Do You Agree Sunday Is Best Day to End Auctions?

by: odona

I actually do agree - and, not surprisingly, for all the reasons you offered. BUT we've also seen since the very beginning (in our case 1999) that listing Sunday (at least on ebay) generates significant immediate or near-immediate sales, auction style with Buy it Now or straight Buy it Now.
Listing Saturday seems to generate sales on etsy on Sunday and continuing into the midweek.

I suspect this all pertains to the ''day off'' syndrome.
Of course in our old brick and mortar stores the weekends were the top period so it all falls to the time off thing.

We have noticed that Thursday seems to be a pretty strong day year in year out as well...boredom I guess :-)

by: Ming the Merciless

Haven't sold auction style for years, but BIN listings are problematic on any day at any time because of Best Match manipulations at any particular moment and whether one's listings have been throttled.

The marketplace is fixed just like a crooked game.

by: elpereles

Agree with poll in the day and time. I like to use auctions with BINs. I don't understand the reason, but I have better results when ending or starting the 7 days on Sunday. More watchers and even the auction with BINs sell during those days.  

by: Philip Cohen

The end day or time does not worry me as I let my database/sniping program do the work.

Regardless, my recent experience as a buyer is that there is such a dearth of bidders on eBay auctions that there’s really good pickings there now for anyone still hanging around; I occasionally buy various things at auction and invariably there are no other bidders; I always place a minimum bid, then set a maximum snipe; recently, the last four or five items that I have bid on, I have gotten for the nominal starting price; these bargain priced items would not have sold, even at their nominal starting price, without my bid …

So, I don’t know if it is that Johnny Ho has actually finally succeeded in bringing the eBay flea market auctions to a standstill or it is just the items I have been interested in; regardless, it’s not a good look. Jacky Sheng would undoubtedly be a Ho-preferred seller, and his BIN STR is ~7%; if Sheng is struggling to find buyers, how many buyers does that leave for the rest of the Ho’s many non-preferred sellers? Not too many, I suspect …

eBay Inc, where the incompetent mingle with the malevolent and the outright criminal, and the just plain stupid ... http://bit.ly/11F2eas

by: charcorvet

I always used Terapeak to check best ending times. Other the years I've often wondered if I was actually influencing the best ending time, in my most prolific categories, by when my auctions ended.

That said, Sunday, Thursday and then Tuesday evenings are my best ending days in Pottery & Glass where I primarily live.

And I'm married to a manual sniper. He's good at it. I just gave him my list of "wanted items" for tonight. Why should I pay for a service if I can be there and do it myself or have him do it?

by: Rexford

What Ming said. If I were a brand new seller contemplating selling online, I would not touch eBay with a 10 foot pole.

We had decent sales last Monday through Friday, then no sales on Friday or Saturday (on multiple eBay websites).  I feel pretty sure that we are invisible right now or being throttled.  

Pure nonsense. I don't know who the idiot at eBay is/was who came up with this but I do know who the buck stops with and I hope that eventually he his hauled off to prison.

by: Basset

When things are slow like this, and it sounds like it is for many, fixed price may be the way to go. To ask a buyer to wait out an auction may mean losing the sale unless the item is at a give-away or 'lose money' price. (so far in June, no auctions have sold for me, only FP)

I usually do a few auctions when they are a free promo - the vast majority of my items are still FP.

When I do list auctions, in most cases they end Sundays or Saturday am. But since I donate items I no longer want, most of my auction prices reflect the minimum I am willing to take online and don't stray far from the FP price. So really, I'm better off just doing FP.


One other thing, I try to have a  predictable routine time & day when I add NEW  items. I let buyers and ''followers'' know when look for new stuff and when stuff is likely to have a short percent-off sale via markdown manager. This encourages my repeat customers to stop in and take a look - and it encourages new repeat customers.

by: LasVagueness

I have lost so many auctions when they end on Sundays (not at my desk as much). I opt for mid-day Tuesdays for the rare item I put on auction (the bulk of my listings are BIN).

by: baconsdozen

I dont think sunday ending is a good idea. So many potential buyers and sellers are now using car boot sales in preference to the dead on its feet ebay that many are not at a computer to look.
The only thing that would make sense is to try and work out how to negate the damage that ebays ludicrous searh function does to your items visibility but that would take the brain of Einstein and the patience of Job.

by: Leesantiques

Not sure if Sunday is best or not, but I do know that Saturday is the the worst - and by quite a bit - for me at least.

