What's the best time to Start / End an auction? (US)

[murky36]

Title pretty much says it all! I was just wondering if there was an ideal time to list auctions in the US? I was thinking probably a neutral time that's not too late or too early so everyone can be awake for the inevitable bidding war in the last few minutes. What do you guys think? Thanks.

[doc-holmes]

Later in the evening, eastern time, on a Sunday. 

[carolynnq]

I don't think it matters as much as it used to back when people had to get to a computer. The stat used to be (I don't know what it is now) that half of US ebay users were in the Eastern time zone. If you end an auction at 6-7 pm Pacific time, most West Coast folks are off work and home and it's 9-10 pm on the East Coast when most folks are still up. Some depends on what you're selling. Have auctions end when your target market is most likely to be available.

[monroe67]

Back in the early days of eBay, when things were sold as auctions only, there was a great deal of folklore and "common knowledge" about setting the ending date/time.   

Nowadays, when I do run auctions, my main considerations are My Own Time and My Own Schedule.  

There are just too many variables; most importantly, if/when the winning bidder might actually pay.   You cannot control that, so you hope for the best.  And you set a handling period that works for you, maybe one day, maybe two days, whatever works for you.   

[inhawaii]

If you're looking for "what is the best" advice, my advice to you would be not to run auctions at all.

List with buy it now/fixed price/immediate payment required. And don't accept offers.

Just one person's opinion.

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

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@murky36 wrote:

Title pretty much says it all! I was just wondering if there was an ideal time to list auctions in the US? I was thinking probably a neutral time that's not too late or too early so everyone can be awake for the inevitable bidding war in the last few minutes. What do you guys think? Thanks.

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I've not run many here... I can tell you from past experience at the former Onsale Supersites, iDeal Network, Surplus Direct etc be we wanted auctions end on Fridays or Saturdays 10PM - Midnight Eastern Time and most between 10:30 PM and 11:30 PM because of the three hour time differential in Pacific Time.  Numbers of bids at least back then were near 200% greater than any other timeframes we tested.

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

Oh... Of additional note and again it may no longer be valid or true in todays inflationary issues.  West Coasters costs of living were considerably higher than most the east coast.  We'd done far more shipping out that way than the East Coast as the customers due to cost of living were more likely to bid more money.

On the other side of that equation sits the postal service so if you're needing ship priority mail and not flat rate shipping from East to West more expensive so you might want take that into consideration as well.

[slippinjimmy]

The best time would be when buyers are active, we (the majority) who list as Fixed Price know when "most" sales happen.

Personally the bulk of my US Sales happen between 11:00am and 11:00pm Eastern Time and for me most of the time Monday - Thursday are the most active.

Obviously there are lots of variation with the primary determinant being the type of items you sell and their most likely buyers. I see a bunch of Mario stuff you have listed, I'll presume they appeal to younger buyers so what I experience and what you experience could be wildly different.

[murky36]

Really amazing response. This is exactly what I was looking for! Also I have to agree with you on the whole "west coast has the money" statement. 75%+ of my sales have been to Cali. It makes sense. There, minimum wage is 18 something an hour. Here in Ohio it's 10~ 

Thanks for taking the time to list your research and stuff. I really do appreciate it!

Also thank you everyone for replying. I liked the suggestions on adjusting the time to my target audience. Also that history lesson on the old Ebay brought back memories.! And even when a guy recommended not to do auctions at all! Personally, I only do auctions when I see something have a big gap between the high/low "sold" prices. If I don't know exactly where to list it, and want my money back fairly quickly, I go with the auction. I don't have much capital to be playing around and sitting on inventory...one day though.

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

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@murky36 wrote:

Really amazing response. This is exactly what I was looking for! Also I have to agree with you on the whole "west coast has the money" statement. 75%+ of my sales have been to Cali. It makes sense. There, minimum wage is 18 something an hour. Here in Ohio it's 10~ 

Thanks for taking the time to list your research and stuff. I really do appreciate it!

Also thank you everyone for replying. I liked the suggestions on adjusting the time to my target audience. Also that history lesson on the old Ebay brought back memories.! And even when a guy recommended not to do auctions at all! Personally, I only do auctions when I see something have a big gap between the high/low "sold" prices. If I don't know exactly where to list it, and want my money back fairly quickly, I go with the auction. I don't have much capital to be playing around and sitting on inventory...one day though.

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My pleasure,

Again I want remind you that was "back in the day" I really can't say as to the "Now" at eBay.  Back in the day vended PC Software/Titles and were also on part Gateway Computer's liquidator arm, mainboard, memory, CPU's, drives etc that delisted due to new machines introduced.  We used Onsale Inc., iDeal Networks, Surplus Direct, uBid etc. which are basically all gone, eBay & Amazon won the commerce front.

As I noted many more bids and higher bids, often considerably higher from those time slots, west coast, we had fixed shipping rates not variable ones.

Now-a-days lots of variables consider but as I said when I figure out what rare games I want sell here they'll all go auctions.  Some of them I worry about scammers there are out there so not sure what I'll do about those yet.

[spingharmineralsgems]

Very helpful and appreciated that you have shared your experience here. Blessings always 

[reallynicestamps]

Less than 15% of transactions on eBay are Auctions. Even fewer when you count in Auctions with Buy It Now or Best Offer options that end the Auction before the last day.

Because buyers don't like auctions. They don't want to wait seven days to be outbid at the last second. They don't like to find something and feel forced to buy it immediately without consideration because it will list in a few minutes.

As a new seller research actual selling prices then list at Fixed Price/Immediate Payment Required.

For the same cost, you get 30 days of visibility which continues until someone actually pays.

[ebeths_eclectic_collectibles]

Maybe the better question is whether or not something is even auction worthy at all. Other than that I am not sure it really matters as most people bid and buy on mobile devices. I can easily be at work, gym, concert, etc. and still bid if I really wanted something. About the only time I cannot it’s when I go hiking and often lose cell phone service. 

[byrd69er]

When I used auctions I ended them at 10pm east coast. I found it to be good time that didn't exceed people's wake time and it was one hour before I turned in, so I could catch what happens. That made for an early evening auction ending on the west coast. Most important to me was the day to end the auction. It was always Friday with two day shipping which meant I had until Tuesday to get things out the door.

[dbfolks166mt]

     I use the auction format almost exclusively for a number of reasons the main one being time management. I schedule all auctions to start on Sunday at 8 AM PST and run the for seven days and I don’t use OBO. During the week I am pretty much free to do anything else I wish and not have to worry about packing and shipping on a daily basis. I am often away from hone for multiple days on fishing, hiking or camping trip or visiting family. Would I sell more with BIN/IPR well possibly but there are trade-offs. 

     On occasion I get a non-payer but the non-payers are just something that you have to deal with on occasion and eBay now has an option to require the bidder to provide a payment method before bidding if you wish to utilize that option. If not I much prefer a non-paying buyer who may have changed their mind or found it cheaper elsewhere as opposed to a BIN transaction where the buyer  waits for the order to arrive and then immediately opens a return request or a NAD case. 

     That process takes a LOT longer than the 4-5 days it takes to deal with a non-payer and relist the item. Plus it may actually also cost you for the return postage and potentially the eBay fees.