mapleleafs-13 

I sell a bit on ebay here and there and i was wondering something. What days have worked out well for you? Having an auction end on a Sunday night where everybody is potentially home on time for work/school the next day? Or is it having auctions end during the workweek at a specific time. What has worked well for you guys and if there's anything else interesting to ad then please share.

harpon

I'm sorta an opportunist and I base that on my insomnia, and sleep apnea- due to a broken jaw TMJ condition which unfortunately has seriously limited my riding of late while i've made progress on it-

anyway- although I'm trying to cut back on ebay now- I've bought what I need, and it's been a little like a gambling addiction-

what I've done as a consumer is go on at late late hours- and search the "time ending sooonest" quite a bit- in "vintage" and sometimes I can steal something slipping past that no one sees ending-

probably not much help to someone selling- and I have a few items I may sell- so I'll probably see what others say here.

redxj

7 day auction starting and ending Sunday night is best. Or if it is a big ticket item spending more for a 10 day auction started on Thursday will end on a Sunday and go through two full weekends.

miamijim

Ending on Sat or Sunday between 6-10pm PST.

iab

I do ending on Sunday, 9:30pm EST

wrk101

+1 This.

In addition, I am doing more buy it now, immediate payment required. This avoids the deadbeats and slow payers (with no negative feedback for buyers, its getting pretty loose out there). If you know the value of your item, and don't mind giving up auction fever, BIN can work great.

It really depends on the popularity of the item. If I can see similar items only get a few bids (and some don't sell), BIN is my choice.

auchencrow

+1 to Thrifty Bill's BIN recommendation:

Unless you are auctioning off Judy Garland's ruby slippers, you are better of with BIN.
People needing a part don't want to wait a week to see IF they "won" it, or if instead, someone with deeper pockets (and four margaritas) placed a higher snipe bid.

mparker326

I'm not sure it matters. The internet is 24 hours and 7 days a week. A lot of folks use sniping services so they don't have to be home at the computer when an auction ends. Folks may think an auction ending at an odd day and time will attract less attention so may be more willing to bid.

Ebay has some outliers, but for the most part items sell for about what they are worth regardless of what time an auction ends.

Ex Pres 

To add to Bill's post, if you have a slightly oddball item that maybe only one person needs, but needs it badly - the auction may get you one bid. A BIN can get you a whole lot more.

smontanaro 

I have some searchdome saved queries set up to alert me to various bits which are closing in on the end of auction but which have yet to attract bids. I'm amazed at how many of these mails I get overnight (like at 3am Central Time). These are all US auctions, so some people either have wacky circadian rhythms (and think everybody else does) or they just couldn't sleep one night and decided to list some stuff and save the 10-cent scheduling fee...

fender1

Put, "L@@K!!!!" in the title. Peole look.

toytech

I use the buy it now or best offer format with run till sold.

Barrettscv 

I use Tuesday & Thursday at 7PM, Pacific time. It's a good time of the evening, with West-coast bidders home from work and a 10PM East-coast time. Tuesday and Thursday are days when people are home in the evening.

wrk101

The reason I do not use best offer format, is that I use BIN with IMMEDIATE payment required (check a box on your listing when you are creating it).

The huge advantage of the immediate payment required is that it eliminates slow to no pays. The best time to get paid for an item is when the buyer decides to bid. Some buys are impulse, so if they don't pay immediately, they may never pay.

How common is "no pays?", I get them about 5% of the time, and slow pays are another 5% of the time.

Yo Spiff

When I am searching for something I need, I look first at the BIN postings. If I find it for a reasonable price, I won't bother trying to save a few bucks by hassling with an auction.

dbakl

What works best for me is not worrying about it too much. Lately I've been winning just as much stuff by throwing down what I think is a fair bid when I see it rather than trying to desperately bid at the last second. Remember, for the most part, they'll be another one on there next week...

robatsu

Strictly anecdotal, but I believe more people are thinking that way. My last big ebay selling binge, last fall/early winter, I seemed to notice a lot less sniping activity.

The Sunday evening end time has a lot of support in a lot of quarters, along with the 9 day/two weekends model. I do this for the occasional big ticket item. Otherwise, I prefer to have my auctions sort of spaced out rather than having a big pack/ship exercise once a week. This possibly reduces the take a little bit, I don't know for sure, but it makes my life more convenient, so it is worth it for me.

jimmuller 

Please everyone, if you intend to sell something that I might really, really want, DO NOT END YOUR AUCTION ON SAT OR SUNDAY NIGHT! Some of us who try to stay active, you know, doing things like riding bikes or skiing or canoeing or playing music or other fun things, are very often NOT at our computers at that time. You may think we are, but we aren't. We're driving home, or still riding, or still playing. Of course, if you don't want me to buy your item, then end the auction whenever you like. I may put in a bid but I won't be able to monitor the end. Very often I'll just let it go. Or I'll put in a reasonable bid and forget about it. But I won't be ever able to bid reactively and maybe decide spontaneously that I should bid higher. Your loss, money still in my pocket.

nlerner

Yet another reason to use a sniping program.

Hoss Cartright

AMEN ~ I run auto-searches and this lets me jump on stuff that just comes up for BIN, if it's on auction, I load the bid sniper for what I want to pay and forget about it. I've been getting cool stuff like a mad-man and what I don't get I never regret. I've stopped worrying about the auctions, or things I don't win. When I win something, I pay immediately!
I don't care what anybody thinks of bid sniping software, it took the work out of it. With ebay proxy-bid it drives the price up during the sale. I like that six seconds before it ends WHAM, BA-BAM! My best deals are West Coast sellers who end the auction at midnight Pacific time.. duhhh.. 03:00AM EST. lol...

I've been an ebay member since January of 1999. I pretty much stopped selling on ebay a couple of years ago as they have gotten ridiculous with the commission. As a seller, I've never cheated anyone but I have been through some serious hassles with non-paying abusive, lying, manipulative buyers. At least PayPal has cleaned-up all that personal check, bogus money order, wait for the payment to clear the bank hassle, but just one more thing the seller pays for. Now they are pretty much forcing sellers to give free freight and pay for all their own shipping materials, time, and trips to the post office. (That is what the "H" in S&H is. "Handling" is time and time is money)

I sell bikes on the CL. - I own my own server so I can host nice images and I know some html code so I make really nice ads with big bold text and superb photos and sell stuff on there. I only sell bikes in the spring. They are worth twice as much in April or May vs. October or November.