SUGGESTIONS ON THE BEST TIME OF DAY AND WEEK TO START AN AUCTION

[lat10865]

Hello everyone!   I'm a new-old eBay seller.   I was very active years ago and recently started selling on the eBay platform again.  I've decided to try and turn my passion into a small business.   I would really appreciate input on when ya'll think it's the best time of day or week to begin an auction.

In my excitement and eagerness to get things rolling, I was posting items right through the night.  A week later,  I was sleeping and awoke to the sounds of eBay chimes going off on my cell phone.  Then it hit me, I probably wasn't considering the customer in my haste to get items posted.   I realized that was likely very annoying for the customer to want an item badly, but need to stay up until 2 or 3am on a work night just to "win the auction.'   I later began creating drafts and then posting them during the daylight hours.  I'm on the east coast of the USA, so I'm at EST.

Does anyone have any ideas or feedback on the best times or most likely times to begin an auction so that the auction will end at a more appropriate time?   Thanks for all feedback!  Very much appreciate it.  🤔

[onlinecentral]

Sunday evening at 10:00 PM EST

[maxine*j]

Why run auctions at all?  Auctions now account for less than 15% of eBay sales.  I've seen figures as low as 12%. 

Buyers don't really like auctions, because they don't want to wait for days to see if they're going to get the "X" they want or need.  Auctions were a fun novelty when eBay first got going but now everyone shops online, all the time, and they want see-click-buy-get.

Auctions are still appropriate for scarce items with a known demand but no clear market value, such a work by a well-known artist, say, or a desirable antique.

Just a thought for you. 

Since it's been awhile since you last sold her, be sure to familiarize yourself with just how Managed Payments works and just how the eBay Money Back Guarantee for buyers works.

Good luck to you in your new business venture, and I hope it thrives!

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[1tuna · Accepted solution]

I run lots of auctions

I put my junky stuff on tuesdays, better items on thursdays and my best stuff goes on Sunday

I used to list around 7PM eastern time but I now list around 430PM.

I have been selling at auction since 98 and do not really recall ever listing on a saturday

@lat10865 

[dbfolks166mt]

     I utilize the auction format almost exclusively and like you I am on the east coast of the U.S, I generally start all 7 day auction listings starting on Sunday at around 9 AM EST and have them all posted by noon. This time slides a bit for items that do not sell and I have to relist. 

     A couple of things I like about the auction format is unlike BIN I don't have to worry about handling sales and shipping everyday of the week, I don't use OBO on my listings and generally ignore unsolicited offers. The second thing I like about the auction format is you are never going to get more than what you post a BIN item for, unless it is a scam. But I am not a huge seller and do not do this for a living. 

     You will find you may get a lot of watchers but actual bids do not start showing up until the last day of the auction, often within the last hour. Typical of most auction type venues other than in person ones. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

You don't have to create drafts, and then go back and launch them: Just set up the Scheduler for your chosen start time. You don't have a Store subscription, so there will be no fee.

As others have pointed out, many items are better suited for fixed price listings. Take a look through your Sold items, and see which types (usually lower-value common items) typically go unsold or get only one bid. Maybe those should go in fixed price format. Also, if you have multiple identical items you can set up a fixed price listing that will just offer them all. Another reason to favor fixed price is for impulse purchases or impatient bidders, who might not want to wait out an auction and take the chance of losing which means they have to start their quest over again.

For bidders who prefer to snipe manually, evening endings are better: around 10 PM Eastern time, which is 7 PM Pacific.

Sunday is a popular day for ending, but I always list everything on Thursday. Items that are paid for promptly will go out on Friday, and I have the whole weekend to pack up the slightly later payers.

[dhbookds]

For a long time, late Sun was said to be the best time to end auctions.......At some point Ebay published that Mon nite was also "big".........

[lat10865]

Thank you!   I appreciate any advice and help.  Things have changed drastically at eBay since I used to sell.  I used to list an item, the item would sell and I'd get "nearly" the exact amount of the item, minus the listing fees for each picture posted (.30 cents) right into my PayPal account.   I was shocked at the new fee schedule, but then I realized just how much more eBay "does for me" in terms of logistics.   I love being able to purchase my shipping labels right from the Seller Hub.  I like how I can go to the Seller Hub and every task I need to do is spelled out for me.   It feels much more professional now,  even if I do have to give 15 to 20% back to eBay.  