Also, I find that having listings end in the evening (typically 8:30 or 8:15 to 9ish or so) works well.  Much better than having them end a lot earlier.

Lee

by: elystoys

If possible please segregate the "best time" data to each day of the week.  Perhaps you could also  calculate "best time" with the day of the week on which a holiday falls?
Thanks.  This is very important data.

by: Toledo Maude

After 8 or 9 years of listing auctions exclusively and paying $1.25 per auction for 7 days with most not selling or receiving but one bid, I switched to BIN listings.  Quite a monetary savings.

Even with BIN listings, items are purchased most likely on Thursdays and Sundays.  Holidays are death to my listings, and the month of May with Mother’s Day, graduations, and finally Memorial Day, I should have turned the computer off and went on vacation.  

At the recent suggestion from an EcommerceByte blogger that a few auctions will help improve eBay search results, I now and then list a few auctions, but even with very low starting bids the buyers ignore them for the most part.  

Interesting to see that eBay has restarted the option to pay for one listing and auto relist 2 more times.   And the DEFAULT is set to accept the auto relist.  Who knows maybe it will save me some bucks.

And how about last week’s eBay “FREE” offer to upgrade one’s eBay store for one month with lots of “FREE” listings?  Plus the kick in the pants FEE/FINE if a seller wishes to return to the lower level store at the end of the “FREE” month?

by: Cassie

I list only a once a quarter 3-day auction for weekends (fri-Sat-Sun) or 3 day holiday weekend specials, if it doesn't get a re-listed but sells on local flea, craigslist or etc.....

I don't play the fee listing game with any eCommerce platform for not promoting short 3 or 7 day listings each item gets one shot & exercise other option I'm inventory turn-around driven!  

by: David Steiner

That's an interesting question, elystoys. Here are the top 3 ending times for each day of the week. Time are PST:

Sunday
6pm-9pm 56.7%
9pm-Midnight 25.0%
3pm-6pm 13.5%

Monday
6pm-9pm 56.3%
9pm-Midnight 25.0%
9am-Noon 13.5%

Tuesday
6pm-9pm 54.5%
9pm-Midnight 27.3%
9am-Noon 9.1%

Wednesday
9pm-Midnight 53.2%
3pm-6pm 37.0%
6pm-9pm 7.8%

Thursday
6pm-9pm 59.7%
3pm-6pm 21.0%
9pm-Midnight 16.2%

Friday
9pm-Midnight 64.0%
3pm-6pm 21.5%
6pm-9pm 13.7%

Saturday
6pm-9pm 58.2%
3pm-6pm 27.5%
9pm-Midnight 14.0%

by: Toledo Maude

Regarding last week’s EcommerceBytes story about Etsy having a deal with USPS to extend First Class Service from 13 ounces to 16 ounces.  

That day I had a package for an Etsy buyer that was 15.2 ounces and Etsy was ready to print a First Class label for it (saving me 80 cents over Priority).

But I chickened out and paid for and printed a Priority label.

Dropping off the package at the Post Office that afternoon, I asked the clerk if this agreement between the Post Office and Etsy was true.  

Neither he nor his supervisor had heard of it, and said that they would not accept any First Class packages over 13 ounces.  

Today, the same clerk mentioned that several customers brought in packages for Etsy buyers with First Class labels over 13 ounces.  The packages were not accepted for First Class service.  

Has anyone had their Post Office accept packages with Etsy labels in the 13 to 16 ounce range for First Class Service?  

by: eBoy

Auctions are too risky nowadays unless it's a really special, unique and hard-to-find popular item. I just do fixed price, so it's not an issue for me any more.

by: eskay

The list of top 3 ending times for each day of the week is helpful but I'd like to know what the top  times are for items sold rather than the top ending times. The data for best selling times could be entirely different. I'd rather time my items based on when more are sold rather than when more are ending. Just because sellers choose those end times doesn't mean they are best selling times.

I list in collectibles and find activity better at lunch time, late afternoon, and early evening. Sundays usually aren't successful for me and unlike others here Friday and Saturdays seem to work. I do find clustering auction end times on a few days a week rather than spreading them throughout the week works better (and ''better'' is representative of ''not much'' these days).    

by: JTA

Just when I think I got the best day & time nailed....it's a totally unpredictable game of chance.

The only thing that's constant is change....and around eBay it's forever a-changin'.