Best/Worst Day(s) for Auctions. Does it matter?

[byto253]

From your experience, do you have favourite days for auctions to end on the get the best results?  Does it matter?

I have started to do a few more and can see using them more with stuff that is upcoming.   I would think that Friday or Sunday evenings would be good, but with fixed price, I find there are stronger sales early in the week Monday to Wednesday, even more than weekends.   So wonder that it doesn't really matter and to just let the auction start when the listing is ready.  Folks thoughts are greatly appreciated. 

Putting sales performance aside, it is convenient to have auctions end on Thursday or Friday as it gives the weekend for payment and shipments can go Monday morning.  

[ricarmic]

I don't know anymore.

In the olden days Fridays, and Sundays (in my world) were the best, and lunchtime was also a very good time.

My market is "weak" at the moment. My ancient bias remains that Sunday should be good, but I have no evidence that the day matters anymore. For some reason I have a bias against Thursdays and Saturdays, especially Thursdays, but I have noted that sometimes when I've listed something on Thursdays it is boomtown, great sales rate and bids compared to "better" days.

Stuff I expect to sell internationally seems to do better listed in the morning, stuff selling in north america seems to be better to list in the evening, however sales happen at all hours of the day so not even sure that matters anymore.

So I guess the short version is I don't have any good advice...

Addendum, I've noticed that "scheduled" listings are free on both .COM and .CA now, reading between the lines tells me that this may mean the start time isn't as important anymore.

[msau4301]

As ricarmic has said it's hard to tell anymore. The only constant is inconsitency. 

However, based on what I usually have done in the past and continue to do is I try to have my auctions end during the week. I used to think weekends were better since people were home but found (at least a lot of the time) that weekends are when people are busy doing other stuff and that during the work week I got more action (with bids) when people are not really working but pretending to. (Not only can they scroll the phone but their work computers as well!)

Also I try to not have anything end around dinner or drive in/drive home time for those last minute dive bidders (of which I am also one!) 

I know a lot of people think auctions are old fashioned/passe but for me (in vintage Barbie category anyways) they have by far been the most beneficial sales wise. Auctions are how I started here on eBay, I was a buyer/collector way before being a seller (I had too darn much stuff which is why I had to sell some).

Try out a few at a time, testing the days/times, see what might work. We all sell in such diverse categories it depends on the type of buyer also so there's no one size/answer fits all.

[byto253]

Thanks for the posts.  That is kinda where I am, hard to tell if there is any "best" time. 

I generally use auctions either for items where it is tough to determine the potential upside and start at a price I am ok with then let it run to see if there is more upside; or for liquidation with a pretty low starting price.  

Good point about work as lots of people are working from home and the lines are blurrier than ever, plus being connected at all times.  

My market is North America so I tend to have items end early to late in the evening.  e.g. 6 pm or so Pacific time which is 9pm Eastern time.   

[reallynicestamps]

Experienced auction buyers will :

a) Use the Buy It Now option if you use it to end the auction

b) Use the Best Offer option if you use it to end the auction

c) Bid once and bid their maximum when they see the auction, letting others nibble or snipe.

d) Bid once as a snipe.

e) Bid once through an electronic snipe service at the last nano-second.

I don't have much of an opinion of auctions, although some collectibles sellers swear by them, and it's worth noting that 85% or more of transactions are Fixed Price and that most Auctions end with only one bid.

Don't have an Auction end between 4pm EST and 7pm PST which is dinner time from NF to BC.

[byto253]

Total sidebar but someone messaged asking me to lower the starting price with less than a an hour to go in an auction.  That was a new one and a bit funny.   I would not do that and eBay will not allow it that close to the end anyway.   

[msau4301]

There are all kinds out there. I've had people do the same. You can't make changes with less than 12 hours on an auction, 24 hours for some things. If it's past the time to allow any changes those portions are shaded grey but it does allow for you to add note at the bottom, then listing says something like "Seller added the following notes..." I've done this a few times when someone asked me a question about something I didn't have mentioned in listing, then it's covered as a note on the bottom (it can come in handy).

I have had people message me offers and if they aren't too low I say something like, if it doesn't sell with auction I will re-list it at....  Have done that a few times myself, you can either do it with Buy it Now at the price the person suggested or re-do the auction at that price, if there were a number of watchers it could still be bid up. I've had many times an item didn't sell and I re-did the auction at a lower price and it still ended up selling for way higher than the in-active auction price. I always thought where were these people last week??

[byto253]

Some categories are certainly more prone to last second bidding than others!  I tend to have pretty high starting bids so early bids are not that common. 

[reallynicestamps]

I always thought where were these people last week??

Which is why 30 Day Fixed Price listings are more likely to sell (eventually) than seven day Auction listings.

I am old and set in my ways.

[byto253]

I mainly use fixed price but there are things I get where the top end is not clear and an auction is handy.    All just tools in the quiver. 😎

[ricarmic]

An advantage of running an item for auction (at your theoretical buy it now price) and then relisting when it doesn't sell as BIN is that that auction and subsequent relist counts as twice the "new items" which ebay favours in the searches.

As well despite how long I've been doing this sometimes my "top price" isn't what others think it should be which causes nice surprises sometimes!