I do a mix of BIN and auctions, so I appreciate knowing that the auctions only make up a small percentage of sales on eBay.   I don't use the make offer or best offer feature because I don't want to be tied to my email or have to make decisions on the fly.    Thank you for the heads up on the auction stats.   I'll definitely make some changes going forward!  

[dbfolks166mt]

Why run auctions at all?  Auctions now account for less than 15% of eBay sales.  I've seen figures as low as 12%. 

Buyers don't really like auctions, because they don't want to wait for days to see if they're going to get the "X" they want or need.  Auctions were a fun novelty when eBay first got going but now everyone shops online, all the time, and they want see-click-buy-get.

Auctions are still appropriate for scarce items with a known demand but no clear market value, such a work by a well-known artist, say, or a desirable antique.

     I would tend to agree with you on the use of BIN for commodity items which is a lot of what eBay has become these days and probably part of the low percentage of auction postings. There are still a lot of buyers out there that like the auction format and I do pretty well using it, probably because of the items I sell. There are a couple of other seller advantages to using the auction format which I mentioned in another response but it kind of depends on what your business model is for selling on eBay.  Personally I don't do this for a living and the auction format gives me a better advantage with balancing my other activities with my eBay selling. 

[lat10865]

Wow, thank you for taking time out of your day to help me with this issue.   I appreciate knowing how it's working for other folks on here.   I was floored by all the changes but I like them in many ways.   I used to sell a lot from 2005 to 2013 and then got away from it.    I only ever used PayPal for funds in and out, so everything is very different, but I think I came back at a good time.

I wanted to reach out to folks before creating a bunch more listings because I do spend a lot of time taking pictures, editing the pictures and writing a full description.   I've been using the "create draft" section a lot lately and really like that feature.  I'll pay close attention to the days you suggest, especially since they seem to work for you.  I appreciate your feedback!   Many thanks!

[lat10865]

Hello and thank you for taking time to reply to my question!   I definitely need to give more thought to my customer as well as myself.  Recently I've found myself, running back and forth to the post office, standing in long lines there, to mail one or two packages, while other days, I'm mailing 7 or 8 packages.   I want eBay and my "small business venture" to work for me in the easiest way possible!   I think it is definitely do-able with some extra thought.  

Most people are replying with Sunday being the most opportunistic day of the week for auctions.   So, I'll pay close attention to that moving forward.  Like you, I don't post anything with OBO simply because I don't want to be tied to my email or make decisions on the fly.   I have noticed that closer to the end of the auction time, my cell phone begins to chime over and over and that's like music to my ears!

So, thank you again for sharing your feedback as well as some best practices and what works for you!   Very much appreciated.  

[lat10865]

Wow, I have a lot to learn!   Thank you for pointing these things out to me.   Yes, the items with one bid should have definitely been placed with a fixed price, I'm realizing that now.   Moving forward, I have so much inventory to still list, but I didn't want to take another step without feedback on what's working for other people, so I do appreciate you taking time to look over my listings.   I feel like a "newbie" but that's okay with me.   I had a great career in outside sales for many years and now things are different for me so I need to adopt every good idea anyone can provide to me and implement that into my daily routine.

I had no idea this many good sellers would reply to my inquiry, so I'm excited to try all these great suggestions moving forward.   Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to help me with my sales!   Very much appreciated.  

[lat10865]

Hi there.  I just read up on "managed payments" and that definitely helped me to understand where the rest of my money went!   It hurts a bit to see an item sell for $225 and for me to get $187 of that.  (That's just an example, not sure if those were accurate figures, but you probably get what I'm talking about)  So I decided to really look at what and where those fees went to and I'm still on the fence about it, but leaning toward agreeing with eBay on much of the fee structure.   They do take a load of work off of me by providing so much information for me as well as handling the logistics of shipping and ordering supplies, etc.  

Thank you for taking time out of your day to help me and I appreciate your reminder to familiarize myself with the managed payments and the money back guarantee.    It was a good reminder for me to brush up on that.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@lat10865 wrote: ... I've found myself, running back and forth to the post office, standing in long lines there, to mail one or two packages, while other days, I'm mailing 7 or 8 packages.   I want eBay and my "small business venture" to work for me in the easiest way possible!  ...  

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[nobleman_resale]

Hi Lat10865,

We just got started as well, my company resells tools and equipment in Milwaukee, WI. I was taught for auctions to always start auctions on Thursdays at night. We started each and every auction of ours on Thursday and 10pm or 11pm so they end 10 days later on Sunday night. 

Hope that helps, best of luck!

Nobleman Resale