15 replies to this topic

[frog998]

What i mean is when is it best to finish an auction?
Need to try and sell the car to raise some funds for moving house
I was always told to NOT finish it on a weekend but a mate at work recon's that a Sunday night is best as most people will be around
Any thoughts?

[conlad]

I reckon Sunday night at 7... everyone's in!

[Pelvisgt]

Yeah don't end it on a Friday night as most go out or relax away from the computer,

Sunday evening will be perfect

[JustSteve]

Between 5 and 7 on a sunday evening

[Carlos W]

If you start your auction on a Thursday evening and list for 10 days it ends on a Sunday and you get 2 weekends for people to ciew

I'd say 8pm at the latest.

[mini-luke]

It's important to include a weekend somewhere in the duration of auction as that's when more people browse. Apart from that, in the evening around 7's best.

[AVV IT]

I always used to work on the assumption that Sunday Evening was "prime time" on Ebay as well, and to be fair it certainly used to be, but then I read an article recently that explained how our online behaviour is changing because of the use of mobile devices and automatic E-bidding software. It would seem that these days less and less people are actualy sitting at home in front of their PC's on a Sunday evening franticaly making last minute bids on Ebay. They are more likely to be bidding from their I-phone, from wherever they happen to be at the time, or they actually put the bid on in way in advance using "ezsniper" or an equivalent software tool.

The other issue is that if you work in an office, many employers now provide free internet access and encourage staff to use it during their lunch hour (basically to encourage staff not to waste comapny time on Facebook and Ebay etc when they should actually be working.) So by ending a listing on a Sunday evening when people are doing all manner of things, you aren't targeting all the bidders that are sat at their desk on a Tuesday lunchtime with their sandwiches, surfing the net.

So the truth is that there probably isn't a really so much of a best time on EBay any more. Society is also becoming more and more 24/7, and less and less 9 - 5, so actually there are less of us are at home on a sunday evening than there used to be (case in point being that its 7pm on a Sunday evening and I'm typing this at work!! )

[donjarr]

I sell a lot of stuff on ebay and Sunday used to be good, but now I find it's the best time to grab a bargain. As said you want at least one weekend and finish it any night from monday to thrusday between 9 and 10. A lot of people don't always get in that early so leaving it later means you have more chance of selling it, plus if someone wants to come round its late enough to give them time to come round and get home again.

Use nice large clear pictures and have the supersize picture pack option, and keep the title simple like '1980 mini' people seem to think longer titles give you more coverage in the search as there are more words to search from but in fact all it does it move you down the listing as it picks the closest to the search word first. So if you titled it 'classic 1980 mini in mint condition for sale' and there were twenty pages chances are you will be in the last few pages.

With the listing don't just list the facts, yes included all relevant detail but experience has taught me people like to know something about you and the car, so don't give away personnel info stuff, but tell them what a fun little car it is to drive with a personality of its own etc etc you get the drift. Oh! and don't forget to say how sad you will be to see it go, and state the reason for selling it.

As for pictures if you can take some with it parked with nice scenery behind, that always looks better than just parked outside your house as it indicates effort on your part and has the advantage of not giving location details away.

:)

[mini-luke]

Use nice large clear pictures and have the supersize picture pack option, and keep the title simple like '1980 mini' people seem to think longer titles give you more coverage in the search as there are more words to search from but in fact all it does it move you down the listing as it picks the closest to the search word first. So if you titled it 'classic 1980 mini in mint condition for sale' and there were twenty pages chances are you will be in the last few pages.

Doesn't work like that on eBay, it's best match for buy it now's, which mostly works on sales to views ratio but is also affected by free post, account standing and lots of other things they don't tell you about. Auctions are organised by time ending soonest, so they get the most exposure in the last few hours, which is why it's important to think about when they end.

Essentially, use as many characters as possible of the title and include relevant keywords and info. If you put ''1985 mini'' as your title when it is in fact a ''1985 Red Rover Mini Mayfair 998'' someone searching for a 998, Rover or even red Mini will not see your car, so a lost possible sale.

[lewis]

Look at pulse.ebay.co.uk for helpful tips and keywords.

Avoid Monday mornings, that's usually when maintanence occurs.

Other than that as has been stated Sundays are still up on hit counts BUT remember your listing will be fighting against the flow of everybody's listings etc. I aim for payday dates I.E end of the month, and midweek evening listings. Wednesday has worked well, it also means if viewing is required the weekend before is a prime time for visitors, and the weekend after the auction for collection etc.

Hope that helps

[liam_italian]

The best time is when your selling something no one else is.

[mini-luke]

The best time is when your selling something no one else is.

Only if someone else is buying at the time...

[Beej123]

When I sell cars on eBay I get the most texts and phone calls about them on Wednesdays and Thursday's regardless of time left to run.

The only problem with finishing on a Sunday is that it could be a full week until the buyer collects!

[megamini_jb]

When I sell stuff on there I always make them end Tuesday/Wednesday evening because people won't really be going out because work the next morning and when it has been big items that are collection the transaction is quick because they arrange to collect weekend mostly. So like above said you'd probably have to wait a full week till they are able to collect.....

[donjarr]

Ok on the heading wording vs search front, lets be honest if someone is looking for a mini they will put 'mini' in the search so by putting '1985 Red Rover Mini Mayfair 998' into ebay I got a grand total in all categories of 0 = zero, with a few suggestions at the bottom of the page by ebay to try using fewer keywords.

Putting in just 'mini 1980' gets nearly 2800 and if you put in just 'mini' you get over one million hits, but then again you can narrow them down via a sidebar to classic cars and get 291.

So a good tip is look up what other people are selling and put their exact title into the search box and see how many hits it comes up with, which will give you a idea of what to use and not, but clearly less key words is better for a broader it shows up in more searches.

As for auctions are organised by time ending soonest??? Well there is this little box just above the listings when you search that allows you to select how you want the listings displayed. You have the choice of ten different options, but with cars people tend to use the 'distance nearest first' as it's something they will have to collect so make sure your postcode is entered into ebay correctly so it works right.

Lastly I have no idea who this listing belongs to it was ending soonest but its a good example of what not to do (http://www.ebay.co.u...=item27ca5a58a4 )

People buying a mini aren't just looking for a car, they are looking for something that sparks an interest. This looks a nice little car, but the pictures are dull and boring and don't show it up close or from more than one angle or in a good light. You want pictures from all round inside and out, boot and under the bonnet in nice bright daylight so people can see it clearly.

The key to selling is making someone else want what you have; it doesn't have to be the best, the most shiny, the fastest or the cheapest, if you make them want it they will pay what you ask.

So to echo what I put before put personnel stuff, tell them how much fun it is to drive, how much it makes you smile when other mini owners wave, if you belong to a club or go driving in a group put that, if you've been to shows put how much fun it was, the key is to make someone else read your listing and think 'yer that sounds like fun.'