When is the Best Time to List Your Items on eBay?
You may think that you should list your items on Ebay on Saturday
mornings because that is when you have the most free time or on Monday nights
after 10:00 because the family is in bed and you finally have total
concentration. You need to ask yourself just how many possible buyers will be
at their computers at closing time. Especially when 10:00 p.m. on the West
Coast is 1:00 a.m. on the East Coast. There are lots of possible buyers
shopping at lunchtime during the week. But, because of the enormous amount of
traffic at that time, you really cut down on the possibility of last-minute
bidding if the bids are all in an internet traffic jam and can't get through
at all.
The amount of bidders available at closing
time is of utmost importance to your auction.
Most of the bidding on any auction will occur in
the first 24 hours (when it is listed as new) and on the last day
(when is listed as ending today), with most people only looking at one of
these two times. And, the bulk of the serious bidding will be in the last 5
minutes! An auction is truly at its best when two or more people fight over
your item, and they may not be awake to do so at 1:00 in the morning.
When to list your items is best decided on actual sales
histories of your particular items. Hardware and tools may get more male
bidders who are looking on Saturday afternoon, and pokemon cards may get more
attention from kids right after school. Etc. So, check the sales of completed
items. You should be able to see a definite pattern for each type of item you
plan to list. This is the first step.
If your item sells best on a weekday evening,
now you need to see if there is also a second pattern.
It sold best on Tuesday one week and Thursday the next
week. Why? One big factor in evening sales now is "Who
Wants to be a Millionaire?" There are almost no bidders
at their computers when this show is on television. This show happens to be
moved around from week to week. On top of that, if it is on at 8:00 p.m., that
means 8:00 p.m. on both coasts so West Coast seller has to work around 5:00
p.m. through 8:00 p.m., and the East Coast seller has to work around 8:00 p.m.
through 11:00 p.m.
There are many more factors that come into play. Watch the
weather forecasts for all parts of the country. If the East Coast is due for
heavy rains, more possible bidders will be available at their computers
instead of outside enjoying the spring or summer weather - and vice versa. If
an area is in the middle of a terrible heat wave, they may be hiding inside at
their computer instead of doing anything outside. Great weather is bad for
sales. You may not want to have items close on Thanksgiving afternoon when
most of the country is sitting down to a great meal - or in the evening on the
day of a Presidential election. Contrary to this logic, Christmas morning may
be a good time to have items close because many people don't have family with
whom to share their day or they are not of a Christian faith. Those people
would see this as a great time to sneak in a few bids. Other people may go
shopping on Christmas afternoon to try to buy what they didn't receive for a
gift!
Selling at the busiest time of the day will make your photos load
slower. At any time, using a dial-up connection puts your auctions at risk since they will take longer
to load. And, since most dial-up connections get lost often, there is always the chance
that your photos will not load at all. When either happens, you will lose buyers. Some could
bookmark your auction to try again later, but last-minute shoppers don't have time to
come back. Cable modem or DSL will make everything you do on the internet at least 10 times
faster - without disconnects. You only need to be have your photos not load during the last
half hour of an auction once to know how important your internet connection is.
The real answer to when to list your items is it is totally
relative….relative to as many factors as you can think of. You will need to
do research on the past and try to foresee the future. Good luck on the
latter.
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