very busy Mondays packing items for shipment. Then GTC started and changed the whole dynamics of how we list and sell. So, I haven't done any scientific research on the topic as to which day is best. . I just list when I am ready and let listings run their course. If you have something people want, it will sell, although I still think that GTC creates a lack of urgency on the part of Buyers compared to 7-day listings, either auctions or Buy It Nows.

Also, it sometimes comes up here that more frequent new listings help boost your visibility on the site.