Ebay - What time and day do visitors peak

[David P]

Have been having a look at our own figures today to see what our answers to these questions are.
Generally for us it is pretty even throughout the week in terms of days.
Around 8 or 9 o'clock for times during weekdays.
Oddly on saturdays it is about 1 but on sundays about 6.
Just wondering what other ebay sellers on here find.

Also if anyone knows the figures for ebay as a whole that would be good. I have been trying to find them today but so far no luck.

[apexweb]

I always find having items expire around 6pm on sundays gives the best prices on auctions.

[faststaff]

Roughly the same. Weekdays I usually finish items between 4.30pm and 8pm. Saturday I don't much bother with, but if I had to it would be around noon.

Sunday finishes (which are the best!) any time between 4pm and 10pm.

[MH1]

There is no golden rule, at the moment it is more dependent on whether ebay have you on or off, which areas they show you in the listings etc.

In the last week I have had sales almost exclusively from Scotland, and NE England, the previous week SW England and Wales, some days incredibly busy, other days hardly anything.

Ebay are turning the taps on and off based on various factors, the main one being to maximise their earnings, at least IMHO.

[David P]

Thats interesting MH1 I had not heard anything about this.
Why exactly would they want to be turnin g the taps on and off, I can't see the advantage particularly in maximising their earnings. I would have thought that maximising their sellers sales would be the way to make more and by doing what you have said surely that is reducing them?

[dingbat]

I also get freaky trends. I'll sell a load of one product at one time and then not for ages.

Regards best times. I would say just avoid finishing at commuting times and lunch times. And of course, in the middle of the night...although you might get a couple of drunks who'll bid through the roof. If they pay up when they get sober will be another thing.

[David P]

it would be a very drunk man to buy one of our handbags lol

[campbeji]

Hi David,

Rather than concentrating on the total number of visitors to Ebay, you should look at how your target customers buy, are they more likley to buy when they are in the office at lunch time, on Saturday evening before they go out, early evening when they get home to work. You need to know when your customers are more likley to be shoping, Did I read that you sell handbags?? I'll bet they will sell at a different time than the warehouse shelving I just bought.

Basically - Know your customer.

Good Luck

Jim

[David P]

Hi David,

Rather than concentrating on the total number of visitors to Ebay, you should look at how your target customers buy, are they more likley to buy when they are in the office at lunch time, on Saturday evening before they go out, early evening when they get home to work. You need to know when your customers are more likley to be shoping, Did I read that you sell handbags?? I'll bet they will sell at a different time than the warehouse shelving I just bought.

Basically - Know your customer.

Good Luck

Jim

Cheers for the advice Jim, that is definately something I need to be taking into account. But how would you go about finding that information out. I could look at my own sales yes but I don't really feel there would be enough data there yet to make a considered decision.

[askm]

Guys

If you want to add video to your eBay listings, to show your products in action, may I put in a good word for vzaar (http://vzaar.com) who offer a video hosting and streaming service that integrates seamlessly with eBay, is VERY easy to use and the basic account is FREE.

M

[campbeji]

Hi David,

When I was starting my business I got onto a free course that had a few consultants doing mentoring on it. One of them recomended that I try to figure out who my customers would be and do everything I could to place my product in a way which would appeal to them. He recomended that I do a brainstorming session, talk to potential clients, do market research, run surveys etc, all to find out what the client wants, and when, how fast, what price etc etc. He told me there was two types of research live (face to face) and desk(newspapers, internet, library etc).

I don't know a lot about handbags but the priciples will be the same as for most other products. I would first of all look at my current online sales, see if there is any trends, I'd look at offline trends if there is any. Check what your competitors are doing, on ebay its pretty easy to see how well they are doing, use a site like goofbay dot com to help with that. If you can identify information that you need there are survey sites that you can use to gather the answers, offer your clients a freebie or prize if they will take part. How about starting a forum on your site or visit forums on the subject.

I could go on like this for hours.

Anyway your original question about times to end ebay sales. I have two target markets, retail type clients, I prefer to end these sales at the weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) generally in the afternoon or evening. The second is the business type and I split this into two types 1/ Employee buying for the company, i'll expect them to buy during office hours, afternoons normally, 2/ Owners or managers of smaller companies, They will more than likley buy late evening or later (after they finish the important work and get a chance to do something a bit lighter - like i'm doing now)

This was supposed to be a short answer - I failed :(

Good Luck

Jim