Monday, November 30, 2009

ebay Auction Listings - When is the Best Time to List Yours




ebay Auction Listings - When is the Best Time to List Yours?

We all know that ending your ebay auctions at the right time can make a huge difference in the final price. Or even whether your listing sells or not. "What is the best time to end my ebay auction listings?", is a question every ebay seller asks, and you don't need a crystal ball to get the answer.

The simple answer is ... it depends. Of course that is not what ebay sellers want to hear.
They want the answer, without any work. They want the clouds to part, and a booming voice from the mountain declareing; "Sunday, 7:16 PST, is the time ye must end thine ebay auction listings!" And that may very well be an optimum time for a lot of ebay sellers. It may even be the right time for you, but it also might be the worst time to end a listing. As an ebay seller, just a little thought, and a few test auctions can give you the answer you need.

There has been tons of research on this question, both by big dogs, like ebay itself, and little guys, like individual sellers. And the general consensus is Sunday evening around 7pm is the best ending time for most sellers. But is it the best time for you? Here's how you find out.

Who is your buyer? What is your target market for your auction item listings?  Figuring out who your customer is will also tell you the probable best times to end your ebay listings.
  • Selling office or business supplies - auction listings ending before 5pm Monday through Thursday might be your best bet. If your bidder is buying for the office, then they will be checking the listings during office hours. Maybe ... 
  • Baby and kid's stuff - mid-afternoon auction endings when mom has a break while kids nap or before they get home from school
  • Teenagers and young adults - mid-evenings Sunday through Thursdays - *note - be sure not to schedule endings when major events or popular TV shows like Lost or Wired are on.
There are many more examples of time vs. customer relationships, but the point is to consider who might be most interested in your auction listing items, and then determine when they most likely will be available to follow the ending of your auctions.

It is very important that your auctions end when potential buyers are available to follow the bidding process and place last minute bids. Today's auction bidders are much more savvy about the auction process, they know not to bid until the last possible moment so as not to drive up the price, or attract attention from other bidders that may also be interested in your item.

Another way to get an idea about the optimum time to end your ebay auctions is to check-out your competition. Search for items similar to yours and identify the most successful sellers. Check out their past sales, see when they ended their auctions. Sometimes you will get lucky and find multiple auctions for items like yours and you can look for the poor performers too. Look at their auction listings and ending times for examples of what not to do.

Once you have an idea of what may be the best ending times for you, it's time to do a little testing. Run one auction to end at the time you think will be best for your potential buyers, and then run another identical auction ending at your second choice for ending times. The results will give you an idea of which time was better suited to your buyers.

Just a little research of past auctions on ebay can help you determine what may be the best time to end your ebay auction listings.

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Appletreedeals is an ebay seller and affiliate marketer and he
also uses Hubpages articles to send buyers to his listings.


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